ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Coca-Cola Company and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) are working to advance the Coca-Cola system’s sustainability stewardship with the announcement today of new, bold global environmental goals and an expanded global partnership.

These ambitious goals, which complement other Coca-Cola well-being and community commitments, focus on sustainable management of water, energy, and packaging use as well as sustainable sourcing of agricultural ingredients through 2020.

Building on the initial successes of their nearly decade-long partnership, Coca-Cola and WWF have agreed to extend their efforts by meeting ambitious new conservation and performance targets, promoting the integration of nature’s value into decision-making processes and convening influential partners to help solve shared global environmental challenges.

“At Coca-Cola, we are deeply committed to working with partners to address our collective environmental challenges and responsibly manage the planet’s resources,” said Muhtar Kent, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Coca-Cola Company. “As we face a resource-stressed world with growing global demands on food and water, we must seek solutions that drive mutual benefit for business, communities and nature. Working with WWF will continue to challenge our Company to advance our sustainability programs, and WWF’s expertise will be instrumental in reaching our environmental performance goals, some of which they help us set.”

“We are witnessing unprecedented demands on natural resources around the world. Continuing with business as usual puts everything at risk, including the viability of business,” said Carter Roberts, President and CEO, World Wildlife Fund. “These problems can only be solved by working together, and our work with Coca-Cola has proven that collaboration can amplify and accelerate the impact we need.”

Under the renewed and expanded partnership, Coca-Cola and WWF jointly developed new 2020 environmental sustainability goals for the Coca-Cola system – the Company and its nearly 300 bottling partners in more than 200 countries. These goals include:

1. Improve water efficiency by 25%. Coca-Cola will improve its water use efficiency per liter of product produced through operational advancements throughout the Coca-Cola system. This target complements the 21.4 percent improvement in water use efficiency achieved from 2004 through 2012.

2. Help ensure healthy, resilient freshwater systems. Coca-Cola and WWF will expand their joint conservation efforts to 11 key regions across five continents, including river basins of the Amazon, Koshi, Mekong, Rio Grande/Bravo, Yangtze and Zambezi; the catchments of the Great Barrier Reef and Mesoamerican Reef; and key regions in the Amur-Heilong, Atlantic Forests and Northern Great Plains.

3. Reduce CO₂ emissions embedded in ‘the drink in your hand’ by 25%. Coca-Cola will work to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions across its entire value chain, making comprehensive carbon footprint reductions across its manufacturing processes, packaging formats, delivery fleet, refrigeration equipment and ingredient sourcing.

4. Responsibly source material for PlantBottle™ packaging. Coca-Cola will work with WWF to assess the environmental and social performance of plant-based materials for potential use in its PlantBottle™ packaging. This will enable the Company to meet its goal to use up to 30 percent plant-based material for all its PET plastic bottles by 2020.

5. Sustainably source key agricultural ingredients. Coca-Cola will work to sustainably source its key ingredients, including sugarcane, sugar beet, corn, tea, coffee, palm oil, soy, pulp and paper fiber, and orange. Coca-Cola also has established Sustainable Agriculture Guiding Principles and will work with WWF to implement the guidelines throughout the Coca-Cola system for these commodities. In addition, Coca-Cola is also working to sustainably source lemon, grape, apple and mango.

In addition to the goals jointly developed and announced with WWF, Coca-Cola has reaffirmed its water replenishment goal and evolved its package recovery goal through 2020 to include:

6. Replenish 100% of water used. Coca-Cola will return treated water from its manufacturing processes back to the environment at a level that supports aquatic life, and replenish the water used in its finished beverage products through continuing its community water projects with partners in more than 100 countries. To date, Coca-Cola’s replenishment work has balanced an estimated 52 percent of product volume through 468 projects.

7. Reach a 75% recovery rate of bottles and cans in developed markets. Coca-Cola will work with the beverage industry and local organizations to establish baseline information and work to increase recovery and recycling in developing markets. The Company will continue to reduce the amount of material and energy used in its packaging as well as continue to use both recycled and renewable content.

Since 2007, The Coca-Cola Company and WWF have worked together to conserve and protect freshwater resources around the world while helping to improve the efficiency of Coca-Cola’s global operations. To date, the partnership has led to major conservation gains, including helping to improve the ecological health of seven of the world’s most important freshwater basins across five continents, helping improve the Coca-Cola system’s water efficiency by 20 percent, working to prevent 5 million metric tons of CO₂ emissions across Coca-Cola’s global manufacturing operations, and promoting more sustainable agricultural practices in the Company’s supply chain.

Media Conference Call

Coca-Cola and WWF will be hosting a conference call for media to learn more about this announcement and ask questions at 1 p.m. ET on July 9, 2013. The conference call will be hosted by Bea Perez, Coca-Cola Chief Sustainability Officer; Jeff Seabright, Coca-Cola Corporate Environmental Officer; and Carter Roberts, President and CEO, World Wildlife Fund.

Media are invited to join the call at 1 p.m. ET. If interested, contact Coca-Cola or WWF media contacts listed below.

Twitter Chat

@Coca-ColaCo will be hosting at Twitter Chat with WWF on Wednesday, July 10, from 9:30-10:30 a.m. to discuss this announcement and address public comments and questions. The Twitter Chat will be hosted by Jeff Seabright, Coca-Cola Global Environmental Officer.

About The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands. Led by Coca-Cola, the world's most valuable brand, our Company's portfolio features 16 billion-dollar brands including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply, Georgia and Del Valle. Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, ready-to-drink coffees, and juices and juice drinks. Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy our beverages at a rate of more than 1.8 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that reduce our environmental footprint, support active, healthy living, create a safe, inclusive work environment for our associates, and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate. Together with our bottling partners, we rank among the world's top 10 private employers with more than 700,000 system associates. For more information, visit Coca-Cola Journey at www.coca-colacompany.com, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/CocaColaCo or check out our blog, Coca-Cola Unbottled, at www.coca-colablog.com.

About World Wildlife Fund

WWF is the world’s leading conservation organization, working in 100 countries for half a century. With the support of almost 5 million members worldwide, WWF is dedicated to delivering science-based solutions to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth, halt the degradation of the environment and combat climate change. Visit www.worldwildlife.org to learn more.

NOTE TO EDITORS:
Visuals and footage to accompany this release can be viewed at: www.coca-colacompany.com/press-center/press-releases/2020-environmental-goals-press-kit

Contacts

Environmental Infographic: WWF and Coca-Cola set ambitious global Water, Climate, Packaging and Agriculture performance goals.