Coca-Cola to be net-zero carbon emissions by 2050

New Delhi: Commemorating World Environment Day, The Coca-Cola Company refreshes its commitment to the planet and announces its ambition to achieve net-zero carbon emissions across its entire value chain by 2050. Currently, 44% of energy being used in manufacturing is from renewable and green/clean fuels, leading to a reduction of 170K Metric Ton of Carbon Dioxide emissions.

The Coca-Cola Company is leading the industry with a bold, ambitious goal of creating a World Without Waste. It intends to create a circular economy for plastic by connecting all participants in the plastic recycling value chain through their strategic framework, with an ambition is to collect and recycle a bottle or can for each one they sell by 2030. In India, the total quantity of post-consumer packaging recovered in 2020 was 62,825 Metric Tons. 36% of bottles and cans we refilled or helped recover, equivalent to what we introduced into the marketplace in India.

To reduce our carbon footprint, our bottling partners are consistently evaluating new and innovative ways of how they can improve business resilience by managing short- and long-term risks and impacts of a changing climate. E.g., Upgrading their fleet of delivery vehicles and transitioning them in a phased manner to operate on alternative energy sources such as CNG and Electric using e-vehicles which are becoming a part of India’s electric vehicle revolution, and pursuing carbon neutrality through installation of solar projects.

All of Coca-Cola’s product packaging is 100% recyclable and this is a step towards building citizenship movements, awareness and encouraging consumers to recycle and reuse.

Rajesh Ayapilla, Director, Sustainability & CSR, India and Southwest Asia, said, “Our environmental, social and governance priorities continue to be embedded in our business and the way we operate. Adopting newer technologies and optimizing processes enable us to evaluate and make changes across our operations, manufacturing systems and value chain. We’re focused on areas where we can have a measurable, positive impact on the communities we serve. It is extremely crucial for organizations and individuals to collaborate, invest and act towards building a better-shared future.” We are extensively working along with our partners on a futuristic approach to build and scale-up circularity not only for plastics, but waste and water as well.

The company strives towards Making a Difference in people’s lives, communities, and our planet at large by doing business the right way. The cornerstone of its sustainability management is identifying and focusing on the highest-priority ESG issues for the company, its system, and stakeholders.

In 2007, Coca-Cola made a pioneering commitment to replenish 100% of water being used through their multi-pronged Water strategy.

• The Water Usage Ratio (WUR) – the average amount of water used to produce a litre of beverage in 2020, was 1.61 liters, a reduction of 37.1% since 2010
• Replenished over 200% of water used in our operations, through water conservation initiatives undertaken by bottling operations and Coca-Cola India Foundation (Anandana)
• 500+ projects, created a replenish potential of 29 billion litres of water
• Over 1 million beneficiaries, through water replenishment and other Anandana initiatives

Under Project Unnati, as part of the Fruit Circular Economy (FCE), sustainable agriculture initiative, the Company, in India, aims to revolutionize the new way of farming and thereby the Indian agri-ecosystem by addressing the challenge of limited and inconsistent availability of fruits by providing growth opportunities for farmers and local suppliers, transforming supply chain from farm to table and contribute towards their economic growth.

Since 2011, under its flagship project – Unnati, which covers 5 fruits – Mango, Apple, Orange, Grapes and Litchi and key agricultural commodity like sugarcane, in 11 states spanning across 10,00,000 acres, 2000 demo farms while benefiting 350,000 farmers so far. In the next three years, the company aims to cumulatively benefit 500,000 farmers through training and capacity building. A productivity increase of upto 5X has been achieved for the farmers who adapted these Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in agriculture. This has additionally helped avoid wastage of 600 billion litres of water.