Coke Improves Water Efficiency for 11th Year

by | Jul 11, 2014

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Coke bottlesCoca-Cola improved its water-use efficiency for the 11th consecutive year in 2013, with a nearly 8 percent improvement over a 2010 baseline, according to the Coca-Cola and World Wildlife Fund global partnership’s Annual Review.

The company’s improved water efficiency performance puts it on track toward the 2020 partnership goal of a 25 percent improvement over 2010, Coke says.

The annual review highlights progress across freshwater conservation, environmental performance, valuing nature and the convening of additional partners.

Coca-Cola and WWF first announced a global partnership in 2007 to conserve and protect freshwater resources around the world. In 2013, the organizations renewed their partnership through 2020, and expanded it across Coke’s value chain to involve additional partners to achieve greater scale and impact and spark commitments from businesses, governments and consumers to take action to value, conserve, and protect the planet’s natural resources, with a focus on fresh water.

Also in 2013, Coke and WWF say projects were initiated across the select 11 geographies, spanning Asia, Africa and the Americas. Some early successes include collaborating with local farmers in the Mesoamerican Reef on more sustainable growing techniques that also improve productivity. This work has led to reductions in pesticide toxicity, and water and fertilizer use.

In the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo, cross-sector partners are being united across country borders to reduce negative impacts from invasive species, such as salt cedar and giant cane, which narrow the river, leading to increased flooding and greater damage.

In 2013, the partnership team began work on a collaborative research project to examine the potential environmental benefits from the global adoption of sustainable production standards, the report says. This project will help inform how the public and private sectors set policies and make better sourcing decisions, as well as update consumers on the benefits to society from the sustainable production of commodities.

 

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