• by Danielle Oster , December 9, 2024

Coca-Cola is pushing back the timeline for its voluntary environmental goals, primarily centered around water usage and packaging, from 2030 to 2035. 

In an announcement of the change on its website, Coca-Cola noted that the company was “prioritizing goals and actions that seek to improve water security in high-risk locations, reduce packaging waste and decrease emissions, and is extending the timeframe to 2035.”

The company also appears to have pulled back significantly on some of its sustainability benchmarks. The company’s packaging sustainability goals were updated to set the benchmark of using 35%-40% recycled materials in its primary packaging  (plastic, glass and aluminum) – as well as increasing its use of recycled plastic globally to 30%-35% – by 2035. Coca-Cola previously set a goal of reaching “at least 50% recycled content in our packaging by 2030,” as outlined in its “2023 Environmental Update.”

It also appears that Coca-Cola will fail to reach an impending deadline outlined in that document.  The company had previously set the goal of making 100% of its packaging recyclable globally by 2025, noting that 90% of its packaging globally was recyclable already.  In its recent update, Coca-Cola notes that “Almost all (more than 95%) of the company’s primary consumer packaging is designed to be recycled, and it is working to resolve the remaining packages,” – without setting any clear time frame for reaching 100%.

The company also pulled back on more ambitious goals around ensuring the collection and recycling of its packaging. Its new goals include helping to ensure “the collection of 70% to 75% of the equivalent number of bottles and cans introduced into the market annually,” instead of its previous goal to “Collect and recycle a bottle or can for each one we sell by 2030.”

Coca-Cola set the goal of continuing to return “ more than 100% of the water used in finished products globally, on an aggregate level, to nature and communities,” noting it has accomplished or exceeded the goal every year since 2015. Its future-facing goals for water use center around prioritizing returning 100% of water used across over 200 locations the company identified as having the highest risk levels related to water security across the Coca-Cola system – updating its previous goal of meeting that benchmark across 175 locations by 2030.

The company also ended its practice of setting voluntary agricultural suitability goals altogether, while claiming it will “continue initiatives and programs with suppliers and third-party stakeholders to support sustainable sourcing of agricultural ingredients.”

Coca-Cola has touted its environmental aspirations in its marketing -- including a “Recycle Me” global OOH campaign launched around Earth Day this past April -- which may have led to legal challenges contending the company is engaging in “greenwashing” practices. In late August, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled that Coca-Cola must face a lawsuit brought by Earth Island Institute alleging it engaged in deceptive marketing practices by misleading consumers about the extent of its sustainability efforts -- reversing a previous decision dismissing the case.