At The Coca‑Cola Company, our Sustainability goals and initiatives are anchored by our purpose — to refresh the world and make a difference — and are core to our growth strategy. This resource provides an overview of our efforts to create a more sustainable business and better shared future, that makes a difference in people’s lives, communities and our planet.
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Our entry into alcoholic beverages outside the U.S. brings new responsibilities1. To help ensure accountability, we’ve developed our Global Policy on Alcohol Responsibility. These policies outline our commitment to grow our alcohol brands in a responsible way; prohibit marketing to people under the legal purchase age; and support responsible consumption.
There are four components to the policy:
- Responsibly marketing our alcohol brands.
- Supporting local partnerships and communications programs to help reduce and prevent the harmful use of alcohol.
- Providing information to enable people to make informed choices.
- Enabling our employees and partners to be ambassadors for responsible consumption.
We support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all and will take action to help ensure our alcoholic beverages are consumed responsibly.
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[1] The Coca‑Cola Company is not licensed to trade in alcohol in the U.S. The Company has instead authorized third parties to use its brands for their use in manufacturing, selling and marketing alcohol products and those third parties maintain their own alcohol responsibility policies.
We value the humane treatment of animals and prioritize continuous improvement in animal health and welfare. The Coca‑Cola Company does not conduct animal tests on its beverages or ingredients, except when explicitly required by governmental agencies to demonstrate safety. In these instances, we rely on third-party experts or external organizations to conduct these tests using protocols and test methods determined by government agencies. We encourage our ingredient and packaging suppliers and external research organizations to use animal alternatives, if such tests are available and acceptable to government agencies to demonstrate safety.
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The Coca‑Cola Company values the humane treatment of animals and we prioritize continuous improvement in animal health and welfare. We aim to ensure that 100% of the ingredients we source meet our Principles for Sustainable Agriculture (PSA), which were updated and expanded recently to include responsible animal health and welfare conditions. Our Animal Health and Welfare Guiding Principles are guided by the Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare. We require all suppliers to implement practices and pursue continuous improvement for:
- Freedom from hunger and thirst: by ready access to fresh quality water and a diet that maintains full health and vigor.
- Freedom from discomfort: by an appropriate environment, including shelter and comfortable resting areas.
- Freedom from pain, injury and disease: by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.
- Freedom to express normal behavior: by providing enough space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind.
- Freedom from fear and distress: by ensuring conditions and care that avoid mental suffering.
Our suppliers are required to implement and relay a zero-tolerance policy for willful acts of animal abuse and neglect, which must include a definition of what constitutes abuse and neglect, and potential consequences should abuse or neglect occur. In addition to eradicating willful acts of abuse and neglect, we expect our suppliers to adopt a proactive approach to demonstrate and assure sustainable farming practices and animal health and welfare by identifying and adopting relevant third-party standards to assure best practices.
As we continue our journey, we will continue to seek feedback from global experts on animal health and welfare to align with science-based practices. We will engage and work to adopt a comprehensive, systemic vision for animal health and welfare.
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In 1934, we became one of the first major U.S. companies to appoint a woman to its Board of Directors.
Since then, we have worked to ensure our Directors represent the interests of our shareowners and bring to their roles a diversity of experience, background and thought to best govern our company. The Board strives to maintain an appropriate balance of tenure, turnover, diversity and skills across its Directors as a whole.
The Board does not have a specific diversity policy but fully appreciates the value of Board diversity. Diversity is important because having a variety of viewpoints improves the quality of dialogue, contributes to a more effective decision-making process and enhances overall culture in the boardroom.
In evaluating candidates for Board membership, the Board and the Committee on Directors and Corporate Governance consider many factors based on the specific needs of the business and what is in the best interests of the company’s shareowners. This includes diversity of professional experience, race, ethnicity, gender, age and cultural background. In addition, the Board and the Committee on Directors and Corporate Governance focus on how the experiences and skill sets of each Director nominee complement those of fellow Director nominees to create a balanced Board with diverse viewpoints and deep expertise.
Our Board today is diverse across age, race and gender, and has a strong reservoir of experience. As of April 2023, six female Directors comprise 50% of the current Board, and 31% of Directors self-identify as ethnically/racially diverse.
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The current Board leadership structure comprises of a combined Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, and a Lead Independent Director, supported by Board committees led primarily by independent Directors and active engagement by all Directors. The Board believes that this structure effectively balances the Chairman/CEO’s strong company leadership and deep company expertise with appropriate safeguards, oversight and fresh perspective provided by independent Directors.
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The Board of Directors of The Coca‑Cola Company is elected annually by shareowners to represent their interests in the long-term financial health and overall success of the business. We believe that Directors with a diversity of experience, background and thought best represent shareowner interests and strengthen the overall governance of our company.
The key responsibilities of the Board are oversight of business strategy, risk oversight and succession planning. As the Company’s ultimate decision-making body, the Board provides advice and counsel to the Chief Executive Officer and other company leadership.
The Board has established several committees to give focused attention to certain important areas, including: an Audit Committee, a Talent and Compensation Committee, a Committee on Directors and Corporate Governance, a Finance Committee, a Management Development Committee, an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Public Policy Committee and an Executive Committee. The charter for each committee, as well as our Code of Business Conduct, Corporate Governance Guidelines and Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws, can be found here.
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Our Human Rights Policy, Supplier Guiding Principles and Principles for Sustainable Agriculture expressly prohibit child labor throughout our value chain. While child labor is not a significant risk in company-owned operations, there are risks deep within our supply chain, including at the farm level or downstream at recovery points for recyclable materials. We work diligently to address such risks through engagement with a wide cross-section of stakeholders.
We are an active member of the Child Labor Platform (CLP). Under the leadership of the International Labor Organization (ILO), the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the CLP takes a multi-stakeholder approach to identifying obstacles to the implementation of the ILO conventions in supply chains and surrounding communities, finding practical ways to overcome these obstacles, and catalyzing collective action.
One example of our work in the agricultural space involves commodity deep dives, such as on sugar. While our company does not typically purchase sugar directly from farms, nor are we owners of sugar farms, as a major user of sugar we are taking action to address the risk of child labor in sugarcane fields. We have conducted and published independent research studies of our sugar supply chain in 21 countries to evaluate risks of human rights violations, including a focus on child labor risks. Since their publication, we have been working with our partners on prevention and remediation.
As part of the company’s efforts to work toward ethical and sustainable sourcing of agricultural ingredients, Coca‑Cola joined the Fair Labor Association (FLA)-led Harvesting the Future (HTF) Project. The HTF project draws from a shared vision of partners to bring about large-scale change on child protection and responsible recruitment by pursuing a “multi-commodity, multi-company, multi-stakeholder approach.” HTF project has brought together over 30 ecosystem entities and is implemented in two phases. While Phase I highlighted the salient human rights and labor risks in the agricultural supply chain, Phase II is focused on remediation.
