Coca-Cola Enterprises closes in on 2020 footprint reduction targets

Soft-drinks bottlers Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) is celebrating its 10-year sustainability journey by revealing wholesale reductions in carbon emissions, packaging use and water consumption, as the company strides towards its 2020 targets.


CCE’s 11th annual sustainability report, released on Thursday (12 May), highlighted 40% absolute reductions in core-business carbon footprint operations against a 2007 baseline – just 10% short of the company’s 2020 target.

In regards to packaging, CCE has reduced the amount of material used to package and produce products by 22% against the 2007 baseline – 3% of the 2020 target – and more than 35% of the polyethylene PET sourced came from renewable materials as part of plans to drive the PlantBottle concept.

Efforts to promote water stewardship saw CCE replenish 68% of its water use as part of the company’s global aim to achieve a water use ratio of 1.2 liters/liter. Currently at a 1.35 liters/liter ratio, CCE has invested more than $500,000 in water-saving technologies as part of its “factory of the future” blueprint.

“When we started our sustainability journey very few companies, including CCE, had adopted serious sustainability targets,” CCE’s chairman John F. Brock said. “Now – 10 years on – we have a well-established sustainability plan with stretch targets across a wide variety of social and environmental issues that are critical to our business and our stakeholders.

“As we begin our new journey as Coca-Cola European Partners, we know we must continue to make long-term, sustainable decisions, which support the environment and wider society in partnership with our customers, our employees and our shareowners.”

Redemption arc

CCE, which made its first ever appearance on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index last September, also made in-roads in its renewable energy sourcing targets. After joining the RE100 Initiative in December, the company now sources more than 32% of its energy from renewable or low-carbon sources.

The soft-drink giant also united with rivals Pepsi in a business-led push to secure a robust international climate agreement in Paris last year.

Matt Mace

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