Soft drinks sustainability

There’s a lot more to Coca-Cola’s latest Sustainability Report than I can cover, but here are some markers for reference.

First, the company’s goals:

• “Water neutrality by 2020”.
• “Growing our business but not our carbon footprint.”
• “Give back at least 1% of our operating income to communities.”
• “Empower 5 million women entrepreneurs by 2020.”
• “By 2015, recover 50% of the equivalent bottles and cans used.”
• “All virgin PET plastic used in our bottles made with PlantBottle by 2020.”

Second, some achievements:

• Front of pack calorie information on nearly all containers by the end of 2011.
• Physical activity programmes in over 100 countries by the end of 2011.
• 7 billion PlantBottles shipped by the end of 2011.
• Investment in 7 bottle to bottle recycling facilities.
• 400,000 HFC-free chilled display cabinets installed by August 2011.

Third, some benchmarks:

• Average calories per serving reduced by 9% between 2000 and 2010.
• 2.26 litres of water per litre of product in 2010, 16% less than 2004, with North America at 1.72 litres.
• Carbon emissions per litre of product down 14% between 2004 and 2010.
• A 10.5 gram 50cl PET bottle launched in Turkey.

PS I noted two curious typos – Lars Olofsson as Chief Executive of Tesco and contradictory figures on the percentage of women in leadership roles. No doubt, you’ll find some in my blog too.