Coca-Cola's Latest Environmental Scam

By Amit Srivastava, India Resource Center. Posted December 6, 2008.

Located primarily in rural areas, the hardest hit have been farmers who have seen significant declines in crop production, as well as women who now have to walk farther to access potable water. A study funded by Coca-Cola -- which the campaign forced it to agree to -- confirmed that Coca-Cola is a significant contributor to the water crises, and one of its key recommendations is that Coca-Cola shut down its bottling plant -- in Kala Dera in the state of Rajasthan -- where the community has been campaigning against Coca-Cola.

The study -- a damning indictment of Coca-Cola's water management practices in India -- concluded that the Coca-Cola Co. had sited its bottling plants in India from strictly a "business continuity" perspective that has not taken the wider context into perspective. It also warned Coca-Cola of worsening water conditions around its bottling plants, found an alarming increase in pollution as one got closer to Coca-Cola bottling plants and faulted the company on pollution-prevention measures, among others.

In typical fashion, Coca-Cola has chosen to ignore the findings of the study -- which it paid for and even participated in -- and is now insisting that shutting down the Kala Dera plant and leaving is not an option because the responsible thing to do is to stay and solve the problem because they are "problem solvers!"

Lies and Half-Truths: Coca-Cola's CSR

Last month, the Coca-Cola Co. released its 2007/2008 sustainability review, and surprisingly, critical issues facing the company's operations in India do not find mention in the review. Needless to say, the company gives itself high marks in its sustainability report. We can understand that mentioning the company's atrocious record in India would not look good for a company that is on a fast track toward manufacturing a green image of itself. But surely a company cannot just choose to ignore the fiercest battleground it faces when it comes to measuring Coca-Cola's sustainability?

Evidently, if you are Coca-Cola, you can conveniently choose to omit the most critical issues facing the company's use -- or abuse -- of water. The sustainability report must look good, and facts do not matter. One of Coca-Cola's champion projects in India to deflect attention away from the water crises it causes is rainwater harvesting, a traditional Indian practice.

Although the company started operations in India in 1993, it only had four rainwater-harvesting structures in 2001 -- definitely not a priority for the company. As the community-led campaigns against Coca-Cola's water abuses spread around India, so did Coca-Cola's championing of rainwater harvesting.

Today, the company claims to have over 200 rainwater-harvesting structures. Along with the massive publicity of their rainwater-harvesting structures (which, incidentally, the Coca-Cola funded study found to be in "dilapidated" condition), Coca-Cola also started making fantastical claims.

In Kala Dera, for example, the company claims to recharge (through rainwater harvesting) five times the water they use from the groundwater resource. In other words, they claim that they put back fives times as much water they use back into the groundwater resource. Forget water neutral, this would be water positive!

Yet, while they make this claim in a letter to the University of Michigan, they also note that they do not have any metering mechanisms in place to measure how much water is being recharged. If you don't have measuring devices in place to measure the recharge, how can one claim that they recharge five times the amount of water they use? If you are Coca-Cola, you just make it up. And the University of Michigan officials never even bothered to clarify this point. It sure resonates well with the media, officials and NGOs. And evidently, it seems to work.

See more stories tagged with: water, coca-cola, india, coke, water privatization, water neutral

Amit Srivastava is the coordinator of India Resource Center, an international campaigning organization in San Francisco.

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