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Overview

Our Approach to Stakeholder Engagement and Scientific Research

The Coca‑Cola Company’s purpose is to refresh the world and make a difference.

Our vision is to craft the brands and choice of drinks that people love, to refresh them in body and spirit. And done in ways that create a more sustainable business and better shared future that makes a difference in people’s lives, communities and our planet.

Transparent collaboration with stakeholders is essential to achieving our purpose. We believe that meaningful partnerships can drive collective action and build shared opportunities for people and communities around the world.

On this page, we provide a holistic overview of our partnership across two important areas:

Overview


Through the disclosures on this page and the various reporting mechanisms detailed on our website, we aim to collaborate with partners on areas requiring collective action. We engage in various activities with numerous partners, adhering to principles such as transparency and accountability, to foster positive impacts and create shared value. Our efforts are supported by our company's policies and practices, along with applicable legal regulations. This page offers an overview of key elements of our stakeholder engagement, it highlights our approach alongside links to further information.

Communities & Non-Government Organizations (NGOs)


Supporting the local communities in which we are privileged to operate is part of our DNA. We believe in working together by forming meaningful partnerships with NGOs that create shared opportunities for communities and people around the world.

One of the ways this is done is through The Coca‑Cola Foundation, our company's independent, international philanthropic arm. Since its inception in 1984, the Foundation has awarded more than $1 billion in grants to support sustainable community initiatives globally. An outline of grants paid, including organization name, payment and description of activity, can be found on The Coca‑Cola Foundation page.

Beyond independent philanthropic activities, the company engages communities through its core business, distribution model and supply chain and other partners, focusing on our sustainability priority areas. Through its initiatives, which includes water, packaging, climate and people, the company strives to have a positive impact. Further information can be found on our Sustainability page, Human Rights page, and in our Annual Publications page.

Consumers


At the core of The Coca‑Cola Company is its consumers. We listen to consumer feedback and seek to offer people the products they want. We have approximately 200 brands across the following beverage types: Sparkling, Hydration, Tea & Coffee, Juices & Dairy, and Alcohol. We work with business partners to undertake consumer research and in all of our engagement, we are guided by our policies including our Code of Business Conduct and Privacy Policy.

Customers


Our system collaborates with customers to enhance service, foster value-based relationships, and achieve shared business goals and sustainability efforts. We regularly seek customer satisfaction feedback across markets. In all the work we undertake, we are guided by our policies including our Code of Business Conduct, Privacy Policy and Prohibition on Cartel Activity.

Government and Political Engagement


We engage with governments around the world at federal, state and local levels. Our activities must be compliant with all applicable laws and our values. Further details, including our oversight and compliance practices, can be found on our Public Policy & Political Engagement page. Information on our U.S. political contributions is available on our PAC Political Contributions page.

Health Care Professionals (HCPs) and Academia


We have an internal governance process for research and partnership activities that engage the HCP and the academic community, and we are guided by our policies including our Code of Business Conduct and our Research Principles. In addition, on a consolidated and easy-to-navigate page, we provide a list of Journal Publications we have authored and/or directly funded, either fully or partially, going back to 2008.

Investors


We value investor perception and feedback, continuously engaging through various platforms. The Investors page on our website offers a wide range of information and data, including downloadable materials, reports, presentations and videos on company strategy, structure and performance. The page also contains an archive of our financial filings and transcripts/audio recordings of our public investor events.

Peer Companies


Partnerships with peer companies are important as we seek to collaborate on research projects and further our sustainability progress. In cooperation with our industry peers, we participate in many sugar reduction initiatives around the world, and support packaging collection and recycling efforts. Further information on initiatives we undertake globally with our peers can be found in our Annual Publications page. In addition, on a consolidated and easy-to-navigate page, we provide a list of Journal Publications we have authored and/or directly funded, either fully or partially with partners, going back to 2008.

Suppliers


A resilient supply chain is integral to our business and sustainability goals. Our partnerships with suppliers are critical to ensure their products are certified as safe by global regulatory agencies, meet the quality we expect in the ingredients we use, and maintain operations in line with our Supplier Guiding Principles. In addition, our Principles for Sustainable Agriculture guide our agricultural suppliers in their commitments to us to manage their supply chains responsibly.

