Coca-Cola praised for anti-pollution efforts

Coca-Cola's efforts to reduce its impact on the environment by changing elements of its supply chain have been praised in a new report.

The company has improved its position in Oxfam’s Behind the Brands scorecard, which ranks food and beverage companies on their policies and urges them to strengthen their efforts to prevent hunger, poverty and protect the environment.

In the second update to the rankings, Coca-Cola was shown to have made several improvements to its policies, along with other organisations such as Nestle, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Danone and General Mills.

It comes after 33 major investment funds, representing nearly $1.4 trillion of assets under management, called on food industry giants to improve their supply chain policies and transparency.

In a statement shared with the ten biggest food and beverage companies in the world, the investors expressed support for the Behind the Brands initiative and urged companies to do more to reduce social and environmental risks in their supply chains.

Steve Waygood, chief responsible investment officer at Aviva Investors, a UK fund manager, said the scorecard can be used as a "valuable tool" to identify areas of risk across companies' supply chains and compare different efforts to mitigate those risks.

Coca-Cola's score has increased by five percentage points since February, thanks to the company's Sustainable Agricultural Guiding Principles now including policies that require suppliers to better manage water pollution, biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions - all of which have led to improvements in the company’s scores for water, land and climate change.

Despite the improvements, there is still work to do, according to Mr Waygood, who explained that the process of boosting sustainability and reducing environmental impact is a long one.

He added: "We are encouraged by the initial steps some of the companies are taking but hope to see more action and greater commitment from across the industry."

Judy Beals, campaign manager for Oxfam’s Behind the Brands initiative, said that although some companies are beginning to join the race to the top, others have "barely approached the starting blocks".

She concluded: "Now, more than ever, consumers and investors need to demand more action from companies to address the industry’s impacts on hunger and poverty."