Coca-Cola Hellenic Publishes its Ninth CSR Report and Announces the Completion of its Water Stewardship Programme Across its Operations

ATHENS, Greece, June 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Against a challenging economic background, Coca-Cola Hellenic, one of Europe's leading bottlers of non-alcoholic beverages, is reaffirming its commitment to sustainable manufacturing across the 28 countries in which it operates.

Today the company published its ninth Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report  highlighting the measurable progress it has made in a range of environmental indicators to conserve some of the planet's most precious resources. An online version of the report is available at http://csrreport.2011.coca-colahellenic.com/

In preparing the report the company worked to the most stringent criteria and robust international standards and for the second consecutive year, has been independently audited to reach an 'A+' rating according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

WATER STEWARDSHIP  

Water stewardship is critical to the company's ability to grow. "No Water, No Business" was the challenge Coca-Cola Hellenic set for itself in 2008.

Three years later Coca-Cola Hellenic has passed a significant milestone in its comprehensive programme on Water Stewardship.

In 2011, the company met its longstanding goal to ensure that 100% of all wastewater in its 28 countries of operation is treated to levels that support aquatic life. To achieve this, it operates 44 purpose-built on-site effluent treatment facilities.

In addition, absolute water use declined in 2011 for the third consecutive year, and has decreased by 6% since 2004.  

Consequently, the company's operational water footprint today is 58% smaller than it was in 2004 - despite increasing sales volume of 55% in the same period. By 2020, we aim to reduce our relative water consumption by 40% and our operational water footprint by 75% vs 2004.

Source Vulnerability Assessments to analyse the risk of supply and water quality (to the bottling plants and the local communities) have also been completed at all plants.

The company also works to raise awareness of water sustainability, tackle water use in its supply chain and protect its watersheds. A range of water stewardship programmes are in place in communities in partnership with governments, NGOs and conservation groups. In 2011, 5000 volunteers from its operations and in the local community cleaned more than 750 kilometres of river banks, beaches and waterways, reforested more than 200,000 square meters of land and other similar projects.

These achievements across its operations are complemented by alternative energy programmes such as the construction of nine Combined Heat and Power units, the installation of 5.2 MW of solar energy rooftop panels on its Italian bottling plants as well as a geothermal energy recovery project. 87% of production waste is now recycled or recovered, and landfilled waste has dropped 65% despite a 55% higher production volume.

Looking beyond its own operations, Coca-Cola Hellenic works with suppliers and other business partners to address wider sustainability issues. Across its supply chain, packaging is lighter, contains more recycled content is being increasingly recovered.  Coolers are being made more energy-efficient and increasingly use HFC-free refrigerants which do not cause global warming. Suppliers in the agricultural sectors are also being engaged to address their impacts.

In the Community, the company invested €8 million in a host of projects and engaged more than 3 million people in sports and fitness programmes. It continued to actively participate in long-term partnerships, maintaining its status as a Notable Reporter of the UN Global Compact (UNGC), and partnerships with agencies such as UNDP, UNEP and UNESCO.

The company maintains its listing on the FTSE4Good Index for the tenth consecutive year and on the Dow Jones Sustainability World and European STOXX indexes for the fourth year running.

SOURCE Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Co SA