Word: coking
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...Coke denied polluting water and sucking wells dry in India, but Seabright admits it mishandled the controversy on the p.r. front. "If people are perceiving that we're using water at their expense, that's not a sustainable operation," he says. "We sell a brand. For us, having goodwill in the community is an important thing." Last December, Coke spent $10 million to establish the Coca-Cola India Foundation, which has already installed 320 rainwater harvesting structures in 17 Indian states, and plans to provide clean drinking water to 1,000 schools...
...essential that Coca-Cola addresses water issues as part of its corporate social responsibility program, says Jeff Seabright, the company's vice president of environment and water resources. Population growth and climate change mean that water is no longer available in seemingly limitless quantities - and Coke needs to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. "It's great that companies used to hand out checks for scholarships or to clean up litter," says Seabright, "but increasingly the real relevance is using the company's core competence to address issues that are of societal concern...
...Coke isn't the only company tilting its CSR program toward the environment. Strained natural resources and growing pressure from NGOs, governments and consumers are forcing firms to address sustainability. In the past, "shareholder interests have dominated how the economy is run," says David Bevan, a sustainability expert at the University of London Royal Holloway's School of Management. "Now, it's more about being a community player." But Coke's water-conservation efforts go beyond altruism. It's trying to protect its brand and ensure the availability of a crucial ingredient. By 2025, two-thirds of the global population...
...Coke knows the risks well. In 2002, residents of Plachimada, a village in India's southern state of Kerala, accused the company's bottling plant there of depleting and polluting groundwater. Two years later, the local government forced Coke to shut down the plant. In 2006, when a New Delhi research group found high levels of pesticides in Coca-Cola and PepsiCo's locally produced soft drinks, several Indian states banned their sale. The incidents were particularly worrisome because they hurt Coke's brand in a rapidly developing market that's considered key to future growth...
...company is likewise trying to avoid incurring public wrath in China. In the first quarter of this year, Coke's sales there rose by 20% compared with the same period last year; sales growth in North America was flat in the quarter. But in the future, double-digit increases could be constrained by China's environmental problems. China is home to roughly 20% of the world's population, but only about 7% of the world's water. That means there are some 300 million people living in water-scarce areas - and increasingly, citizens and officials are becoming more militant about...