Environmental Policy

The Coca‑Cola Company (TCCC) and its bottling partners (collectively, the Coca‑Cola system) understand the role our system plays in driving positive change and building a more sustainable future for our planet. This belief is part of our culture and is embedded in our purpose to refresh the world and make a difference.

Vision 

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

Guiding Principles 

We will conduct our business in ways that help protect the environment while aiming to reduce our environmental footprint. This includes working with our suppliers and business partners to support their progress in running more sustainable operations and processes.
 

To drive toward this ambition, we adhere to applicable legal and TCCC requirements relating to the environment. In addition, our environmental efforts focus on the following pillars and are defined by our voluntary environmental goals:
 

Water: 

• Aim to return more than 100% of the water used in our finished products globally, on an aggregate level, to nature and communities. Since 2015, the company has met or exceeded this goal.  
  
  
• Seek to return 100% of the total water used in each of the more than 200 high-risk locations (1) across the Coca‑Cola system by 2035.
  
  
• Water is essential to people and ecosystems and is the main ingredient in our products. The Coca‑Cola system continues to focus on promoting water stewardship, increasing water use efficiency and treating and returning safe water to communities.

Packaging:  

• Aim to use 35% to 40% recycled material (2) in primary packaging (plastic, glass and aluminum), including increasing recycled plastic use to 30 to 35% globally by 2035.
  
  
• Help ensure the collection of 70% to 75% of the equivalent number of bottles and cans introduced into the market annually by 2035. 
  
  
• The Coca‑Cola system offers beverages in a variety of packaging formats – glass and plastic bottles, aluminum cans and refillable packaging. Each option can play a role in helping reduce packaging waste and emissions. The Coca‑Cola system is focusing its efforts on using more recycled material in primary packaging and supporting the collection of post-consumer packaging. 

Emissions: 

• Reduce the company’s emissions in line with a 1.5°C trajectory by 2035, from a 2019 baseline.
  
  
• The Coca‑Cola Company aims to reduce emissions in its own operations (scope 1 & 2) and its value chain (scope 3). The company’s actions on water and packaging can also help mitigate the impacts caused by climate change, enabling adaptation by our business and the communities in which we operate. The company’s acquired businesses are excluded from this goal, including BODYARMOR, Costa, doğadan, fairlife and innocent. The company expects to prepare these businesses for integration into its 1.5°C trajectory over time.

Agriculture: 

• The Coca‑Cola system seeks to continue initiatives and programs with suppliers and other third-party stakeholders to support the sustainable sourcing of agricultural ingredients. These actions are intended to increase water use efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, help prevent deforestation and conserve high-risk areas in our supply chain.    

Where we have stated environmental goals, we report progress annually, reflecting our continued journey toward driving more sustainable business practices into our core strategy. More details can be found in the Sustainability section of our website.

Our Approach to Sustainability Governance

Our Board-level commitment to sustainability ensures clear top-down accountability for delivering The Coca‑Cola Company’s voluntary environmental goals. The Board oversees the Company’s sustainability strategies and initiatives through its Board Committees.  The Corporate Governance and Sustainability Committee has primary responsibility for overseeing the Company’s sustainability strategies and initiatives, including its short-, intermediate- and long-term goals, and receives regular updates from management on priority sustainability topics, including information on actions and progress toward goals. In addition, while the Corporate Governance and Sustainability Committee has primary responsibility for overseeing most aspects of the Company’s sustainability programs, the Board works closely with the Audit Committee, which oversees certain processes related to significant external sustainability disclosures, and the Talent and Compensation Committee, which has purview over the Company’s people and culture strategy.
 

The Board and its committees also receive regular reports from the Executive Vice President, Chief Communications, Sustainability & Strategic Partnerships Officer, and others as required, related to progress toward achieving the Company’s sustainability goals. Our internal oversight structure includes the Sustainability Council, Enterprise Risk Management program, the Sustainability Steering Committee and the Networked Corporate Sustainability team, which includes Technical, Innovation, and Supply Chain; Public Affairs, Communications, and Sustainability; Legal and Compliance; Finance; and Procurement. 
 

A key function of sustainability governance is to help manage sustainability-related risks. We have established internal processes and controls to help identify, assess and manage these risks. Our networked teams also collaborate with operating units, bottling and business partners, non-governmental organizations, governments, investors and local communities all around the world to help identify risks and drive progress toward our voluntary environmental goals.

(1) Locations were identified following an extensive analysis updated in 2024 using the World Resources Institute Aqueduct 4.0 tool and the Coca‑Cola system level assessments of each production facility. For the assessment of high-risk locations, 96% of the Coca‑Cola system facilities were evaluated. Non-dedicated third-party contracted manufacturers were not considered due to some short-term contracts and changes in contracts.
 

(2) The company will continue to comply with local regulations, including where higher percentages of recycled content are required