Additional Resources
- 2022 Human Rights Overview
- Human Rights Policy (English)
- Human Rights Policy (Other Languages)
- Principles for Sustainable Agriculture
- Supplier Guiding Principles (English)
- Supplier Guiding Principles (Other Languages)
- Human Rights Report
- Human Rights
- Human Rights Self-Assessment Checklists
- Overview of Country Sugar Studies on Child Labor, Forced Labor and Land Rights
- Country Sugar Studies
- Supplier Guidelines
Climate change is a priority issue for our business and is embedded in our strategy. We believe that we have a long-standing responsibility to reduce the carbon footprint of our operations; to manage short and long-term risks and impacts climate change has on our business; and to partner with businesses, organizations and communities to make an even greater contribution to driving meaningful actions to create positive change.
We continue to track and report our progress and strengthen our goals as needed to drive improved performance. We work to address many interconnected climate challenges, including ingredient and raw material scarcity, more frequent and severe natural disasters, water stress, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy management and packaging. For example, climate resilience is a key aspect of our water strategy; our sustainable agriculture practices include a focus on lower carbon emissions; and our World Without Waste initiative contributes significantly to our GHG reduction goals. We also recognize that the impacts of climate change are not equally felt across geographies and populations, which can exacerbate inequality and social unrest, and in turn, can also affect our business.
As of 2022, we reduced our emissions across Scopes 1, 2 and 3 by 7%, making progress toward our science-based reduction target of 25% by 2030 against a 2015 baseline. Our ambition is to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. In 2022, our Scope 1 emissions were 4.4 million metric tons, Scope 2 emissions were 3.5 million metric tons and Scope 3 emissions were 57.0 million metric tons.
Additional Resources
- Climate
- 2022 CDP Climate Change Response
- 2023 CDP Climate Change Response
- 2022 Business & Sustainability Report
- 2021 CDP Climate Change Response
- 2020 CDP Climate Change Response
To view additional reports, visit Policies and Practices.
[1] The calculation of progress toward our “drink in your hand” goal has been internally vetted using accepted and relevant scientific and technical methodologies, which are aligned with GHG Protocol Scopes 1, 2 and 3. Due to the nature of our franchise bottling system, our manufacturing emissions are normally split between Scopes 1 and 2 for company-owned facilities and Scope 3 for bottling partner facilities. However, in our “drink in your hand” calculations, we consider the full Coca‑Cola system (including franchise bottling partners) in the calculation of our manufacturing, distribution and refrigeration emissions, in addition to the emissions from our ingredients and packaging.
[2] The Science-Based Target is an absolute target, so we need to achieve these reductions even with continued growth.
The company plays an active role in the growth of the communities where it operates through several sustainable development initiatives which include water stewardship, community recycling and women’s economic empowerment and strives to have a positive impact in all communities across 63 countries and territories for a better shared future of these communities and its people. Separately, The Coca‑Cola Foundation, our company's primary international philanthropic arm, has awarded more than $1.5 billion in grants to support sustainable community initiatives around the world since its inception in 1984.
In 2022, The Coca‑Cola Foundation, the philanthropic arm of The Coca‑Cola Company, contributed $94.8 million to 301 organizations around the world to help create a better shared future for the communities our business serves. Grants funded by the Foundation complement the contributions of our company operating units and bottling partners.
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The Coca‑Cola Company and its Board of Directors is committed to good corporate governance, which promotes the long-term interests of shareowners, strengthens Board and management accountability, and helps build public trust in the company. We continuously engage with our shareowners and others to ensure that we are employing “best practices” at the Board level and for our shareowners.
As opportunities arise, we also update or enact new corporate governance policies or disclosure to enhance transparency and accountability.
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The quality and integrity of our products depend on a healthy supply chain with thriving farming communities. With our vast and global supply chain, it is critical for us to focus our attention and resources on areas of greatest risk and opportunity for influencing change. One area is deforestation which may occur in the supply chain as a result of the production of agricultural raw materials used in the Coca‑Cola system and value chain.
Priority ingredients at risk of causing deforestation, such as soy and timber, are part of our global sustainable sourcing priorities. Safeguards against deforestation are built into our global Principles for Sustainable Agriculture (PSA). We have discontinued products that require palm oil, except for some usage in our Global Ventures, such as food products sold at our Costa Coffee locations in the UK, which are Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certified.
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In emerging markets, we advocate for government regulations permitting the use of rPET in food and beverage packaging, and we seek ways to empower the informal waste collection sector in the circular economy.
In developed markets, we are working with industry peers to build collection infrastructures—including our more than 40 years of experience operating 40+ local Deposit Return Systems (DRS).
Countries with a well-designed DRS scheme, like Germany, can achieve high levels of collection (approximately 95% collection for PET bottles in Germany).
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As both a global and local business, diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the heart of our values, growth strategy and purpose to refresh the world and make a difference. We proudly invest in programs and partnerships to recruit and develop diverse talent; foster an inclusive workplace culture; and work to advance diversity and inclusion in the communities we serve.
Cultivating a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace is a strategic business priority that fuels creativity, innovation, and connection for our company — and a sense of belonging for our employees.
To that end, our 2030 aspirations are:
- To mirror the diversity of the markets we serve.
- In the United States, our ambition is to align our race and ethnicity representation to census data across all job levels.
- For our company to be 50% led by women globally.
Our inclusion efforts worldwide span five dimensions: gender identity, culture and heritage, generation and life experience, LGBTQ+, and ability and wellness.
We are also committed to disclosing our progress and driving accountability. In addition to sharing diversity and inclusion metrics with senior leaders on a quarterly basis, our annual Business & Sustainability Report includes data on employee representation by race and gender for both our total workforce and leadership, information submitted to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (our EEO-1 survey results), pay fairness statistics, and other information.
Additional Resources
- Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
- Equal Employment Opportunity Employer Information Reports (EEO-1)
- U.S. Racial Equity
- Our Culture
- Diversity Leadership Council
- Employee Groups
- Q&A with Lori George Billingsley, Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer
- 2022 Business & Sustainability Report
*Data as of December 31, 2020, for salaried and hourly employees. People of color is for U.S. workforce only. In 2020, we improved our approach to calculating representation data, rendering year-over-year comparison less meaningful at this time. This data excludes BIG, Costa and fairlife employees.
**Data as of Dec. 31, 2020, for U.S. salaried and hourly employees. This data excludes fairlife employees.
We have a long history of supporting local communities in times of crisis— a commitment we continued in 2022. In addition to our support for Ukraine, the Foundation provided approximately $4 million in funding for natural disaster and humanitarian relief efforts in 11 countries around the world, complementing financial and in-kind donations from The Coca‑Cola Company and bottling partners. In addition to supporting local communities, the Coca‑Cola system’s top priority following a natural disaster is to ensure the safety of all associates andtheir families. The Coca‑Cola EmployeeDisaster Relief Fund (EDRF) provided nearly $5 million (including humanitarian relief for Ukraine) through more than 4,000 grants to company and bottling partner employees impacted by naturaldisasters and humanitarian crises in 2022. The EDRF consists of contributions from The Coca‑Cola Company, The Coca‑Cola Foundation, bottling partners and system associates.
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We believe that a safe and healthy workplace is a fundamental right of every person and a business imperative. Everyday, the people who produce and distribute our beverages should leave work as healthy and safe as when they arrived. In recent years, we have made progress toward our goal of zero work-related injuries and illnesses for employees and contractors, driven by our vision of Zero Is Possible.
