The Government of Egypt announced that it has signed a cooperation agreement with Coca-Cola, introducing the company as a sponsor for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP27) to be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt from November 6 to 18, 2022.
The conference provides a platform for governments, the private sector and civil society to discuss their role in creating solutions that help alleviate the adverse impacts of climate change.
Through the COP27 partnership, the Coca-Cola system aims to continue exploring opportunities to build climate resilience across its business, supply chain and communities, while engaging with other private sector actors, NGOs, and governments to support collective action against climate change.
Ambassador Achraf Ibrahim, general coordinator of organizational and financial aspects of the conference, introduced Coca-Cola as a provider and supporter of COP27. He highlighted the major role played by the international private sector in promoting sustainable business models and supporting the agreed climate goals.
Moreover, he assured us that a warming planet is a major challenge to sustainability, and with climate change circumstances, it’s harder to find sustainable resources. Ambassador Achraf Ibrahim showcased Coca-Cola’s contributions to the conference in Sharm-El-Sheikh and he’s looking forward to the continuation of this support for impactful and beneficial COP.
During the signing ceremony held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs offices in Cairo, Coca-Cola North Africa Vice President of Operations, Ahmed Rady emphasized: “Coca-Cola’s firm belief that working together through meaningful partnerships will create shared opportunities for communities and people around the world and in Egypt.”
He further expressed his pride that Egypt is the host country for one of the most important global events, COP27, praising the efforts made by the Egyptian government to place the issue of climate change at the top of its priorities within the framework of Egypt’s Vision 2030.
“We know that global challenges like plastic waste, water stewardship and climate change are far too great for any single government, company, or industry to solve individually,” said Michael Goltzman, Global Vice President of Public Policy and Sustainability at the Coca-Cola Company. “COP27 gives us an opportunity to continue engaging with experts, nonprofits, industry, and governments to support actions toward sustainable change across our value chain.”
The conference provides a platform for governments, the private sector and civil society to discuss their role in creating solutions that help alleviate the adverse impacts of climate change.
Marcel Martin, Chief Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Officer at Coca-Cola HBC said “Coca-Cola HBC has been recognised in numerous global ESG benchmarks as a leader in sustainability. We are proud of the significant progress towards our NetZeroby40 goal that we have achieved to date, having reduced CO2 emissions in our end-to-end supply chain (scopes 1,2 & 3) by 30 per cent since 2010. We recognise that still we have a lot of work to do to reach our goals and our business unit in Egypt will play a critical role in helping to deliver our commitments. COP27 will be an important platform for us to connect with new partners as we seek to accelerate our actions.”
In response, Greenpeace USA Oceans Campaign Director, John Hocevar, said: “It is baffling that Coca-Cola – the world’s biggest plastic polluter in the Break Free From Plastic brand audits, in different countries including Kenya and Uganda – will sponsor this year’s UNFCCC Conference of Parties in Egypt.
“Coca-Cola produces 120 billion throwaway plastic bottles a year – and 99 per cent of plastics are made from fossil fuels, worsening both the plastic and climate crisis. They have yet to even acknowledge that this is a problem or explain how they will meet their climate goals without ending their plastic addiction. This partnership undermines the very objective of the event it seeks to sponsor.
“Cutting plastic production and ending single-use plastic is in line with the goal of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees. If Coca-Cola really wants to solve the plastic and climate crisis, it needs to turn off its plastics tap. Ending Coca-Cola’s addiction to single-use plastic is an important part of moving away from fossil fuels, protecting communities, and combating climate change.”
Climate is a key area of focus as the Coca-Cola Company works towards its 2030 Science-Based Target of an absolute 25 per cent emissions reduction and its ambition to be net zero carbon globally by 2050. Coca-Cola in Europe already has a goal to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its entire European value chain by 2040, while the Coca-Cola Company’s bottling partner in Egypt, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (Coca-Cola HBC), announced in 2021 their commitment to reach NetZero emissions across their entire value chain in all markets where they operate by 2040.
