Coca-Cola Recognized by Eco Forum for Sustainability Efforts
The Coca-Cola Co. (KO), the world’s largest soft-drink maker, was recognized by the Corporate Eco Forum for its efforts to promote sustainability, including using recyclable plastic bottles, shifting away from refrigerants that contribute to climate change and supporting the World Wildlife Fund.
The forum, comprising 80 companies from 18 industries with combined annual revenue of more than $3 trillion, gave Atlanta- based Coca-Cola and its Chief Executive Officer Muhtar Kent the C.K. Prahalad Award for Global Sustainability Leadership at a dinner event today in Washington.
Coca-Cola has spent $60 million over the past decade to phase out the use of refrigerants that contribute to climate change, according to the Eco Forum. In 2009, it developed its “PlantBottle,” which the company said is the first fully recyclable PET plastic beverage bottle made partially from plants, and by 2020 it expects to use bottles made completely from materials that are recyclable and renewable.
“If you don’t have measurable goals and hold people accountable, I don’t think you’ll move the needle,” Rick Frazier, Coca-Cola’s vice-president for supply chain, said in an interview.
The company also wants to offset all the water the company and its bottlers use for finished beverages, and in 2009 it replenished 22 percent of that water, helped by 250 partnerships in 70 countries. The company has been working with the World Wildlife Fund since 2004 to preserve threatened river basins.
“The work of Coke and others delivers a strong message that these businesses care about natural resources and the sustainable use of our planet,” said World Wildlife Fund President and Chief Executive Officer Carter Roberts.
Of the eight finalists nominated on the forum’s website one was chosen by voting for the award by its 19-member advisor board, including government, academia and non-governmental organization representatives.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ehren Goossens in New York at egoossens1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net
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