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Multi-year partnership announced with WWF to conserve and
protect freshwater resources
BEIJING, June 5, 2007 -- The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) today pledged
to lead its global beverage operations, including those of its franchise
bottlers, to replace the water it uses in its beverages and their
production. The Company will focus its actions in three core areas: 1)
reducing the water used to produce its beverages, 2) recycling water
used for beverage manufacturing processes, and 3) replenishing water in
communities and nature.
The pledge was announced at the annual meeting of WWF in Beijing,
where the Company launched a multi-year partnership with WWF to conserve
and protect freshwater resources. This $20 million (US) commitment from
The Coca-Cola Company to WWF will be used to help conserve seven of the
world's most important freshwater river basins, support more efficient
water management in its operations and global supply chain, and reduce
the Company's carbon footprint.
"We are focusing on water because this is where The Coca-Cola Company
can have a real and positive impact," said E. Neville Isdell, Chairman
and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company. "Our goal is to replace every drop of
water we use in our beverages and their production. For us that means
reducing the amount of water used to produce our beverages, recycling
water used for manufacturing processes so it can be returned safely to
the environment, and replenishing water in communities and nature
through locally relevant projects."
"The Coca-Cola Company is answering the call to help solve the global
freshwater crisis through this bold partnership," said James Leape,
Director General of WWF International. "The Company is stepping into new
and uncharted territory, and we look forward to working together to meet
the bold commitments they have made to water stewardship."
In 2006, The Coca-Cola Company and its franchised bottlers used
approximately 290 billion liters of water for beverage production. Of
that amount, approximately 114 billion liters were contained in the
Company's broad portfolio of beverages sold in markets around the world,
and another 176 billion liters were used in beverage manufacturing
processes such as rinsing, cleaning, heating and cooling.
The Company's pledge to replace the water it uses has three core
components: reduce, recycle and replenish.
Reduce: The Coca-Cola Company will set specific water
efficiency targets for global operations by 2008 to be the most
efficient user of water within peer companies. These targets will build
on improvements already made by The Coca-Cola Company and its bottlers
in water-use efficiency over the past five years, a period where total
water use has decreased by 5.6% while sales volume has increased by
14.6%. In that same period, water efficiency improved 18.6%.
Recycle: The Company will align its entire global system in
returning all water that it uses for manufacturing processes to the
environment at a level that supports aquatic life and agriculture by the
end of 2010. While water is treated currently to comply with local
regulations and standards, the Company has wastewater treatment
standards that are more stringent than applicable standards in many
parts of the world. Nearly 85 percent of Company and independent
bottling operations are aligned with the Company's higher standards, and
the Company pledged to align 100% of its entire global system.
Replenish: The Company will expand support of healthy
watersheds and sustainable communities to balance the water used in its
finished beverages. Engagement will include a wide range of locally
relevant initiatives, such as watershed protection, community water
access, rain water harvesting, reforestation and agricultural water use
efficiency. Numerous projects are already underway: the Company has
community and watershed programs in 40 countries focused on education
and awareness, productive water use, watershed management and water
supply, sanitation and hygiene; the Company has some 300 rainwater
harvesting structures throughout its global operations; and, last week,
in Brazil, The Coca-Cola Company and FEMSA announced a partnership with
SOS Mata Atlantica to reforest over three million trees on 3,000
hectares of Atlantic rainforest. Unlike carbon, the concept of balancing
water use is not well defined, and WWF, The Coca-Cola Company and its
bottling partners will work together to measure the impact of these
activities on water availability.
In recognition of the impacts on water resources from the "embedded"
water in agricultural commodities and packaging, WWF and TCCC will work
together to encourage efficient water use in the Company's supply chain,
beginning with sugar cane. Work with WWF's Better Sugar Initiative has
already demonstrated the Company's commitment to steward its supply
chain's use of water. Measurable targets will be set for improvements of
water use, in time, with its agricultural partners.
"Society is just beginning to understand the world's water
challenges," continued Isdell, "No single company or organization has
all of the answers or holds ultimate responsibility, but we all can do
our part to conserve and protect water resources. Our Company will need
time and cooperation from our bottlers, our suppliers and our
conservation partners to accomplish the goal of replacing the water we
use. We will be open about our progress and engage others to better
understand what it takes."
TCCC and WWF have been working together for several years on a number
of pilot projects to conserve water, address water efficiency in the
Company's operations and protect species. The partners are expanding
their work together to achieve meaningful and large-scale results.
The partnership will focus on measurably conserving seven of the
world's most critical freshwater river basins: China's Yangtze;
Southeast Asia's Mekong; the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo of Southwest United
States and Mexico; the rivers and streams of the Southeastern United
States; the water basins of the Mesoamerican Caribbean Reef; the East
Africa basin of Lake Malawi; and Europe's Danube River. These river
basins (also know as watersheds) span more than 20 countries in North
America, Europe, Africa and Asia and were chosen because of their
biological distinctiveness, opportunity for meaningful conservation
gains, and potential to advance issues of resource protection.
"The water crisis is as important as climate change," said Carter
Roberts, President of WWF-US. "Thousands of people die each day from
polluted water. Freshwater species are more at risk for extinction.
These conditions will only get worse with climate change. The Coca-Cola
Company's commitment to water neutrality is a first. We need more
companies to step up and make similar commitments if we are going to
reverse these current trends."
With WWF as a partner, The Coca-Cola Company also will work to
further improve upon efficient use of water in its manufacturing
system's operations. Teams of experts from The Coca-Cola Company and WWF
will collaborate on innovative ways to help Coca-Cola be even more
efficient in its use of water.
Also recognizing the impacts of climate change on the water cycle,
WWF and TCCC will work together on climate protection. WWF and TCCC
experts have already led a series of energy and climate protection
workshops for many of the Company's bottling partners. Targets will be
set for climate-related emission reductions in the next year.
"Freshwater resources are under growing stress around the world,"
said Jeff Seabright, Vice President, Environment and Water Resources,
The Coca-Cola Company. "This partnership will leverage the best of both
organizations to make a real and positive impact on one of the greatest
sustainability challenges we face."
To learn more about the partnership, visit
www.thecoca-colacompany.com or
www.worldwildlife.org.
The Coca-Cola Company's environmental protection efforts -- 1) global
water stewardship, 2) package design, recovery and reuse, and 3) energy
and climate protection -- address the areas that are most important to
its business and are where the Company can make the greatest impact.
The
Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest non-alcoholic beverage
company. Along with the Coca-ColaŽ trademark, recognized as the world's
most valuable brand, the Company markets four of the world's top five
nonalcoholic sparkling beverage brands, including Diet CokeŽ, FantaŽ and
SpriteŽ beverages, and a wide range of other non-alcoholic beverages,
including diet and light beverages, waters, juices and juice drinks,
teas, coffees, energy and sports drinks. Through the world's largest
beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy
the Company's beverages at a rate exceeding 1.4 billion servings each
day.
For more than 45 years,
WWF has been
protecting the future of nature. As a global conservation organization,
WWF is one of the world's largest working in 100 countries. It is
supported by 1.2 million members in the United States and close to 5
million around the world. WWF's unique way of working combines global
reach with a foundation in science, involves action at every level from
local to global, and ensures the delivery of innovative solutions that
meet the needs of both people and nature.
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