According to the Dow-Jones Sustainability Index 2022, one of the world’s leading sustainability performance indicators, the achievements of Coca-Cola HBC made it the world’s best beverage company, earning six points on top of its last year’s results and reaching a record 93 out of 100 points.
Coca-Cola HBC thus found itself among the top three beverage companies in the world for the twelfth time in a row and reached number one for the sixth time.
Zoran Bogdanović, CEO of Coca-Cola HBC, commented: “Our goal is to deliver a more sustainable future while continuing to build value for our stakeholders. This endorsement from the DJSI demonstrates that we’re on the right track and it is further recognition of the work and unrelenting effort by all at Coca-Cola HBC to put sustainability at the heart of our company. Last year, I made the ambitious announcement of our aim to reach Net Zero emissions by 2040 and I believe wholeheartedly that if we continue as we are, we’ll make this aim a reality.”
This latest accolade is consistent with the independent ratings awarded to Coca-Cola HBC as part of other reputable surveys and sustainability indices, such as MSCI ESG, CDP, FTSE4Good and FTSE Russell ESG.
Appendix
The most notable sustainability results of Coca-Cola HBC*
- As of 2011, we have reduced the amount of water required to make our products by two billion liters and improved the water consumption ratio by 9% since 2017 in 19 organizational units where water-saving measures are a priority.
- We have saved over 800 000 tons of carbon emissions in our direct operations since 2017.
- We source more than 98% of our goods and raw materials from local suppliers (in markets where we manufacture our products), which is the equivalence of 3.5 billion euros.
- In September of 2022, we issued our first Green Bond.
- On average, each job within the Coca-Cola system supports 10 other jobs.
- Since we initiated our most important support program titled Coca-Cola Youth Empowerment (#YouthEmpowered) in 2017, which is designed to train one million young people by the year 2025, we have trained 753 000 young people in 28 countries.
- We have published our Tax Transparency Policy and Report for the second year in a row.
- We presently have 39% women in executive positions and intend to raise this share to 50% by 2025.
- By the year 2025, no less than 35% of the plastic used to make our bottles across the Group and at least 50% of the plastic we use in EU Member States and Switzerland will be made of recycled plastic (rPET). In Switzerland, Coca-Cola HBC has used 100% recycled plastic for the full range of its plastic bottles made in that country since 2022 and we also expect our Italian** and Austrian businesses to start using only recycled plastic in the year 2023.
- The KeelClip™ innovation has allowed us to discontinue our use of plastic shrink wraps for multiple can packs in 22 countries, thus eliminating 2 000 tons of plastic wrap per year.
- We invest in our internal recycled plastic manufacturing capacities to help us reach the defined targets in this area. This includes our Gaglianico facility in Italy, which makes PET preforms and has reduced its carbon footprint by 70% compared to nonrecycled plastic. We have implemented similar recycled plastic production technologies in our facilities in Poland and Romania. Our overall investment in such technologies exceed 50 million euros.
* Unless otherwise indicated, the particulars pertain to the year 2021.
**Exclusive of water.
NetZeroby40
In October of 2021, Coca-Cola HBC committed to achieve zero GHG emissions across its value chain by the year 2040. The company has formulated a clear plan and intends to invest 250 million euros by 2025 in emission-reducing initiatives. By 2030, the company will reduce its emissions by 25% across its value chain in scopes 1, 2 and 3, with a further 50% reduction in the following decade through an existing, science-based target. Coca-Cola HBC will extend its cooperation with its present partners to eliminate 90% of our carbon footprint that results from indirect scope 3 emissions. Wherever it is impossible to eliminate emissions entirely, the company will mitigate those by investing in other environmental protection measures.