We provide more than 700,000 employees within the Coca‑Cola system with tools, training, and resources to ensure their safety. Our Coca‑Cola Operating Requirements (KORE) define the policies and standards for managing safety, the environment and product quality throughout our operations.
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Integrity is ingrained in our culture, inspires our work and strengthens our reputation. At The Coca‑Cola Company, we have a robust Code of Business Conduct (“Code”) that serves to guide the actions of our employees consistent with our company values. It enables our people to conduct themselves honestly and ethically; uphold our values and protect our reputation; understand what Coca‑Cola expects from them; make good decisions everyday; comply with the laws, regulations and standards that apply to our company; and understand where to go for assistance or guidance if they have questions.
The Code is also a steering principle for our employees to act responsibly, live by our values and play by the rules wherever we operate around the world.
The Code also applies to controlled subsidiaries and entities in which the company either owns a majority interest or manages operations. All employees must acknowledge that they are subject to the Code’s provisions. Employees also receive periodic training on the Code and must complete an annual Code certification. Anyone who works on the company’s behalf (including suppliers, consultants and other business partners) must share our commitment to integrity by following the principles of our Code when providing goods and services to the company or acting on our behalf. Suppliers, as a condition of working with us, must comply with our Supplier Code of Business Conduct and our Supplier Guiding Principles.
The company has an Ethics & Compliance Committee that is responsible for administering the Code in an independent, objective and consistent manner. The Committee is comprised of senior company leaders who enforce the Code and is overseen by our Chief Financial Officer, General Counsel and the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors.
Employees and third parties have confidential access to report Code of Business Conduct violations and other ethics and compliance concerns anonymously through the EthicsLine, a third-party phone and online service. Code violations may lead to disciplinary action aligned with the nature and circumstances of the violation, up to and including suspension without pay, loss of merit increases or annual incentives, and termination of employment. If an act violates the law, it could result in fines or criminal prosecution of the individual and/or company.
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We have a responsibility to help solve the global plastic waste crisis. That’s why, in 2018, we launched World Without Waste (WWW)—an ambitious, sustainable packaging initiative that is creating systemic change by driving a circular economy for our bottles and cans. As part of our WWW goals, we aim to collect and recycle a bottle or can for each one we sell by 2030. We are creating circular solutions for collection around the world, working with key partners across different recycling infrastructures. We believe that locally appropriate collection and recycling solutions can effectively turn old packages into new ones, reduce our carbon footprint and keep plastic out of the environment.
We strive to make beverage packaging part of the circular economy to solve the packaging waste and pollution crisis. We fundamentally believe that our packaging materials have value and that we need to capture that value and prevent it from becoming waste at the end of its life. Our goal is to create closed loop systems, extracting the maximum value from materials and products while in use, and then recovering and reusing or recycling them. Therefore, we work with policymakers and industry partners to advocate for effective Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) systems that provide an efficient, financially sustainable collection program for all recyclable materials to ensure we can collect more bottles and cans for recycling and reuse. EPR is commonly defined as shifting the responsibility of end-of-life management of products and materials to their respective producers. These systems aim to reduce the burden of municipalities; place a shared physical and/or financial responsibility for waste management on producers; and provide incentives for manufacturers to design resource-efficient and low-impact products.
We believe that well-designed EPR systems can play a key role in keeping packaging material out of the environment and in the circular economy. Good EPR schemes can motivate businesses and help us achieve our circular economy targets. This is why we joined more than 20 brands and retailers on The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Plastic Waste Coalition of Action to align with principles for effective EPR systems. This CEO-led effort has published a framework for EPR programs to support the development and improvement of waste management systems around the world and is now working to advance more progressive policies in key priority countries.
In Indonesia, through an industry coalition called PRAISE, we joined peer companies (Nestlé, Unilever, Danone, Tetrapak and Indofood) and government partners to launch the country’s first Packaging Recovery Organization (PRO) to increase collection and recycling of post-consumer packaging waste. Using the proven EPR model, the PRO initially will focus on plastic bottles, flexibles (mono- and multi-layered plastic) and beverage cartons, with a 2025 target to reduce marine plastic debris by 70%. The nonprofit focused initially in East Java and Bali, and in 2021 will expand to other regions.
We also became a founding member of the Malaysian Recycling Alliance (MAREA) in January 2021. The industry-led initiative will help support a circular economy through a focus on enhancing collection, promoting the use of recycled and renewable materials, and minimizing post-consumer packaging leakage into the environment. Leading fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies, including Coca‑Cola, have committed to establish an EPR model to boost the value chain through a multistakeholder approach.
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The Coca‑Cola Company’s Human Rights Policy, Supplier Guiding Principles and Principles for Sustainable Agriculture prohibit the use of all forms of forced labor, including prison labor, indentured labor, bonded labor, military labor, slave labor and any form of human trafficking.
This prohibition on forced labor is embedded into contractual agreements between the company and direct and authorized suppliers. The company expects supplier partners to develop and implement appropriate internal business processes to ensure compliance with these principles and we closely monitor implementation through independent third-party audits. Each year, The Coca‑Cola Company facilitates more than 2,000 third-party audits of company office locations, franchise bottlers, and suppliers and more than 30,000 third-party audits since the audit program began in 2003.
In addition to the third-party audits completed at company and supplier sites, The Coca‑Cola Company is an active member of various industry and cross-sector initiatives aimed at eradicating human trafficking and forced labor. We are a founding member of the Leadership Group for Responsible Recruitment, which advocates for the “Employer Pays Principle” and our Vice President for Global Human Rights co-chairs the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) workstream focused on addressing forced labor.
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The Coca‑Cola Foundation, our company’s global philanthropic arm, is committed to making a difference by giving back to communities around the world. Since its inception in 1984, the Foundation has awarded more than $1.5 billion in grants to support sustainable community initiatives. As of 2022, our giving is focused on impacting six core areas: Sustainable Access to Safe Water; Circular Economy; Climate Resilience and Disaster Preparedness and Response; Economic Empowerment; Hometown; and Employee Giving.
In 2022, The Coca‑Cola Foundation contributed $94.8 million to 301 organizations around the world to help create a better shared future for the communities our business serves. Grants funded by the Foundation complement the contributions of our company operating units and bottling partners.
Additional Resources
- The Coca‑Cola Foundation
- Foundation Coronavirus Contributions
- Foundation 2020 Grants
- The Coca‑Cola Foundation Awards Grants Totaling $35 Million
- 2022 Business & Sustainability Report
- Communities
[1] The Company achieves 1% operating income giving by donating funds to The Coca‑Cola Foundation which the Foundation then uses to support charities within its giving pillars.
Freedom of Association is one of 13 salient human rights issues associated with our business activities and relationships.
We respect our employees’ right to join, form or not to join a labor union without fear of reprisal, intimidation, or harassment. Where employees are represented by a legally recognized union, we are committed to establishing constructive dialogue with their freely chosen representatives in addition to bargaining in good faith with such representatives. Over 30% of the 700,000+ associates in the global Coca‑Cola system are unionized.
