The company’s absolute emissions increased from 5.19 million metric tons of CO2 in 2010 to 5.32 million metric tons of CO2 in 2011.
Coke attributes the jump to a 6.2 percent increase in its scope 2 emissions, caused by the generation of the electricity its system purchases around the world. The company’s global electrical consumption rose by 1.1 percent (see above), which contributed to the increase in its scope 2 emissions. Coke’s scope 1 emissions – direct emissions from manufacturing – decreased 3.7 percent in 2011.
By 2015 the company is targeting a five percent reduction in its absolute emissions from developed countries, compared to a 2004 baseline. In 2011, such emissions were down four percent compared with 2010 and down nine percent compared with 2004, the report says.
The report does not include data on normalized carbon emissions.
By 2015 Coke has pledged to improve packaging material efficiency per liter of product sold by seven percent compared with a 2008 baseline. The company describes its movement towards the goal as “in progress.” The report says that each of its worldwide markets is “aggressively looking for ways to reduce costs, and our ongoing package lightweighting efforts provide an opportunity to decrease packaging costs while offering environmental benefits.”
Over the past two years, its systemwide lightweighting program has resulted in an estimated cost-savings of approximately $200 million. To date Coke has trimmed the weight of its 20-ounce PET plastic bottle by more than 25 percent, shaved 30 percent from the weight of its 12-ounce aluminum can and lightened its 8-ounce glass bottle by more than 50 percent, the report says.
In October, Coca-Cola announced a partnership with JBF Industries Ltd. to further expand production of the plant-based material used in the company’s PlantBottle packaging. To support this partnership, JBF Industries Ltd. will build the world’s largest facility for the production of bi-glycol, the key ingredient used in the manufacture of the plant bottle. The facility, which will be located in Araraquara, Sao Paulo, Brazil, will produce the ingredient using locally sourced sugarcane and sugarcane processing waste.
In June, Coca-Cola Co. and its Mexican bottlers announced that they are investing $34 million to double the capacity of the PetStar SA de CV food-grade PET recycling plant in Toluca, Mexico.
