The news was revealed in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook, which endorses the Dow Jones Sustainability Index 2021 (DJSI), one of the world's leading measures of organizational sustainability performance. Coca-Cola HBC also received a Silver Award from S&P Global.
The company's CEO Zoran Bogdanović commented: "This recognition highlights the daily efforts of our employees to build a more sustainable company and future. It reflects the long journey we began years ago, which we believe is essential for our future growth. Our commitment last October to achieve net zero emissions across our entire value chain by 2040, and the urgent issues highlighted at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference COP26, underscore the scale of the challenge we face. They also remind us that there is still much to be done. We are dedicated to fully contributing to the achievement of the sustainable development goals."
Coca-Cola HBC's performance on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index aligns with its independent assessments and results from other recognized sustainability research and indices, including MSCI ESG, CDP, FTSE4Good, and FTSE Russell ESG.
Notes
Coca-Cola HBC's key sustainability achievements*:
- Saved 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 emissions and conserved 6.5 billion liters of water in the company's operations over the last decade.
- Sourced more than 98% of goods and raw materials from local suppliers in the markets where the company operates.
- Each job in the Coca-Cola system supports an average of 11.3 other jobs;
- Trained over 480,000 young people in 28 countries since launching the Youth Empowered (#YouthEmpowered) program in 2017, with a goal to train 1 million by 2025.
- Published the first Tax Transparency Policy and Report in August 2020.
- Achieved 39% of leadership roles held by women, with a target of reaching 50% by 2025.
- Launched five mineral water brands in 100% recycled plastic bottles (rPET) in six markets, and in Italy, switched the entire range of carbonated soft drinks to 100% recycled plastic bottles.
- Replaced hard-to-recycle plastic wrap on can multipacks in 10 markets with KeelClip™, a minimalist, FSC-certified, 100% recyclable and compostable cardboard packaging solution, with plans to roll it out across all EU countries by 2022.
*The achievements refer to 2020, unless otherwise stated.
See the full list of Coca-Cola HBC's goals and achievements here.
About NetZeroby40
In October 2021, Coca-Cola HBC committed to achieving net zero emissions across its entire value chain by 2040. The company has developed a comprehensive action plan and will invest €250 million in emission reduction initiatives by 2025. Based on their approved, science-based targets, they aim to reduce their value chain emissions across Scopes 1, 2, and 3 by 25% by 2030 and by an additional 50% over the following decade. To address the 90% of Scope 3 emissions that come from third-party activities, the company will strengthen its partnership approach with suppliers. For emissions that cannot be entirely eliminated, Coca-Cola HBC plans to mitigate them through investments in other climate protection measures.