Are Coke's Water Conservation Intentions for Real?

Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet at 11:15 AM on April 17, 2008.

Coca-Cola just began their annual shareholders meeting yesterday and they were met with resistance from activists and some shareholders when it came to their environmental commitments.

"Coke is working very hard to avoid addressing reasonable questions about product quality testing and disclosure, all the while talking about its rigorous safety and quality requirements," said Gigi Kellett, national director of Corporate Accountability International's Think Outside the Bottle campaign. "People are wondering what exactly this corporation has to hide."

It seems Coke is trying to green (or blue) its image, but anyone with any real concern about the environment and our water crisis aren't buying it. Folks have been calling on the company to report on water quality, label their water sources, and stop pumping in regions that already have limited amounts of water.

One of the areas particularly hard hit has been India. As the India Resource Center reports:

A recent study funded by Coca-Cola confirmed that the company's bottling plants contribute to severe water shortages around some of its bottling plants in India. The report also recommended the closure of a bottling plant in Kala Dera in Rajasthan and cautioned Coca-Cola on the declining water tables in Mehdiganj in Uttar Pradesh.

"Coca-Cola's own report as well as government studies have confirmed what we have been saying all along -- that the company has worsened the water crisis for thousands of people," said Nandlal Master of Lok Samiti which coordinates the community campaign against Coca-Cola in Mehdiganj.

How has Coke responded? They've come up with some initiatives that don't hold much weight. Here's the rundown from Corporate Accountability International:

• The TERI Report. Though Coke has spun the report green, the 500-page study by The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) raised serious questions about decreased groundwater levels near bottling facilities. In fact, three of the six plants surveyed had been sited in areas where water resources were already overburdened. "[T]he basic focus of the Coca-Cola Company water resource management practices is on the business community -- community water issues do not appear to form an integral part of the water resource management practices of the Coca-Cola company," according to report authors. These findings support what community groups in India have been saying for years. "The report was an attempt to hid certain facts and 'whitewash' the corporation's operations," said R. Ajayan of the Plachimada Solidarity Committee. "But the Coca-Cola corporation's attempts to regain its lost credibility has once again failed."
• The CEO Water Mandate. This voluntary, United Nations-endorsed initiative is being promoted as a way for corporations to make progress in protecting water resources. However, according to more than 125 public interest leaders from 35 countries, it lacks enforcement mechanisms, is fraught with conflicts of interest, and risks implicating the U.N. in corporate greenwashing. That's why it is being challenged as a "thinly veiled public relations effort."
• Coke's Environmental Partnerships. Coke has entered into a partnership with the World Wildlife Fund to the tune of $20 million to fund watershed protection programs in seven global watersheds. While promising on the surface, the initiative has some communities affected by Coke's bottling asking, "how can the corporation justify contributing to water scarcity in some watersheds, to pay for the protection of others?"

Thankfully, activist groups are keeping the pressure on. But it raises some other questions about how we hold corporations accountable to environmental sustainability when they're drawing up the regulations.

You can read more about the statements Corporate Accountability International and its allies are giving to the Coca-Cola board of directors and shareholders.

And you can learn more about the Think Outside the Bottle, community struggles, and for facts about bottled water.

Tagged as: coke, water, water scarcity, water shortage, water privatization, bottled water

Tara Lohan is a Managing Editor at AlterNet.