As a successful business with a big economic footprint, we know that the way we act impacts the world in which we operate, and we recognise that we need to grow responsibly and sustainably.
That’s why we have put sustainability at the heart of our business operating model and we have a genuine passion to build a low-carbon, zero waste business here in Great Britain.
At
Coca-Cola Enterprises, we call our corporate sustainability strategy ‘Deliver for Today, Inspire for Tomorrow’.
It means we are committed to doing everything we can – today – to use fewer resources and minimise our impact on the environment, as well as respond positively to key societal issues such as obesity.
Increasingly, our strategy also means we are working beyond the physical walls of our business and looking for ways to collaborate with customers, suppliers and NGOs to tackle the big challenges facing our business – inspiring and leading change at every stage of our value chain.
This week we are publishing a
reportthat demonstrates how we are making tangible progress against all areas of our strategy – as well as highlighting how we used the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London to catalyse our efforts to grow sustainably.
So what are we doing to go beyond ‘business as usual’?
Well, as our
reporthighlights, we are committed to being a leader in water efficiency. We are now using just 1.3 litres of water to make one litre of product; we were among the first companies to achieve the Carbon Trust Water Standard; and we are one year into a three-year replenishment partnership with WWF-UK.
Second, we are committed to setting the industry standard when it comes to sustainable packaging and we have outlined a bold plan to reduce the carbon footprint of the drink in your hand by a third by 2020 through interventions across our value chain.
Our
reporthighlights the positive impact that our new £15m plastic bottle recycling facility in Lincolnshire is having on reprocessing in this country. Built by a joint venture business we called Continuum Recycling, this facility is celebrating its first birthday this month and has now sorted a staggering 500 million bottles. The facility’s success has allowed us to meet our commitment to use at least 25% recycled PET in all our bottles; an industry first.
We are also proud that Coca-Cola was one the first businesses to sign the Government’s calorie reduction pledge as part of its Public Health Responsibility Deal with industry. We have committed to reduce the ‘calorie footprint’ of our portfolio of sparkling drinks by 5% by the end of next year. It’s a challenging goal and we are planning to achieve it partly by reformulating leading brands such as Sprite (which now has 30% fewer calories) and by accelerating the growth of our low and no-calorie sparkling drinks.
That hopefully gives you a taste for the genuine passion we have for creating a more sustainable business here in Great Britain. You can read more detail on:
http://www.cokecce.co.uk\corporate-responsibility.aspx.
If we are to continue to be successful, our business understands the positive role it must play and, yes, that will inevitably involve changes in the way we do things.
To paraphrase our sustainability strategy, it’s about ‘Delivering for Today’ against the really important areas of water stewardship, waste and carbon reduction. But it’s also about ‘Inspiring for Tomorrow’ as we seek new ways of tackling some of the tough sustainability challenges we face – such as through our Continuum Recycling joint venture.
By Simon Baldry, Vice President and General Manager,
Coca-Cola Enterprises GB