Coca-Cola Scales Back Sustainable Packaging, Agriculture Goals
The Coca-Cola Company announced today a series of new 2035 environmental goals, updating and replacing its current targets in areas across water, packaging and emissions, and in some cases softening and pushing back on its prior ambitions, including its goal to increase the use of recycled materials, which has been moved to a target of 35% to 40% by 2035, compared to the prior goal of 50% by 2030.
In its press release announcing the new goals, Coca-Cola said that the update “is informed by learnings gathered through decades of work in sustainability, periodic assessment of progress and identified challenges.”
Coca-Cola announced most of its prior packaging goals in 2018 as part of its “World Without Waste” initiative, including targets to make 100% of its packaging recyclable by 2025, use at least 50% recycled content in its packaging by 2030, and to collect and recycle a bottle or can for each one sold by 2030. In 2022, the company added a goal to have at least 25% of all beverages globally sold in refillable or returnable glass or plastic bottles, or in refillable containers through fountain dispensers.
In its 2023 Environmental Update report, Coca-Cola revealed that it was on track to meet its 100% recyclable packaging target, with 90% achieved, but was behind on its recycled content and collection goals. In addition to scaling back its recycled content goal to 35% to 40% by 2035, the company also lowered its collection ambition to 70% to 75% by 2035.
Coca-Cola also removed its refillable container goal, saying that it “intends to continue to invest in refillable packaging where infrastructure already exists.” The company added that it will focus its efforts to use more recycled material in primary packaging and supporting collection rates, targeting actions under the pillars of “Design,” and “Partner to Collect,” including designing packaging to be recyclable, using recycled content in packaging, increasing advocacy for well-designed collection systems, and investing in local infrastructure.
The company’s water goals retain its target to return more than 100% of the water used in finished products globally, to nature and communities, which Coca-Cola has met or exceeded since 2015, and updates its goal to return 100% of the total water used in each of the more than 200 high-risk locations across the Coca‑Cola system by 2035, up from its prior goal of 175 high-risk locations by 2030.
Coca-Cola also replaced its 2030 climate goal to reduce absolute emissions by 25% on a 2015 basis with a new target that does not include an absolute emissions goal, but aims to reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in line with a 1.5°C trajectory by 2035, from a 2019 baseline. According to the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the prior 2030 goal had been classified as aligned with a 2°C trajectory.
Coca-Cola also removed its agriculture goal to source 100% of its priority agricultural ingredients according to its Principles for Sustainable Agriculture over time. While acknowledging that it will no longer have a voluntary goal on agriculture, the company said that it “seeks to continue initiatives and programs with suppliers and third-party stakeholders to support sustainable sourcing of agricultural ingredients,” adding that its actions aim to “reduce water use and emissions to help prevent deforestation and conserve high-risk areas in the supply chain,” and that it “recognizes the importance of continuing and expanding efforts and partnering with stakeholders to better the lives of those who grow and harvest ingredients included in beverages and packaging.”
Bea Perez, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Communications, Sustainability & Strategic Partnerships Officer at The Coca‑Cola Company, said:
“We remain committed to building long-term business resilience and earning our social license to operate through our evolved voluntary environmental goals. These challenges are complex and require us to drive more effective and efficient resource allocation and work collaboratively with partners to deliver lasting positive impact.
“We know we will have more chapters in our journey and that we can’t do it alone. Continued collaboration, targeted investments and well-designed policies are crucial to help create shared value for all.”
Image source: The Coca-Cola Company