{"id":13289,"date":"2016-11-04T17:29:19","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T21:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/keeping-coca-cola-hydrated-how-climate-change-can-affect-water-availability-for-the-company\/"},"modified":"2016-11-04T17:29:19","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T21:29:19","slug":"keeping-coca-cola-hydrated-how-climate-change-can-affect-water-availability-for-the-company","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/keeping-coca-cola-hydrated-how-climate-change-can-affect-water-availability-for-the-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Coca-Cola Hydrated: How climate change can affect water availability for the company"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coca-Cola is one of the largest food \/ beverages company in the world, with over 125 years\u2019 history of selling some of the most iconic brands in US Culture (Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero). With its operations spanning the globe (except only Cuba and North Korea), its supply chain has a large global footprint to produce 1.6 billion servings per day.[1] But this scale makes Coke more vulnerable to climate change and its consequent implications. An important one among them is water scarcity that is becoming more pronounced due to increasing temperatures.<\/p>\n

Understanding the problem of fresh water scarcity starts with distribution of water on the planet. Approximately 98% of our water is salty and only 2% is fresh. Of that 2%, almost 70% is snow and ice, 30% is groundwater, less than 0.5% is surface water (lakes, rivers, etc) and less than 0.05% is in the atmosphere.[2] Rising temperatures interfere with the natural water cycle that may result in drastic changes in rainfall, glacier-melting, river flows and groundwater replenishment.<\/p>\n

Coca-Cola sells value-added water, so water availability is critical for the business. However, dependence on water goes much deeper into Coke\u2019s products. Most of the other ingredients in company\u2019s products depend on agriculture (sugar cane, corn syrup, stevia, tea, coffee, oranges, lemons, grapes, apples, mangos, pulp and paper fiber for packaging, palm oil and soy)[3], and agriculture is the biggest consumer of fresh water supplies (70% of total water use). [4] Therefore, any disruption in water availability can have serious implications for business operations and continuity.<\/p>\n

From the Coke\u2019s side, most the efforts are centered around conserving water in its operations. A liter of Coke used up almost 2.6 liters of clean water in 2005 (1.5 being wasted in production process). Realizing the increasing pressure on ground-water availability (largest source of water used), Coke committed in 2005 to go water neutral by 2020.[5] This means replenishing all water used in its finished goods back to the local ecosystem and communities. They have reported to achieve this goal five years in advance, through increasing water usage efficiency in manufacturing operations and implementing projects such as protecting watersheds, raising awareness and building storage infrastructure for local communities. [6]<\/p>\n

\"water-replen\"<\/a> \"water-usage\"<\/a> \"wur\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Coke has made great progress on plugging water wastages in its operations and setting ambitious goals for the next five years. However, it needs more focus on broader implications of water scarcity for its agricultural suppliers. It has started a Sustainable Agriculture program but that is mostly targeted at improving working conditions for the farmers and reducing forced or bonded labor. Given NASA\u2019s report that the aquifers at the highest risk of water scarcity are support the most productive elements of world agriculture (areas such as U.S. High Plains, California\u2019s Central Valley, China, India),[7] Coke should increase the scope of its water management efforts from manufacturing efficiency to active management of its supplier risk and collaboration.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1] http:\/\/www.coca-colacompany.com\/our-company<\/a><\/p>\n

[2] https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2012\/nov\/30\/climate-change-water<\/a><\/p>\n

[3] http:\/\/www.coca-colacompany.com\/stories\/setting-a-new-goal-for-water-efficiency<\/a><\/p>\n

[4] http:\/\/www.mckinsey.com\/business-functions\/sustainability-and-resource-productivity\/our-insights\/water-as-a-scarce-resource-an-interview-with-nestl-and-233s-chairman<\/a><\/p>\n

[5] http:\/\/www.coca-colacompany.com\/sustainabilityreport\/world\/water-stewardship.html#section-meeting-our-goal-for-water-efficiency<\/a><\/p>\n

[6] http:\/\/www.coca-colacompany.com\/stories\/collaborating-to-replenish-the-water-we-use<\/a><\/p>\n

[7] http:\/\/www.nature.com\/nclimate\/journal\/v4\/n11\/full\/nclimate2425.html<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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