The Coca-Cola company, one of the biggest corporation and manufacturer of non-alcoholic drinks and syrup around the world, is beginning to gear up its water replenishment goal as early as today, five years ahead of schedule, a 'significant announcement'. The company, last 2007, announced a promising aim of replacing the amount of water they used equally to its sales volume, that is, 160 billion liters, by 2020. Muhtar Kent, Coke's CED said, "As a consumer of water, the Coca-Cola company system has a special responsibility to protect this shared resource."
In 2014, the company produced an estimated 163 billion liters of drinks sold to almost 207 countries around the globe, which means it has used approximately 305 billion liters of water. If we do the math, from the 305 billion, only 163 million were consumed and the rest (142 billion) went to the manufacturing process, where water, according to the company's website, is "treated and released back to nature at a level that supports aquatic life." The company claimed to have replaced about 94% of water based on the volume of sales they acquired last year.
Coca-Cola appears to be taking the responsibility substantially. So far, the company has already opened 209 community projects in 61 countries. Aside from that, it has partnered with organizations like the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United Nations Development Program and the Millennium Challenge Corporation in protecting watersheds, an area that drain common waterways.
The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Coke's partner in developing plans for effective water conservation, pinpointed the significance of big companies' participation in projects like these. They further said: "... that factoring nature into their decision-making is a smart business strategy. Coca-Cola's commitment to water underscores that investigating nature can produce very positive returns for businesses and local communities," said Mark Terek, TNC CEO.
However, the company conceded that this is not a 1:1 approach. They will not specifically return the water used on the same place or locality they got them, thus resulting to protest from an activist India-based group. "Water issues are local issues. You need to put water back at the source," said Amit Srivastava. Furthermore, this anti-corporate globalization group would want production of beverages in places with scarce resources to end.
Despite this, the company is still looking forward to committing this project and attain its goal.
