Forward on water

Treating water with the care it deserves

On 23rd February 2024, CCEP jointly completed the acquisition of CCBPI. Some information on this page will be updated in due course to reflect the addition of the Philippines to our business. 

Water is an essential and precious resource – however, climate change is exacerbating water stress and scarcity in many parts of the world. We treat water with the care it deserves, aiming to improve our water use efficiency and protect local water sources for future generations.

Water is critical to our business. It’s the main ingredient in our products, essential to our manufacturing processes and critical to ensuring a sustainable supply of the agricultural ingredients we depend upon.

Water is also one of the world’s most precious resources, however climate change is exacerbating water stress and water scarcity in many parts of the world. We are witnessing water shortages, droughts and floods in regions where we produce our products or source our ingredients.

To address water scarcity and water quality challenges, we adopt a value chain approach to water stewardship, focusing on water efficiency within our own operations and working to protect the future sustainability of the water sources that our business, our communities and our suppliers rely upon.

We’re focused on improving the water efficiency of our manufacturing and cleaning processes. We also aim to return 100% of our wastewater safely to nature, and replenish 100% of the water we use in our beverages.

Our actions support UN Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation.

water

Our commitments

  • Water reduction
  • Water protection
  • Water replenishment
Water reduction
We monitor our water use, setting annual targets and identifying opportunities to improve the water efficiency of our manufacturing and cleaning processes
CCEP Barcelona Plant 580x486

We aim to make our production facilities as water efficient as possible and we measure performance through our water use ratio.

We monitor our company-wide water use, setting annual targets and identifying opportunities to reduce our consumption. 

We’re continuing to invest in water saving systems to make our manufacturing and cleaning processes more water efficient.

 

Water protection

We’ll protect the sustainability of the water sources we use for future generations.

CCEP Watewater treatment 580x486

To help protect our water sources, all of our  production facilities carry out source water vulnerability assessments (SVAs) every five years.

We ensure that 100% of our wastewater is safely returned to nature. Before water is discharged from any of our manufacturing sites, we apply the highest standards of treatment.

 

Water replenishment

We aim to replenish 100% of the water we use in our beverages, in partnership with local NGOs and community groups

CCEP Water replenishment 580x486

Together with TCCC and The Coca-Cola Foundation (TCCF), we have supported multiple replenishment programmes across our territories in recent years.

In 2022, we supported 21 water replenishment projects across Europe and 6 in API, resulting in the replenishment of 105.5% of the water we sourced to make our drinks.

 

With the support of The Coca-Cola Foundation, we will be able to restore biotopes such as fens and wet heath in order to return unique plants and animals to nature.  

Filip Hebbrecht

Responsible Partnerships at Natuurpoint

Our progress in 2023

%

of our production facilities have set context based water targets

Litres of water used per litre of finished product

%

of the water we used in our beverages was replenished

Our positions

We believe action is driven by clear intent. This is why it's important to us to be transparent on our approach to the topics that matter to progressing our This is Forward strategy.

Our position on

  • Water Stewardship
Water Stewardship

Why it matters

Water is a vital resource which is essential to nature, the communities we serve and the beverages we make. It is the main ingredient in our products, critical to our manufacturing processes and to ensuring a sustainable supply of the agricultural ingredients we depend upon.

Water-related risks continue to increase and deepen around the world as many of the natural systems that provide water – watersheds – are deteriorating to the extent that ecological benefits and services can no longer be sustained.

 We have a responsibility to contribute to the ability of watersheds to sustainably support thriving businesses, communities and nature in the areas where we operate and source ingredients. We do this via water stewardship.

A watershed (also commonly referred to as a catchment or basin) is an area of land where all water that enters it, either through precipitation or springs, drains to a common outlet or outflow point, such as a stream, lake, wetland or estuary. Investing in watershed protection and restoration is therefore a critical part of the solution to achieving water security.  Healthy watersheds are essential for supporting  sustainable communities, livelihoods and business operations. Watershed health investments can also help sequester carbon to help mitigate climate change, maintain biodiversity and support adaptation to climate change impacts.

What is water stewardship?

Watershed health challenges  cannot be solved by individual efforts alone. Water stewardship enables water users to work together to identify and achieve common goals for shared water security with the goal of reducing watershed degradation.

 

We have a strong track record in water stewardship and know that, to be good water stewards, we need to understand the interdependencies between our use of water and watershed health and act collectively on the shared challenges in our local watersheds.

Our approach

For all our production sites, we have developed context-based water reduction targets. These help us to address the needs of the local watershed by reducing the water consumption of our manufacturing and cleaning processes and reusing and recycling wastewater. We also return pre-treated wastewater to nature from our operations.

Water efficiency is measured by a water-use ratio. In 2022, our water use ratio was lower than the industry average at 1.6 litres/1 litre of product produced and we will continue to reduce it further.

In addition to these site-specific metrics, we aim to replenish 100% of the total volume of the water used in our finished drinks. This means returning water to nature and communities which helps to protect and reinstate watersheds that foster biodiversity and contribute towards secure access to water. We do this in partnership with local NGOs and community groups in our main operating and sourcing regions.

Our context-based approach to water security also enables us to prioritise action in the watersheds which face increased levels of shared water challenges. We call our sites in these watersheds ‘leadership locations’. We endeavour to elevate our water stewardship further in these locations to achieve 100% regenerative water use by 2030. This means that, each year, the water withdrawn at each leadership location should be equal to the volume of water that is returned to the local watershed through replenish projects and the beneficial use of wastewater such as for irrigation or recreation.

 

Collective Action

To improve watershed health, we need to engage with as many of the stakeholders in each watershed as possible. We believe collective action, advocacy and transparency are essential to create meaningful change and greater global impact on water security. This is why we adopt The Alliance for Water Stewardship standard, endorse the CEO Water Mandate and were a signatory of the 2023 Business Leaders’ Open Call to Accelerate Action on Water.

 

Our Position on Water Stewardship