Similarly, our Supplier Guiding Principles (SGPs) request suppliers and business partners to respect Freedom of Association and the right to bargain collectively and audits are conducted with our suppliers and bottlers against these principles. Additionally, we have developed extensive guidance on Freedom of Association and the right to bargain collectively to support our Operating Units in fully respecting these important human rights.
Freedom of Association and the right to bargain collectively are part of the International Bill of Human Rights and the International Labor Organization’s (ILO’s) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
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As a company we continuously work to promote gender parity within our business operations at all levels. Our aspiration is to be led by 50% women globally by 2030. Investments in human capital, in particular investing in women’s empowerment, can spur economic growth and foster sustainable development.
In 2022, the company’s total global female workforce stood at 44% and 39% of senior leadership positions were held by women, reflecting progress made over the years.
We have signed several global and U.S. gender equality pledges underscoring our commitment to ensure women are represented at all levels of our company:
- UN Women’s Empowerment Principles
- Catalyst CEO Champions For Change
- CEO Act!on for Diversity & Inclusion
- LEAD Network
- Lean In - #MentorHer
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Climate change is a priority issue for our business and, as a global company, we have a long-standing strategy to reduce our carbon footprint. Our approach to climate is threefold: to reduce the impact our business has on the climate, manage risks and impacts climate change has on us, and partner with others to make an even greater contribution.
We continue to work and develop solutions related to climate-related issues including Greenhouse Gas emissions. Our carbon footprint represents total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced directly or indirectly from our company’s activities, broken down into three categories:
- Scope 1 Emissions (Direct GHG Emissions): Emissions occurring from sources owned or controlled by our company. This includes the combustion of fossil fuels within our buildings and fuel consumption in fleet vehicles.
- Scope 2 Emissions (Indirect GHG Emissions): Indirect emissions resulting from the generation of purchased energy. This includes the emissions resulting from the generation of electricity, heat and steam we purchase from a utility provider.
- Scope 3 Emissions (Other Indirect GHG Emissions): All other emissions in the value chain, both upstream and downstream. This includes emissions from growing and processing ingredients; from producing and landfilling our packaging; and our customers’ use of our refrigeration units.
Our target to reduce absolute Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions by 25% by 2030 is aligned with the climate science reflected in the Paris Agreement. We also support a vision to be net zero carbon by 2050, and our Science-Based Target is a critical milestone that supports this longer-term ambition.
Achieving these reductions will require us to continue the progress we have made over the last few years. The work we are doing through sustainable agriculture and product reformulations will help us to achieve the target. As we look at our ingredients, we are assessing which have the highest GHG footprint, and then putting in place plans to switch ingredients and work with suppliers to reduce our impact.
As of 2022, we reduced our emissions across Scopes 1, 2 and 3 by 7%, 1 making progress toward our science-based reduction target of 25% by 2030 against a 2015 baseline. Our ambition is to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Several of our bottling partners have announced their own science-based targets and net zero pledges to drive climate action across the global Coca‑Cola system. In 2022, our Scope 1 emissions were 4.4 million metric tons, Scope 2 emissions were 3.5 million metric tons and Scope 3 emissions were 57.0 million metric tons.
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The Coca‑Cola Company strives to respect and protect human rights in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Our commitment starts with making sure all employees have safe, supportive and respectful workplaces. Our Human Rights Policy, which is available in 17 languages, sets the framework for ensuring that we meet this commitment within our own operations and those over which we have management control. Tools and training help our global operations abide by the policy, which is reviewed and updated on a regular basis, and we encourage employees to report any possible violations through multiple channels. Our Supplier Guiding Principles (SGP) align with our Human Rights Policy and are included in all contractual agreements with direct and authorized suppliers.
Yearly, we conduct approximately 2,500 third party audits and have initiated third-party studies to evaluate key issues, starting with child labor, forced labor and land rights in the sugarcane supply chain. Since 2013, we have published more than 20 third-party, country-specific studies to identify human rights risks in our sugar supply chain, starting with child labor, forced labor and land rights while improving working conditions through multi-stakeholder partnerships. In 2017, we published a Human Rights Report outlining our due diligence efforts.
The Company continues to develop comprehensive guidelines and processes to help ensure human rights are respected and promoted across the value chain.
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As a total beverage company with an ever-expanding portfolio of choices, we source a wide range of agricultural ingredients from a complex global supply chain. Ensuring that these ingredients are produced in a way that respects farm workers and their communities while also protecting ecosystems is important to us. Our goal is to sustainably source all our ingredients over time. We publicly report on our 12 global priority ingredients—such as sugar, corn, fruit, coffee, tea and soybeans. In 2022, 64% of our global priority ingredient volumes were sustainably sourced to our leader standard, in line with our Principles for Sustainable Agriculture.
We work with our suppliers to promote practices and build capabilities covered in our Principles for Sustainable Agriculture (PSA), which span human and workplace rights, environmental protection, responsible farm management and animal health and welfare. Our suppliers must demonstrate that they are meeting the criteria by using global standards, including The Farm Sustainability Assessment of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform, the Bonsucro sustainable sugarcane standard and Rainforest Alliance certifications.
We currently track PSA compliance of 12 global priority ingredients representing about 80% of our total annual agricultural ingredient purchases. In 2022, 64% of these ingredient volumes was sourced sustainably (up from 8% in 2013).
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Land is a source of food and livelihood for many, yet in many countries land rights are not properly registered. In response to this challenge and Oxfam’s 2013 Behind the Brands campaign on this issue, we committed to responsible land acquisition and Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). Although we do not typically purchase ingredients directly from farms, nor are we owners of farms or farmlands, we acknowledge that as a major buyer of several agricultural ingredients, we have a responsibility to act and use our influence to help protect the land rights of local communities.
Land rights has been identified as a salient human rights issue for The Coca‑Cola Company. We added protocols on land rights into our Supplier Guiding Principles and assessment process, developed a Responsible Land Acquisition Guidance for suppliers and developed training materials. In partnership with Landesa, our sugar country studies focused in on land rights. When risks are identified, we work with our supplier partners to address the challenge.
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The Coca‑Cola Company and our bottling partners pay competitive wages for our sector. The Company also has policies and procedures to ensure that our suppliers adhere to human rights standards and all legal wage requirements (see links to policies in Additional Resources below). Annually, the Company performs more than 2,000 third-party audits across our value chain to verify compliance with our Supplier Guiding Principles, which include clear expectations on working conditions and pay.
Recently, The Coca‑Cola Company has been engaged in cross-industry collaboration and stakeholder dialogue to address the challenge of living wage. There are many aspects to this issue, including the role of governments in setting minimum wages and the manner in which living wage is calculated in diverse contexts. We are actively engaging on the topic of living wage as part of our commitment to respect human rights across our value chain. To navigate the complexities, we have partnered with Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) to evaluate living wage in our own operations as well as identify opportunities in the supply chain. We are researching and assessing various calculation methodologies and analyzing wage structures across our global operations. We have also joined with industry peers to share practices and approaches to advance the topic under the auspices of AIM-PROGRESS.
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We are listening to our consumers. As part of our Beverages for Life strategy, we continue to invest in bringing more drinks in more categories — including plant-based beverages, juices, fortified drinks and purified water — to more people in more places. We are also adding vitamins and essential micronutrients to our beverages to make them more nutritious.
