Coca-Cola Becomes First Fortune 500 Company to Replenish All Water Used Globally The Coca-Cola Company and its global bottling partners (The Coca-Cola Systems) announced today that they have achieved their goal of replenishing, or "repaying," the amount of water used in their products sold worldwide. With this achievement, Coca-Cola becomes the first Fortune 500 company to publicly claim to have achieved such a significant water replenishment target. The Coca-Cola Systems also announced progress on its water efficiency targets. In 2015, the Coca-Cola Company and its bottling partners improved their water efficiency by 2.5% compared to 2014, and by a cumulative 27% since 2004. According to a global water use assessment project verified by LimnoTech and Deloitte in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), in 2015, the Coca-Cola system returned approximately 191.9 billion liters of water (equivalent to 115% of the water used by Coca-Cola beverages last year) to nature and communities through its Community Water Project. Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, stated, “This achievement represents a moment of pride for Coca-Cola and its partners. This goal, which began as a vision in 2007, has now been achieved, and we plan to maintain this global milestone as our business grows. Now, every time consumers drink a Coca-Cola product, they can trust that the company and its bottling partners are committed to using water responsibly, both now and in the future. We understand that our water management work is not yet finished, and therefore we remain focused on exploring next steps to improve our water use programs and performance.” The Coca-Cola System achieves its water replenishment goals through 248 community water management projects in 71 countries. These projects focus on secure access to water, catchment area protection, and production water use. In many cases, the projects also provide sanitation and education to help improve local livelihoods, assist communities in adapting to climate change, improve water quality, enhance biodiversity, develop policies, and raise awareness of water issues. These aspects are unrelated to Coca-Cola's water replenishment volume. Water replenishment performance is independently reviewed by LimnoTech and verified by Deloitte. The water replenishment efforts are reflected in a 1,188-page report. The methodology for calculating the benefits of water replenishment was developed in collaboration between The Nature Conservancy and LimnoTech. It employs recognized scientific methods and is peer-reviewed to ensure accuracy. This methodology is used annually to review and evaluate water replenishment projects. Some water replenishment projects directly return water to sources, while others are located outside the catchment areas of the water resources used by our plants; however, these projects are crucial in assisting local governments, communities, and partners in areas with urgent needs. Coca-Cola and its partners' projects provide direct benefits, can be scaled up to reach more people and a wider area within the ecosystem for greater impact, are easily learned from and replicated elsewhere with similar challenges, and can be sustainably replenished by communities in the future. As Coca-Cola's business continues to grow, these efforts and new projects often address the vulnerability of local water sources and repay additional sales. At each of Coca-Cola's 863 plants worldwide, Coca-Cola requires its operations to determine the sustainability of their shared water sources with other members of the community in terms of quality, quantity, and other issues such as water treatment and distribution infrastructure. One factor that Coca-Cola plants must consider in this process is whether the water they use and discharge could negatively impact other members of the community's access to adequate and high-quality water. If so, or if the water source is still not sustainable in some respects, Coca-Cola requires each plant to develop and implement a Source Water Protection Plan. This plan also invites other members of the community to work together to find solutions to promote the sustainability of local water sources. This may lead to water replenishment projects or other opportunities. While each plant may not replenish all of its water to its direct water source, Coca-Cola's policy requires all plants to take steps to ensure they do not negatively impact water sources and to work with the community to find long-term solutions. Coca-Cola's water replenishment strategy supports the company's overall water goal: to safely return an equal amount of water used in its beverages and production to the community and nature. On the production front, in 2015, the Coca-Cola system returned approximately 145.8 billion liters of water used in its manufacturing processes to local catchments near its bottling plants through treated wastewater treatment. The president and CEO of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) stated, “All life depends on water, but less than 1% of the world’s water is usable freshwater. If we want to secure freshwater sources for everyone, we must be responsible for the entire water system, from glaciers to estuaries. This means that cooperation is crucial. This is a significant milestone for Coca-Cola’s continued leadership in water management and sets a standard for other water users.” Coca-Cola collaborates with governments, NGOs, and other members of the private sector on water replenishment projects. Some of the organizations that Coca-Cola partners with include: the Global Environment & Technology Foundation (GETF), the Millennium Challenge Corporation, The Nature Conservancy, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN-Habitat, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), WaterAid, Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), Water For People, the World Wildlife Fund (WHF), and World Vision. Four programs that make significant contributions to Coca-Cola's water replenishment activities are our global conservation partnership with the WHF, the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation's Water Replenishment in Africa (RAIN) program, Every Drop Matters, and Coca-Cola's investments in 50 water funds across 12 countries in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. All of these programs will continue through 2020. The Water Supplementation Project aims to compensate for or offset the water used directly by Coca-Cola and its bottling partners at their operations in more than 200 countries. Water usage includes water used in the manufacture and finished beverage production (including water used in beverage dispensers). This target does not include water used in the cultivation of agricultural raw materials sourced by the Coca-Cola system. However, sustainable water management practices are part of Coca-Cola's sustainable agriculture guidelines, which its suppliers are required to implement. Source: Central News Agency (August 30, 2016)
