The Bottled Truth: Coca-Cola’s New 2035 Environmental Goals Face Sustainability Backlash

The Coca-Cola Company, which produces billions of bottles and cans each year, announced a new set of environmental goals for 2035, reflecting shifts in its approach to sustainability. These new targets revise earlier commitments across packaging, water stewardship, and carbon emissions. It marks a recalibration of the company’s long-term environmental strategy.

While some objectives remain steadfast, others have been scaled back or removed altogether. As such, Coca-Cola has come under fire from environmental groups for scaling back its carbon emissions and other sustainability commitments.

Here are the company’s new sustainability targets, as outlined in its updated environmental goals.

Climate Action: A New Approach to Carbon Emissions

The beverage giant has set a goal to reach net zero by 2050, while Coca-Cola in Europe has a more ambitious target of achieving it by 2040.

The company has revised its climate targets. Its previous goal was to cut absolute carbon emissions by 25% by 2030, based on a 2015 baseline. The Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) classified this target as aligned with a 2°C global warming trajectory.

The updated 2035 goal, however, no longer includes an absolute emissions reduction target. Instead, Coca-Cola aims to reduce Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions in line with a 1.5°C trajectory, using 2019 as a baseline.

While this change aligns with more ambitious climate scenarios, it lacks specific percentage reductions previously outlined. This shift raises questions about Coca-Cola’s commitment to ambitious climate action, especially as the 2015 Paris Agreement calls for significant reductions to limit global warming.

As stated in the company’s 2023 environmental update, Coca-Cola has made progress in reducing its absolute carbon emissions based on original targets:

8% decline in absolute emissions against a 2015 baseline.
Systemwide renewable electricity use up 24% in 2023, from 21% in 2022.

Below is the company’s greenhouse gas emissions for three years. Both Scopes 1 and 2 have decreased in 2023 compared to 2021. But Scope 3 emissions (value chain emissions) have increased.

Packaging Goals: A Shift in Focus

In 2023, Coca-Cola’s operations generated nearly 6 million tonnes of packaging. These include 137 billion plastic bottles and 74 billion aluminum and steel cans, according to company data. This is why the company must focus on this sustainability area.

Packaging has been a cornerstone of Coca-Cola’s sustainability efforts, particularly through its 2018 “World Without Waste” initiative. This program set ambitious goals:

Ensuring all packaging is 100% recyclable by 2025,
Using at least 50% recycled content by 2030, and
Collecting a bottle or can for every one sold by 2030.

In 2022, Coca-Cola added a goal for 25% of its beverages to be sold in refillable containers globally.

In its latest update, Coca-Cola reported significant progress toward making all packaging recyclable, with 90% already meeting this standard. However, the company acknowledged falling short on other packaging goals.

The recycled content target has been reduced from 50% by 2030 to a new range of 35%-40% by 2035. Similarly, its collection goal has been adjusted to 70%-75% by 2035, down from 100% by 2030.

The company also removed its goal for refillable packaging, explaining that it will focus on areas with existing infrastructure for reusable containers. Instead, Coca-Cola plans to prioritize increasing recycled content in primary packaging and improving collection rates.

Its revised efforts will center on two key pillars:

“Design,” which involves creating packaging that is fully recyclable, and
“Partner to Collect,” emphasizing advocacy for well-designed collection systems and investments in local recycling infrastructure.

coca-cola collection — Image from Coca-Cola website

The soda manufacturer also made significant changes in its water use and agricultural sourcing.

Water Stewardship: A Broadened Commitment

Water management remains a critical component of Coca-Cola’s sustainability framework. The company reaffirmed its commitment to replenish more than 100% of the water used in its finished products globally, a milestone it has consistently achieved since 2015.

Additionally, Coca-Cola expanded its focus on water in high-risk locations. Previously, the goal was to return 100% of water used in 175 high-risk sites by 2030.

Now, the target encompasses all high-risk locations—more than 200 sites—by 2035. This broader commitment reflects the company’s growing emphasis on supporting local ecosystems and communities where water resources are under stress.

Agriculture and Sustainable Sourcing

Coca-Cola has removed its goal to source 100% of its priority agricultural ingredients according to its Principles for Sustainable Agriculture.

Despite this, the company pledged to continue working with suppliers and third-party stakeholders to advance sustainable sourcing practices. Efforts will focus on reducing water use, lowering emissions, preventing deforestation, and conserving high-risk areas in its supply chain.

From Ambition to Adjustment: A Strategic Recalibration

Coca-Cola considered these adjustments a strategic recalibration based on decades of sustainability work, assessments of progress, and emerging challenges. In its press release, the company acknowledged the complexity of these issues and the need for more efficient resource allocation to deliver meaningful impact.

Bea Perez, Coca-Cola’s Executive Vice President and Global Chief Communications, Sustainability & Strategic Partnerships Officer, emphasized the importance of collaboration in addressing these challenges.

“We remain committed to building long-term business resilience and earning our social license to operate through our evolved voluntary environmental goals. These challenges are complex and require us to drive more effective and efficient resource allocation and work collaboratively with partners to deliver lasting positive impact.”

Yet, critics argue the adjustments undermine progress in combating pollution and climate change. Moreover, advocacy groups call on the company to uphold stronger environmental standards.

Revised Targets, Renewed Criticism: What’s Next for Coca-Cola?

Coca-Cola’s retreat comes at a time when global negotiations on reducing plastic pollution face significant hurdles. Talks for the world’s first legally binding UN treaty on plastics recently stalled, reflecting broader challenges in tackling the plastics crisis.

Environmental organizations have strongly criticized Coca-Cola’s revised carbon emissions, packaging, and water management goals. Oceana’s Matt Littlejohn labeled the new approach “short-sighted” and warned it could exacerbate the flood of single-use plastics entering waterways and oceans.

Further, Coca-Cola’s softened sustainability stance coincides with growing legal pressures on beverage companies for their plastic waste. In October 2024, Los Angeles County sued Coca-Cola and PepsiCo for misleading claims about the recyclability of their products, arguing that most plastics cannot be disposed of without harmful environmental effects.

The controversy arising from this environmental update underscores the tension between corporate sustainability promises and the practical challenges of implementing them. Coca-Cola’s revised goals reflect a more cautious approach, but the backlash highlights the growing demand for bold action in addressing global environmental and sustainability crises.

FURTHER READING: McDonald’s Balances Sales Decline with Bold Sustainability Goals

The post The Bottled Truth: Coca-Cola’s New 2035 Environmental Goals Face Sustainability Backlash appeared first on Carbon Credits.