In 2020, we announced plans to streamline our beverage lineup to improve efficiency and drive brand building and innovation. Our new portfolio prioritizes brands with the greatest potential to scale and grow, including those in the Nutrition, Juice, Milk and Plant categories.
Some examples include:
- Minute Maid Vita Punch is a range of juice drinks containing a blend of apple, pineapple, mango and guava juice. The drinks also contain micronutrients, including magnesium and potassium, and provide 100% of one’s daily requirement of vitamin C to support immunity.
- Minute Maid Nutriforce is a ready-to-serve juice drink containing delicious blends of home-grown fruits from India with the added benefits of micronutrients. They contain a blend of seven micronutrients—iron, zinc, vitamin B2, vitamin B12, folic acid, vitamin A and vitamin C, which are all essential nutrients for the healthy development of children.
- Minute Maid Vitingo is a juice drink with a clinically proven formula that contains seven essential micronutrients: iron, vitamins C, A, B2, B12, folic acid and zinc. Vitingo is offered to consumers in India at a very affordable price point to support those with micronutrient deficiencies, particularly women and children.
- NUTRIBOOST is part of our new and innovative functional dairy products for kids and young adults. It is a delicious and nutrient boosted milk drink with essential nutrients for health and growth - protein, calcium, fibre and vitamin D. It has been rated Five Stars on the Health Star Rating system.
- Del Valle Nutri Vegetables was introduced to support consumers to reach the recommended intake of fruits and vegetables per day in one beverage.
- AdeS is range of plant-based beverages (almond, soy, coconut) fortified with vitamins and minerals, available in various pack sizes, bringing consumers a strong source of protein and fiber (soy). The range of products have no added sugar.
- POWERADE® POWER WATER, available in three flavors, offers a zero-sugar way to power through a workout. It is packed with B vitamins and our unique ION4 Advanced Electrolyte System.
- Simply Almond Unsweetened has just four simple, all-natural ingredients, and is dairy free and gluten free.
- fairlife® ultra-filtered milk offers consumers a natural, 100% milk with 50% more protein and 50% less sugar than regular milk. It is also offered in a DHA enhanced product that has 125 mg DHA Omega-3 fatty acids to support brain health.
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The Coca‑Cola Company is a leader in the food and beverage industry putting clear, easy-to-find nutrition information on the front of our packages to support informed consumer choice. In 2009, The Coca‑Cola Company became the first beverage company to voluntarily provide consumers with front-of-pack calorie labeling. In 2011, the company became the first beverage company to have front-of-pack labeling on nearly all its products globally in 2011. These front-of-pack labeling efforts are in addition to back-of-pack labeling on nearly all our products globally.
Nearly 100% of our products globally, except water, provide front-of-pack energy/calorie information. We’re also making our online product nutrition information more transparent and easier to navigate.
Easy-to-understand nutrition labeling supports other steps we are taking to embrace consumers’ evolving preferences and complements our responsible marketing policies and practices. Front-of-pack nutrition labels have been identified as being able to help improve the dietary habits of populations and aid in the prevention of obesity and non-communicable diseases. They can help consumers interpret the nutritional quality of products by providing simplified nutritional information. There are several labeling schemes being used globally, and we will ensure ongoing compliance or voluntarily implement labeling schemes that help consumers make informed choices.
The Coca‑Cola Company has global regulatory labeling requirements for labeling front and back of packs, including labeling of micronutrients. The Coca‑Cola Company provides clear, accessible nutrition information on its packages in line with national regulatory requirements in the markets where we sell our products. Where regulations do not exist, nutrition information is provided in line with Codex Alimentarius, the International Food Standards established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
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The world has a packaging problem. Plastic bottles, cans, and other containers keep ending up in our oceans and waterways or littering the communities in which we all live and work.
This is a problem we committed to help solve. In January 2018 our global CEO, James Quincey, announced an industry-first goal to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle or can we sell globally by 2030.
Our ‘World Without Waste’ sustainable packaging initiative has signaled a renewed focus on our entire packaging lifecycle — from how bottles and cans are designed and produced, to how they’re recycled and repurposed by focusing on three fundamental areas: design, collect and partner.
Our goal under the ‘design’ pillar is to make 100% of our packaging recyclable globally by 2025 — and use at least 50% recycled material in our packaging by 2030. In 2020, 90% of our packaging was recyclable globally, and we used 22% recycled material in our packaging overall, with 11.5% recycled material in our PET plastic packaging.
These are some of the initiatives we are working on to make our packages more sustainable:
Reducing Virgin Plastic
We have set a goal to reduce our global use of virgin plastic derived from non-renewable sources by a cumulative 3 million metric tons from 2020-2025. This goal represents the equivalent of taking out a full year’s worth of our current rate of virgin plastic use over the next five years. We are working to achieve an ongoing reduction of virgin plastic through a variety of methods: increasing use of renewable and recycled materials, using less material per package, and offering more refillable options and “bring your own package” solutions.
100% Recycled Plastic Material (rPET)
In markets around the world, we’re offering packages made of 100% rPET and transitioning our Sprite packaging from green to clear—making it easier to recycle. We offer beverages packaged in 100% rPET in around 30 markets and growing (including Australia, Switzerland, the Philippines, Peru and South Africa). In 4 of our markets (Iceland, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden) we have transitioned to 100% rPET for our whole locally produced portfolios. In early 2021, our North America business announced a series of 100% rPET innovations spanning our portfolio and including multiple brands and packaging sizes. Combined, these innovations will result in a 20% reduction in use of new (virgin) plastic across our North American portfolio compared to 2018 and collectively reduce an estimated 10,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.
Packaging Innovations
Some plastics have high value and lend themselves to being part of the circular economy. Others are hard to reuse or recycle and have little value. We are prioritizing and recycling higher-value plastics and turning them into new bottles, replacing hard-to-recycle plastics, and innovating with new technologies to advance circularity for plastics in the middle. We also continue to invest in leading-edge and innovative technologies for alternative packaging and options. For example, our R&D team in Brussels collaborated with Danish startup Paboco to develop The Coca‑Cola Company’s first-ever paper bottle prototype, which will be transitioning from the lab to the marketplace through a limited online trial in Hungary.
We are also continuing to work to remove all unnecessary and hard-to-recycle plastics. For example, Coca‑Cola European Partners introduced CanCollar®, a paperboard-based ring solution for multipack cans in Spain and Coca‑Cola Hellenic Bottling Company have began the rollout of KeelClip™ technology in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Austria as the first step in its commitment to replace plastic wrap on all can multipacks in its European Union markets.
Refillable Packaging
Refillable packaging is among the best packaging options for reducing our carbon footprint. Around the world, we are focusing on increasing our refillable packaging footprint. More than 20% of our global portfolio is in refillable or fountain packaging today. For example, as of 2020, reusable bottles represented 27% of transaction sales in Coca‑Cola Latin America and were the fastest-growing packaging format in 2018 and 2019. Several markets in Latin America such as Colombia and regions of Brazil have adopted the innovative “universal bottle” to drive efficiency of collection, cleaning and filling by offering multiple brands in the same reusable bottle.
