Coca-Cola to become 'water neutral'

London, 7 June: The world's largest beverage company this week pledged to become 'water neutral' and return to nature all the water used by its bottling plants.

Coca-Cola chief executive Neville Isdell said: "Our goal is to replace every drop of water we use in our beverages and their production." The company and its bottlers used 290 billion litres of water last year. However, no timescale to achieve water neutrality was specified.

The pledge came with the announcement of a partnership with WWF to conserve and protect freshwater resources. At the WWF annual meeting in Beijing on Tuesday, Coca-Cola committed $20 million to help conserve seven freshwater river basins, support more efficient water management in the company's operations and global supply chain, and reduce the company's carbon footprint.

The company has been working with WWF for a number of years on water projects and this announcement represents a scaling-up of the commitment.

"The water crisis is as important as climate change," said Carter Roberts, president of WWF-US. "Thousands of people die each day from polluted water. Freshwater species are more at risk for extinction. These conditions will only get worse with climate change. The Coca-Cola Company's commitment to water neutrality is a first. We need more companies to step up and make similar commitments if we are going to reverse these current trends."

Coca-Cola will focus its actions in three areas:

• Reducing the water used to produce its beverages – setting specific efficiency targets by 2008;
• Recycling water used in manufacturing processes – returning all water used for global manufacturing processes to the environment at a level that supports aquatic life and agriculture by the end of 2010; and,
• Replenishing water in communities and nature – balancing the water used in its finished beverages.

Unlike carbon, the concept of neutralising water use is not well defined and presents a major challenge for the partnership. Coca-Cola and WWF said it will involve supporting a range of local water preservation efforts, such as harvesting rain water, reforestation and improving water efficiency in farming.

The Atlanta-based company and its franchises operate bottling plants worldwide. Coca-Cola has recently been the target of campaigning in India, where neighbouring communities have complained of water depletion and pollution.

Conservation efforts will focus on seven of the world's most important freshwater river basins: China's Yangtze; southeast Asia's Mekong; the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo in the US and Mexico; the rivers and streams of the southeastern United States; the water basins of the Mesoamerican Caribbean Reef; the East Africa basin of Lake Malawi; and Europe's Danube River.

These watersheds were chosen because of their biological distinctiveness, opportunity for meaningful conservation gains and potential to advance issues of resource protection, WWF said.