News
One year on from our net zero 2040 ambition: how we're taking action
23/11/2021
COP26 made clear the urgency for businesses to deliver bold climate action. At Coca-Cola Europacific Partners we took a significant step last year, by setting an ambition to reach net zero by 2040 and reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30% by 2030 (vs. 2019).
These are ambitious targets, and we are accelerating the decarbonisation of our business. Our targets are aligned with a 1.5C pathway and are approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). This means that we have a credible goal that will require meaningful and sustained action.
A year on from announcing our commitment, I want to share some of the progress we have made – in our own business and through our ongoing work with our customers, partners and suppliers.
Our actions are reducing emissions across our entire value chain. We will do this as far as we can – and then, and only then, will we offset where necessary to help us reach net zero.
- Collaborating with our suppliers --helping them to reduce their emissions by setting science-based emission reduction targets and supporting them in switching to 100% renewable electricity.
- Making our manufacturing sites more sustainable -- in 2021 two of our sites were certified as carbon neutral, with six more sites planning to follow by the end of 2023.
- Reducing our transportation and distribution emissions -- we have joined the EV100 initiative to accelerate our transition to electric vehicles, and are shifting our use from road to rail where we can.
- Working together with our customers -- to create sustainable solutions, including initiatives to support the hospitality industry on its net zero journey, and running reusable packaging trials with retailers.
The environmental impact of our packs is key to our net zero ambition, and we continue to reduce the footprint of our packaging in a number of ways. A key action for us is driving down the use of virgin plastic from fossil fuels by:
- Piloting innovative refillable packaging and dispensed solutions, allowing consumers to enjoy our drinks with less packaging, and with a lower carbon footprint.
- Reducing the material used in our packs through lightweighting, and removing unnecessary and hard to recycle plastic packaging from our portfolio.
- Accelerating the use of recycled content in our packaging and working towards a circular economy for plastic we do use.
Our business has grown this year through the acquisition of Coca-Cola Amatil and next year we will revise our climate targets to include our new territories. We will continue to push ourselves to go further, faster and decarbonise our business. Our continued listing on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) this year demonstrates the ongoing progress we are making.
We understand the vital role that we have to play in reducing GHG emissions and protecting the future of our planet. Taking bold action is critical and will require us to transform our business.
I would like to thank all of our colleagues, customers, partners, suppliers and stakeholders who are working with us to take the action required to tackle climate change. We still have a long way to go but we are determined, now more than ever, to work together to achieve our sustainability ambitions.