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Our Approach
At The Coca‑Cola Company, we believe in equal pay for equal work. Pay equity is an important pillar of our diversity, equity and inclusion strategy.
Our approach to compensation is grounded in principles of fairness and equity for all employees. We believe that employees in the same job, or similarly situated jobs, should be paid fairly and equitably for their work. We work with external experts to identify and adjust unfair disparities in our pay structures. In the United States, we have conducted pay equity analyses for many years to ensure our pay practices are fair. We have also rolled out gender-based pay equity analyses across our offices globally.
What is a pay equity analysis, and how is it conducted?
To ensure neutrality, we engage independent, third-party experts to conduct pay equity reviews. They analyze compensation of employees performing similar work or hold similar roles to identify and address unfair disparities and ensure that all employees are paid fairly and equitably for comparable work, regardless of their race/ethnicity (U.S. only) or gender (globally).
What is the difference between a pay equity analysis and market rate analysis?
Our pay equity analysis focuses on ensuring that our employees are paid equitably as compared to their internal peers. External market rates of pay are not considered as part of the internal pay equity analysis. The company’s market benchmarking analysis compares employees’ compensation levels to similar roles in peer organizations.
Looking Ahead
We are working to embed our pay equity philosophy into our business practices and processes. It is also our intent to evolve our pay equity analysis to look beyond levels of base pay to broader aspects of Total Rewards.
We will continue to build on the progress we have made by accelerating and advancing our pay equity agenda.
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Our responsibility to help create a better shared future extends into our bipartisan political contributions from both a company and Coca‑Cola Political Action Committee (PAC) perspective. We consider it our duty, and our responsibility, to make our views clear to those who have the potential to impact the laws, regulations and policies that can influence our global business.
The ESG & Public Policy Committee of our Board of Directors annually reviews and approves all U.S. political contributions from both PAC funds and, where allowed by applicable law, the company’s general treasury funds. We have always taken a bipartisan approach to political contributions, and we have always evaluated our giving based on our political engagement criteria, which we share publicly.
In 2020, we updated our political giving policy to ensure we are evaluating a broader range of criteria. And following the events that unfolded in the U.S. Capitol in January 2021, our company and PAC suspended political giving to further review how we best use our resources to promote and advocate for the things we believe in and align with our company’s purpose and values.
We do not make independent political expenditures, including electioneering communications, in support of the election or defeat of a particular candidate independent of that candidate or his/her campaign committee.
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Our Political Engagement policy allows us to engage in conversations and act on issues we care about and thus is a high priority for our business. By being an active participant in these discussions and through political engagement, we seek to make a difference in the communities we serve.
Political engagement takes on many forms, including lobbying, as a way for organizations (including NGOs and companies) to ensure their views are heard or at least considered; political contributions to candidates; involvement with trade associations, which lobby on behalf of the companies, organizations, causes and industries they represent; and direct advocacy, which is central to policymaking.
Since we serve a diverse array of constituencies—customers, consumers, employees, distributors, bottlers, small business suppliers, government, community partners, shareowners and more—we participate in all these public policy and governance avenues. We consider it our responsibility, to make our views clear to those who have the potential to impact the laws, regulations and policies that can influence our global business. Our advocacy work in the United States focuses on three core areas: Environmental Policy, Health & Wellness, and Fiscal Policy.
In 2020, we built on this achievement by announcing a target to reduce our total GHG emissions by 25% by 2030, regardless of our volume growth. This Science-Based Target, which aligns with climate science reflected in the Paris Agreement, supports our ambition to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
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Our commitment to meeting consumer’s trust and their expectations for refreshing, high quality, and safe products manufactured in a sustainable way is central to our company’s philosophy. The Coca‑Cola Company (TCCC) and our bottling partners work tirelessly every day to manufacture and deliver products of the highest quality and safety to our customers and consumers. Quality and food safety are foundational to our company and are embedded in our purpose to refresh the world and make a difference.
We are a world class leader in the products we serve as a result of strong product quality, diligence in standards, continued testing and auditing, and taking a progressive view on innovation and science techniques.
Food safety is integral to our gold standard of quality. Our fundamental responsibility is to ensure safety standards for the products we produce and distribute. Safety and product quality are a fundamental part of our product design, manufacturing and proactive consumer feedback processes. Our robust supplier requirements program is intended to ensure quality throughout the supply chain.
Governance & Stewardship
Our high standards are set so a quality product can be enjoyed around the world. We demand our standards and policies are met for all products we serve in every country where we operate and sell our products.
The Coca‑Cola Operating Requirements (KORE) define the policies, standards and requirements for managing our quality & food safety responsibilities across our operations. In addition to requiring compliance with applicable legal laws and regulations, KORE requires that our manufacturing facilities implement FSSC 22000 (internationally recognized standard for food safety) that ensures the provision of resources to achieve the organization’s food safety objectives, together with the fostering of continual improvement in food safety performance.
To guide us in working to achieve a safe, quality product, KORE also defines a rigorous set of operational controls to manage known risks. These controls generally align with top global requirements and consensus standards, local regulatory needs, and where needed, establishing our own standards to protect consumers.
Our governance framework includes regulatory compliance, standards, requirements and guidelines for all aspects of the supply chain, including:
- Product Formulation
- Supplier Management
- Ingredients
- Packaging
- Labeling
- Claims and Communications
- Manufacturing
- Equipment
- Occupational Safety
- Environmental Protection
- Marketplace Management
- Risk
We promote continuous improvement through innovation and collaboration with industry and partners. We have a continual program for audit and measuring our performance against safety and quality standards.
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We do not target our advertising to children under age 13, anywhere in the world. We are committed to not market any of our products—regardless of nutritional profile—to children under the age of 13 and in media where 30% or more of the audience is composed of children under 13. Our Responsible Marketing Policy clearly states that we will respect the role of parents and caregivers by not marketing directly to children under 13.
Specifically, this means we will not advertise in: All media which directly targets children under 13, including shows, print media, websites, social media, movies and SMS/email marketing. We define media that directly targets children under 13 as media in which 30% or more of the audience is composed of children under 13, where this information is possible to obtain.
We respect and apply all local regulations that define children at a higher age threshold.
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The Coca‑Cola Company’s purpose is to refresh the world and make a difference.
Our vision is to craft the brands and choice of drinks that people love, to refresh them in body and spirit. And done in ways that create a more sustainable business and better shared future that makes a difference in people’s lives, communities and our planet.
Transparent collaboration with stakeholders is essential to achieving our purpose. We believe that meaningful partnerships can drive collective action and build shared opportunities for people and communities around the world.
On our dedicated webpage ‘TRANSPARENCY IN PARTNERSHIPS: OUR APPROACH TO STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH’, we provide a holistic overview of our partnership across two important areas:
- STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT: We outline our approach to partnerships and the key stakeholders with whom we engage to drive progress in our business and priority sustainability topics, including information on U.S. trade associations.
- SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH: We outline our research principles, share published research on key topics we have supported or funded since 2008, provide details about our sweeteners research program, and continue to disclose our well-being scientific research and partnerships.
