Coca-Cola HBC Croatia achieves progress in key sustainable business areas

CO2 emissions and water consumption were further reduced and the share of recycled materials in packaging increased. Women hold 48% of management positions, including the leading position in the company.

Coca-Cola HBC Croatia has published a new Sustainability Report that includes the results for 2019 and which it prepared in collaboration with the WISE Institute at the IEDC-Bled School of Management. The latest report shows the continuity of the company's progress in key sustainability areas and the successful fulfillment or exceeding of the sustainability goals set at Coca-Cola HBC Group level.

Coca-Cola HBC Croatia is part of Coca-Cola HBC Group, the most successful beverage producer in the world according to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for 2020, which was also confirmed by an S&P Global evaluation in 2021. The Group's Growth Strategy and Sustainability Goals for 2025 are key guidelines towards the joint responsible business growth of Coca-Cola HBC Croatia and the other Group members in their 28 markets.

“We know that our business success is inseparable from the successful development of the community of which we are an integral part and therefore we grow together by fostering the progress of our customers, meeting the expectations of our loyal consumers, developing the potentials of our employees and dedicatedly caring for the society and the environment in which we operate. The unity in the vision of a sustainable and successful joint future that permeates our entire value chain is the driving force thanks to which we successfully achieved sustainability goals in 2019, including innovations in the packaging of our products, a reduced impact of our production processes on the environment and ensuring the equality of all our employees. With our company’s new Sustainability Report we once again share examples of good practice and encourage an open dialogue with all stakeholders about the broad social well-being that results from a sustainable and responsible approach to business. Decades of Coca-Cola HBC Croatia’s true commitment to such an approach have laid the foundation for a future in which we will raise the excellence bar even more and continue to grow, creating value not only for us, but for the overall local community”, said Ruža Tomić Fontana, General Manager of Coca-Cola HBC for Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia.

The key contributors to the progress in achieving the set goals are the employees of Coca-Cola HBC Croatia with their dedicated and responsible work in line with sustainability principles. Ensuring a stimulating and inclusive work environment makes it possible for employees to develop and to fully fulfill their potentials while at the same time strengthening the company’s position as one of the most coveted Croatian employers. Coca-Cola HBC Croatia takes special care to ensure equal opportunities and full equality for all employees, and with women holding 48% of management positions in 2019 it is already very close to the target of 50% by 2025.

Investments in innovative packaging solutions are part of Coca-Cola HBC Croatia’s vision World without Waste. The share of recycled materials in plastic bottles of non-alcoholic beverages produced at the Zagreb bottling plant in 2019 was increased from 10% to 20% and the packaging of all beverages offered by Coca-Cola HBC Croatia can be fully recycled. The weight of 2L plastic bottles has so far been reduced by 22% in relation to 2004 through a program for the use of lightweight materials, while the weight of 0.5L plastic bottles has been reduced by 19% in relation to 2006.

Coca-Cola HBC Croatia is reducing its environmental impact along the entire value chain, so that direct carbon dioxide emissions in 2019 were 14% lower compared to 2017. In 2019, 66.35% of the total energy used in the bottling plant came from renewable sources, while the electric energy in the production plant has been coming entirely from renewable sources since back in 2015. In the same time period, water consumption per liter of beverage produced was decreased by 6.3%.

In addition to the wide impact of its business, Coca-Cola HBC Croatia also contributes to the local community through socially responsible projects by addressing the key challenges the people living in the community are facing. From 2017 to the end of 2019, as many as 2,501 unemployed young people strengthened key skills required on the labor market through the Coca-Cola Youth Empowered program. Since 2019, Coca-Cola HBC Croatia has been supporting its partners in the HoReCa sales channel through the Raise the Bar  project by providing development opportunities to talented waiters, bartenders, but also chefs, pastry chefs and waiting staff in restaurants. In addition to caring for young people and investing in the development of the hospitality sector, the social responsibility projects also reflect the company’s commitment to environmental protection and in 2018 and 2019 a total of 25 clean-up campaigns with 1,300 participants were organized and 30.3 tons of waste collected within the framework of the From Source to the Sea project.

Coca-Cola HBC Croatia has also been cooperating with the Croatian Red Cross for many years in providing assistance to the community in emergencies and crises. During the floods in 2019, Coca-Cola Croatia donated more than 10,000 bottles of water and it readily provided support in 2020 by donating HRK 2.7 million to the Croatian Red Cross for the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and as relief after the earthquakes in Zagreb and Petrinja. Apart from the financial assistance, more than 15,000 liters of water and beverages were donated to the Red Cross, medical staff, firefighters and vulnerable groups.