Our Approach

The Coca-Cola Company has a longstanding commitment to reporting progress on our sustainability journey. We issue sustainability updates annually that encompass both our Company’s and the broader Coca-Cola system’s global operations and progress against Sustainability goals. To provide a transparent account of our progress each year, we disclose our management approach to priority issues and provide information about our sustainability goals, metrics, partnerships and programs. Our sustainability initiatives are linked to our business operations and priorities.

A description of our business operations and 2016 financial performance is provided in our 2016 Form 10-K and our 2016 Annual Review. A discussion of our Company challenges and potential risk factors can be found starting on page 10 of our 2016 Annual Report on Form 10-K. This report is filed with the SEC and can be found on Coca-Cola Journey. We also make available our regional and bottling partners’ sustainability reports, which provide more information about the Coca-Cola system’s financial and sustainability performance.

Reporting Structure

We’ve updated our reporting structure in order to provide easy online access to more real-time updates about our sustainability programs. We have made an effort over the past five years to move from focusing primarily on producing an annual sustainability report to “reporting” - continually providing sustainability updates on an ongoing basis. In addition to this comprehensive collection of sustainability disclosures and materials on Journey, we still provide a succinct and focused annual Sustainability Update, which provides highlights of our sustainability programs.

Taken together, the 2016/2017 Sustainability Update and additional sustainability materials on Journey constitute our “2016/2017 Sustainability Report”. Recognizing that we have a broad range of stakeholders, including employees, customers, consumers, suppliers, bottling partners, shareowners, governments, and more, we believe that this new reporting structure will make it easier for our readers to locate the information that matters most to them.

With this year’s Sustainability Update, we made an attempt to target an even wider audience. Realizing that sustainability continues to become ever more important to consumers, we are leveraging this year’s report as an opportunity to bring more people into the conversation of these important topics. We have utilized infographics as a way to present and communicate some of our highlights to a broader reach stakeholders. We have more details on how to use this report included in the section entitled “Our Refreshed Reporting Structure” section.

Scope of the Report

In our 2016/2017 Sustainability Report, which includes both our Sustainability Update and the comprehensive collection of sustainability disclosures and materials on Journey, all of the quantitative data covers the calendar year from January 1 to December 31, 2016, unless otherwise stated. So that readers have more up-to-date information, we also provide some information about decisions and events that took place in early 2017. Our 2016/2017 Sustainability Update was published in August 2017. We regularly report updated information about our sustainability activities and performance on Coca-Cola Journey.

The data and information provided reflect the performance and progress toward strategic goals of our entire Coca-Cola system, unless otherwise stated. In order to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the impacts of our value chain, we report on non-financial metrics that extend beyond the boundaries of The Coca-Cola Company. Although the system is not a single entity from a legal or managerial perspective, and our Company does not control the independent franchise bottlers in the Coca-Cola system or their operations, The Coca-Cola Company strives to positively influence environmental activities and policies throughout the bottling system and to become more transparent by reporting information from both Company-owned operations and the broader system. By providing information about the Coca-Cola system, we aim to address the impacts of both our business and our interconnected value chain.

In this report, we provide results of the Coca-Cola system’s progress in 2016 toward strategic goals made in environmental, social, governance and financial areas. The data provided do not include joint ventures and leased or outsourced operations unless otherwise stated.

Throughout the report, we include links to certain partners’ websites to make it easier for you to learn more about our projects, partners and goals. These links are included for reference only; we do not endorse or incorporate by reference any information from external websites in our report.

Reporting Framework

We prepared our report in accordance with the GRI Standards: Core option. This report also aligns with the United Nations Global Compact LEAD Program Advanced Criteria for reporting, the United Nations Guiding Principles Reporting Framework and the Sustainable Development Goals. It meets the requirements of the United Nations Global Compact Communication on Progress.

Priority Issue Analysis

To better inform our reporting, we analyze the issues that matter to our business and our stakeholders. Through our priority issue analysis, we identify areas of strategic importance to address in our sustainability planning and report. We conducted a priority issue analysis in 2014, and completed a second analysis in 2015. Learn more about our most recent updates to the priority issue analysis.

Assuring our Disclosures

External assurance of our sustainability disclosures is an integral part of our approach to providing accurate information and metrics for our stakeholders and the public. Ernst & Young LLP, performed review-level assurance for the calendar year ending December 31, 2016 on select sustainability indicators.

We implemented the Responsible Marketing Policy compliance process, including our Global School Beverage Guidelines, for Company associates, and agencies. Ernst & Young LLP provided review-level assurance over the implementation of our Responsible Marketing Policy. Ernst & Young LLP did not assess the effectiveness of or compliance with the Responsible Marketing Policy.

Read more in Ernst & Young LLP’s Review Report.

The non-financial information included in the report is subject to certain uncertainties due to limitations inherent in the nature of measuring such data. For example, variances in measurements can result from the selection or measurement techniques used across the complete Coca-Cola system. However, our Company is committed to disclosing the most accurate information and metrics possible for our stakeholders and the public.

Learn more about how we work to assure the accuracy of our disclosures.

Other Reports

A description of our business operations and 2016 financial performance is provided in our 2016 Form 10-K and our 2016 Annual Review. A discussion of our Company challenges and potential risk factors can be found starting on page 10 of our 2016 Annual Report on Form 10-K. This report is filed with the SEC and can be found on Coca-Cola Journey. We also make available our regional and bottling partners’ sustainability reports, which provide more information about the Coca-Cola system’s financial and sustainability performance.