The news was published by S&P Global in its Sustainability Yearbook, thus confirming the 2021 Dow Jones Sustainability Index, one of the world’s leading sustainability benchmarks. In addition, Coca-Cola HBC has also received the Silver Class distinction from S&P Global.
Commenting on this announcement, Zoran Bogdanović, CEO of Coca-Cola HBC, said: “This is great recognition for all the work our colleagues do every day to help us build an even more sustainable company and future. We started this journey many years ago, and we consider it integral to our future growth. Our recent commitment to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions across our entire value chain by 2040 on one hand, and the stark realities presented at the COP26 conference on the other, remind us of the scale of the challenges we are facing and just how much work is ahead of us. We are committed to playing our part fully.”
This result is consistent with the independent ratings of Coca-Cola HBC awarded in the framework of other prestigious assessments and indices, such as MSCI ESG, CDP, FTSE4Good, and FTSE Russell ESG.
The most significant achievements by Coca-Cola HBC in terms of its sustainability efforts*:
- Reductions achieved in the past decade: 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 emissions across the entire value chain, and 6.5 billion litres of water in our operations
- The company procures 98% of goods and raw materials from local suppliers (operating in the market in which we manufacture our products)
- The Coca-Cola system supports on average 11.3 additional jobs for every one it creates
- Since the launch of the company’s flagship community programme – #YouthEmpowered – in 2017, training has been provided to 480000 young people in 28 countries; the goal is to reach the 1 million target by 2025
- In August 2020, the company published its first fiscal transparency policy and report
- Women currently hold 39% of management roles; the goal is to reach the 50 % target by 2025
- The company has launched five mineral water brands in 100 % rPET bottles in six markets; in Italy, all single serve sparkling soft drinks are made from 100 % rPET
- The company has replaced hard-to-recycle plastic shrink wrap on can multi-packs with KeelClip™, a minimalist 100 % recyclable and biodegradable, FSC-certified cardboard solution, in 10 of its markets, and plans to roll out the new solution to all EU markets in the course of 2022.
A full list of the Company’s commitments and achievements can be viewed here.
* Unless stated otherwise, the figures refer to 2020
NetZeroby40
In October 2021, Coca-Cola HBC committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions across its entire value chain by 2040. The company has prepared a robust plan, and it intends to invest € 250 million in emission reduction initiatives by 2025. Through its current, science-based target, the company plans to reduce its Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 25 % across the entire value chain by 2030, with a further 50 % reduction planned in the next decade. Furthermore, to address the problem of 90% of its Scope 3 emissions resulting from third party activities, Coca-Cola HBC will broaden its existing collaboration with the suppliers. Finally, in cases where emissions cannot be entirely eliminated, the company will try to reduce them by investing in other climate protection measures.