Trade Associations


We are members of trade associations and organizations that represent a broad spectrum of views on industry and policy issues around the globe. We have published a list of U.S.-based Trade Associations and Organizations of which The Coca‑Cola Company is a member of, and the non-deductible portion of our membership contribution that has been identified as lobbying. In Europe, the company is registered with the Transparency Register of the European Union, and publishes a list of memberships of organizations on the EU Transparency Register.  In all of the work we undertake, we are guided by our policies including our Code of Business Conduct, Privacy Policy, and Prohibition on Cartel Activity.

Overview


On this page we outline our scientific research principles and provide information on key areas of company research.

Rigorous scientific research is essential to support our innovation efforts, but also ensures we offer products that are safe and meet global regulatory requirements, and allows us to address questions of public health and consumer interest. Whether it is the research we fund independently or when we work in partnership, our company associates and others with whom we engage are required to adhere to the highest level of scientific integrity and to align with our research principles. This includes research performed through contract research organizations, consortiums, trade associations, independent third parties, NGOs, or direct engagement with scientific experts.

Disclosures in relation to published journal articles going back to 2008, on topics core to our business at a global level, reflecting research that The Coca‑Cola Company has directly funded, either partially or fully, or authored, can be found below and can be filtered by subject area.

Research in Low- and No- Calorie Sweeteners


The Coca‑Cola Company is committed to providing consumers with choice in great tasting beverages. This includes choices to help them manage calorie and sugar intake. In order to do this, Coca‑Cola has developed a number of low- and no- sugar variants of our beverage brands. Key to delivering these options has been research into methods of sugar reduction as well as the development of new sweeteners and sweetener systems, while staying true to delivering great tasting beverages.

To help with this work, we rely on our long history of innovation in low- and no- calorie beverages grounded in our deep expertise in sweetener research, and the journey continues. We are applying our skills and knowledge to identify and bring to market low- and no- calorie sweetener options that exist in nature. Accordingly, the company has spent over $100 million on sweetener innovation and sugar reduction research since 2008. We have been joined in such efforts by other members of the food, beverage, and ingredient industries, who combined have invested over $1 billion dollars during this same period. This has helped lead to the development and broad use of stevia, and other sugar reduction technologies.  Our efforts can further be observed by the publication of over 70 journal articles and many more patents since 2008.

In addition to our investigations into sweeteners, our research studies topics relate to the function of our beverages and the ingredients they contain, but also ensures product safety and support for statements or claims we make on our beverages. However, as we announced in 2015, the company will continue to prohibit support for any activities that seek to promote the health effects of sugar and initiatives that exclusively promote physical activity as the way to reach a healthy and balanced lifestyle.

As a total beverage company, our product offerings continue to evolve and respond to consumers’ desires for more choice across categories. We will continue initiatives to reduce sugar across our portfolio while providing more beverage options with nutrition and functional benefits. We will offer smaller packaging choices and provide consumers with clear information about our products.

Scientific Research Principles


Our research is governed by the following principles, which are based on standards of practice from global expert organizations, and they are reviewed on an annual basis:

  • The research conducted is objective, transparent and observes rigorous, globally accepted scientific methods.
  • The research is funded independent of the outcome.
  • Researchers have full control of study design, execution, collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data.
  • Researchers are expected to generate an appropriately phrased hypothesis and to conduct research that will answer relevant questions.
  • Where research conducted is not proprietary or confidential, the researchers have the right and should publish results in peer-reviewed journals, regardless of outcome. In no event does The Coca‑Cola Company have the right to prevent the publication of research results.
  • Researchers are required to disclose their funding sources and potential conflicts of interest in all publications and public presentations of the data.
  • Researchers are expected to comply with all laws and regulations that govern the protection of the rights, privacy and welfare of research participants.

Scientific Research Publications


We perform scientific research to support our innovation, to understand the functional effects of our products and ingredients they contain, to confirm their safety and to ensure that any claims are properly substantiated.

A global list of published journal articles going back to 2008 reflecting research that The Coca‑Cola Company has directly funded, either partially or fully, or authored, can be found below and is tabulated by subject area (the lists exclude research undertaken by third parties such as trade associations). The articles cover a range of topics core to our business ranging from sweetener innovation, hydration and sports performance, to safety, sustainability and food science, revealing the wide breadth of research we have funded and/or authored over many years.

We have made our best effort to list all research within these research categories.  If we learn of any errors or missing papers, we will update the list accordingly.