Honoring the rights of parents and caregivers to make choices for their children is the cornerstone of our Responsible Marketing practices. We believe in commercial-free schools for children and we do not allow any marketing or advertising in schools.
Our Global School Beverage Policy establishes principles to guide our practices across the more than 200 countries where our products are consumed. They apply to all beverages directly distributed by our local bottling partners to primary and secondary schools that bear trademarks owned and/or licensed by The Coca‑Cola Company. As a global enterprise that operates as a local business, we abide by all local regulations and industry voluntary commitments related to the sale of beverages in schools.
When we offer our beverages for sale in primary schools, we will allow the sale of only:
- Water (still/sparkling, plain/flavored).
- 100% fruit/vegetable juices and smoothies.
- Dairy (low/no fat, plain/flavored). Local regulations will define “low-fat.” In all cases, fat must be ≤2%.
- Plant-based drinks (low/no fat, plain/flavored).
- Additionally, if requested, we will make our full range of products available in teacher’s lounges or areas for teachers which are restricted from students.
We will not permit branding on vending machines or coolers, except for the selection button.
When we offer our beverages for sale in secondary schools, we will work with school authorities to ensure that a full range of beverages (including water, juices and other beverages in both regular and low-or no- sugar versions) is made available. Where primary and secondary school students share a common area or building, our approach, in dialogue with school authorities, will be commensurate with the majority of the student population.
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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were first launched in 2015 and are a core part of the agenda developed by the 193 member states of the United Nations to work toward the future we want, one where all people thrive within a healthy environment. These 17 goals—geared toward a 2030 timeframe—and their related 169 targets have become an important framework for companies to rally around as they address an array of complex, interrelated global issues.
We evaluate the 17 SDGs and focus our core sustainability actions where we can make the biggest impact in collaboration with partners. We recognize that we cannot achieve any of the SDGs on our own. Yet, as a global company with a wide supply chain and consumer reach, we have a significant role to play in meeting many of these ambitious aims.
We have taken a closer look at where we can make direct contributions to the SDGs, whether through collaboration with our partners and industry peers, supplier engagement, or in other places where we have leverage to amplify our positive impacts.
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We are committed to continuous, active shareowner engagement. We greatly value the insights and creative suggestions that our shareowners often share with us during the course of our engagement efforts and have used many of these to develop “best practices” that our shareowners currently benefit from.
For example, our shareowners have the right to call special meetings, the right to present proposals at our annual meeting of shareowners and proxy access. Our Company By-laws outline the rights of shareowners, with information on the annual meeting and proxy statement, as well as voting protocols and processes for nominating directors and presenting proposals. More information can be found in the Shareowners section of our website.
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Companies like ours support and play a significant role in creating the systemic change necessary to achieve a more just and equitable society, a more sustainable economy and a healthier planet. We believe that businesses, governments, NGOs and civil society can make a greater impact collectively vs. individually by working together through meaningful partnerships to build shared opportunities for people and communities globally.
Multi-stakeholder collaboration is especially critical with our bold moves to make significant strides toward eliminating plastic waste, reducing carbon emissions, ensuring access to clean water and achieving racial equity. We are committed to engaging proactively with partners and stakeholders—which include bottling partners, suppliers, consumers, customers, industry partners, governments and NGOs—in countries where we operate.
Insights and feedback from consistent dialogue with our key stakeholders inform our sustainability strategy across our goals. Stakeholder feedback is also fundamental to our priority assessments, which guide our sustainability strategy, engagement, reporting and disclosure. When engaging with stakeholders, we apply the principles of transparency, inclusiveness, consistency, and accountability to promote positive impact and create a virtuous cycle of collaboration.
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As we continue to evolve as a total beverage company and respond to consumers’ desires for more choices across categories, we are reducing added sugar while providing more drinks with nutrition benefits; optimizing our mix of products; offering more small packaging choices; and providing consumers with clear nutrition information.
Our initiatives in sugar reduction remain a high priority as global concerns about obesity and health continue to grow. Some consumers want nutritional benefits and less sugar in the goods they consume.
We’re responding to consumers’ evolving preferences by adjusting our recipes to reduce added sugar, promoting low and no-calorie beverage options and making smaller packages more available to enable portion control while still delivering more of the beverages they want.
We are one of the few companies to publicly support the recommendation of leading health authorities, including the World Health Organization (WHO), that people should limit their intake of added sugar to no more than 10% of their total calorie consumption. We are proud to partner with industry stakeholders and to participate in sugar reduction initiatives worldwide, tailoring our approach to help reduce the intake of added sugars. As a company we continue to market our beverages responsibly and to provide easy-to-understand nutrition information and labelling on our products.
- Over the last four years, we removed 900,000 tons of added sugar from our global portfolio through efforts to reformulate more than 1,000 beverages.
- 36% of our beverage portfolio and 29% of our global volume is low-or no- calorie.
- 44% of our sparkling brands come in packaging of 8.5 fluid ounces or less.
- We support more than 50 calorie and sugar reduction pledges globally, in collaboration with industry peers.
- Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar’s double-digit growth with availability in more than 170 markets.
In 2020, we announced plans to streamline our beverage lineup from more than 400 master brands to approximately 200, with a focus on those with the greatest potential to scale and grow. As we rationalize our portfolio, our sugar reduction strategy remains top of mind.
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Supplier diversity is an integral component of our diversity management strategy. We are focused on increasing the overall diversity of our supplier base and are committed to spending $1 billion annually with diverse suppliers in the coming years. By including our customers and consumers in our procurement strategy, we help develop stronger local communities, support diversity and inclusion, while creating long-term growth and competitive advantage for our business.
We are committed to ensuring that minority-owned businesses have access to opportunities throughout our global supply chain by maximizing procurement opportunities and proactively engaging and building partnerships with diverse suppliers.
In 2020, we committed to more than doubling spending with Black-owned enterprises across our U.S. supply chain—by at least $500 million cumulatively—over the next five years. Related to this commitment, we announced new outside legal counsel guidelines in January 2021. Through these commitments and others, we endeavor to have a greater impact towards a diversified and inclusive supply chain and procurement system within the beverage sector.
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Our goal is to sustainably source 100% of priority ingredients across our agricultural supply chain, including natural sweeteners (cane sugar, beet sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, stevia), fruit juices (orange, lemon, apple, grape, mango), coffee, tea, soybeans and timber products (pulp and paper). This requires supplier farms growing our ingredients to meet leading global sustainability standards that are aligned with our new Principles for Sustainable Agriculture (PSA) and cover human and workplace rights, environmental protection, animal health and welfare, and responsible farm management.
A sustainable and resilient agricultural supply chain has never been more critical to our interrelated goals, especially around climate, water, human rights and women’s enablement. In 2020, we completed a comprehensive review of our Sustainable Agriculture Guiding Principles (SAGP) and their governance, and in 2021 we issued new Principles for Sustainable Agriculture (PSA). Based on input from multiple stakeholders and experts, we updated and strengthened our expectations on sustainable agricultural practices across our ingredients and plant-based packaging materials— to include human rights, labor and income, the protection of water sources, ecosystems, forests and biodiversity, and animal welfare.
A comprehensive bottler and supplier governance system was also introduced that aims to encourage continuous improvement toward credible global assurance schemes and standards across our agriculture supply chain. Similarly, our suppliers are audited on a regular basis to monitor their compliance with our PSAs in their operations. In cases where we identify areas of risk or lack of compliance, we work with the supplier to bring their operations into compliance and create standards to continue working together.
Additional Resources
- 2023 CDP Forests Response
- 2022 CDP Forests Response
- 2021 CDP Forests Response
- Principles for Sustainable Agriculture
- Principles for Sustainable Agriculture Supplier Guide
- Supplier Guiding Principles
- Sustainable Ingredients Policy
- Human Rights Report
- Summary Human Rights Sugar Report
- Sugar Supply Chain Studies
- Responsible Land Acquisition Guidance
- Costa Coffee Responsible Sourcing
- Innocent Sustainable Business
- Animal Health and Welfare Guiding Principles
- Fairlife Animal Welfare
- 2022 Business & Sustainability Report
*Data is based on supplier reporting according to our assurance requirements, which is consolidated and internally validated.Results can fluctuate due to changes in volumes and sourcing origins while we get new suppliers on board with our requirements.
Our Board’s Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) and Public Policy Committee has overarching responsibility for our company’s sustainability goals and results. This committee assists the Board in overseeing policies, programs and related risks concerning environmental, social, legislative, regulatory and public policy matters, including progress against our company’s ESG goals. Additionally, the committee reviews workplace and human rights practices, shareowner proposals, public policy advocacy efforts and political and charitable contributions to ensure alignment with company policy.
The ESG and Public Policy Committee receives monthly updates on priority sustainability issues and regularly reviews investor sentiment related to the company’s environmental and social footprint.
In 2020, we built on this achievement by announcing a target to reduce our total GHG emissions by 25% by 2030, regardless of our volume growth. This Science-Based Target, which aligns with climate science reflected in the Paris Agreement, supports our ambition to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
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We aim to provide comprehensive and transparent sustainability disclosure. Explore the following resources for more information on our reporting.
For an index of our policies and practices, visit Policies, Practices and Reports.
2023 Reporting and Assurance Resources
2022 Reporting and Assurance Resources
2021 Reporting and Assurance Resources
- 2021 Business & Environmental, Social and Governance Report
- 2021 Business & Environmental, Social and Governance Report Highlights
- 2021 World Without Waste Report
2020 Reporting and Assurance Resources
- 2020 Business & Environmental, Social and Governance Report
- 2020 Business & Environmental, Social and Governance Report Highlights
- 2020 Reporting Frameworks and SDGs
- 2020 World Without Waste Report
- 2020 5by20 Report
- 5by20® Independent Accountants’ Review
- Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN) Independent Accountants' Review
- 2020 Carbon Accounting Manual
Reporting Archive
2019
- 2019 Business & Sustainability Report
- 2019 Business & Sustainability Report Highlights
- 2019 Reporting Framework Indexes
- 2019 World Without Waste Report
- 2019 Water Progress Update
- 2019 Water Replenishment Projects
2018
2017
2016
CDP
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
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We use sugar alternatives in some of our products because we know that many people want the choice of great-tasting beverages with less sugar and fewer calories. We are always rethinking many of our recipes to provide options with less sugar and fewer or no calories. To do this, we use a range of artificial sweeteners or sugar substitutes, like Stevia leaf extract, acesulfame potassium, sucralose and aspartame.
Over the past decade we have invested heavily in natural sweetener research leading to the discovery, development and commercialization of sweeteners by The Coca‑Cola Company and partners. We only use sugar alternatives that have been thoroughly tested in scientific studies and are confirmed as safe by globally recognized authorities, including FAO/WHO Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA); and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
When used as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle, low- and no- calorie sweeteners can help us meet current public health recommendations to reduce excess sugar consumption without affecting the enjoyment of sweet-tasting foods and drinks.
Our people are at the heart of our company and play a major part in our purpose to refresh the world and make a difference in the countries and communities where we operate. We are focused on developing an inclusive and respectful work environment where employees across our entire workforce are empowered to speak with truth and candor, raise concerns and implement new ideas in the best interests of themselves and the business.
The Board of Directors is directly involved in leadership development and succession planning, primarily for CEO succession, but also have oversight of other executive officer positions. The Compensation Committee has direct oversight for human capital management, which includes corporate culture, diversity and inclusion, pay equity, health and safety, training and development, and compensation and benefits.
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Millions of people across Africa lack access to safe and clean water for drinking, cooking and basic sanitation. In 2009, backed by a $65 million commitment, The Coca‑Cola Foundation introduced the Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN) to improve water access — and measurably improve lives.
Over the course of 2008-2020, RAIN made catalytic investments to impact more than 6 million people across 41 countries and territories through a range of water-based initiatives tailored to address local community needs. The key focus areas included:
Managed by the Global Environment & Technology Foundation, RAIN harnessed resources from a vast network of more than 300 partners, including governments, the private sector and civil society to support projects with multiple socioeconomic benefits.
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Water is a priority for The Coca‑Cola Company because it is essential to life, our beverages and the communities we serve. It is also critical to public health, food security, biodiversity and the climate crisis. The world is experiencing increased water scarcity, with demands for safe, usable water exceeding supply in certain areas.
We have operations nearly everywhere in the world - in more than 200 countries and territories. That means we have a responsibility to accelerate our efforts to help address water stress, protect local water resources and help build community climate resilience - communities' ability to adapt to these changing conditions. That's why our 2030 Water Security Strategy is focused on accelerating the actions needed to increase water security where we operate, source ingredients and touch people's lives.
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Our 2030 Water Security Strategy is focused on accelerating the actions needed to increase water security where we operate, source ingredients and touch people's lives. We do that by contributing toward sustainable, clean water access that improves livelihoods and wellbeing while protecting against water-related disasters. We also work to preserve nature and biodiversity as well as to promote advanced water management practices.
Our 2030 strategy is grounded in the fact that water is a shared resource. As such, our work is organized to address water security in our operations, our watersheds and our communities.
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Upholding the fundamental principles of international human and workplace rights everywhere we do business is a major commitment of our company and we believe that the true measure of a well-managed business is not just whether it is financially successful, but how it achieves that success.
We are dedicated to maintaining a productive workplace by driving to minimize risk of accidents, injury and exposure to health risks for all associates and contractors. Additionally, we are devoted to maintaining workplaces that are inclusive and free from violence, harassment, intimidation and other unsafe or disruptive conditions due to internal and external threats. Security safeguards for employees are provided and maintained with respect for privacy and dignity.
We compensate employees competitively relative to the industry and local labor market, and where applicable in accordance with terms of collective bargaining agreements. We work to ensure full compliance with applicable wage, work hours, overtime and benefits laws.
Our Human Rights Policy (HRP) and Supplier Guiding Principles (SGP) communicate our values and expectations of suppliers/independent bottlers and emphasize the importance of responsible workplace practices that respect human rights and comply, at a minimum, with applicable environmental and local labor laws and core international conventions addressing working hours, compensation, working conditions and the rights of employees to choose whether to be represented by third parties and to bargain collectively.