Coke Green Adds Life – CleanTechnica

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

---

Coca-Cola seems to be a staple of the Australian diet, whether imbibed with fast food or with rum at a family gathering. Now, with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) about to meet its 100% renewable electricity target across its Australian operations by January 2025, we can drink it guilt free. We are doing our bit for climate change by having a coke as we stand around the barbie. This move may inspire a new slogan for Coke — “Coke Green Adds Life.”

CCEP will meet the target one year ahead of schedule thanks to the signing of a new Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) with ENGIE.

“ENGIE is a global reference in low-carbon energy and services and has operated in Australia since 1996. In Australia we have an ambitious goal — to achieve net zero by 2045 while leading the transformation from [brown] coal-fired power to a clean energy future at our Hazelwood Rehabilitation Project. We have more than 1,000MW of low-carbon generation capacity and almost 3,000MW of renewable energy under development.

“ENGIE’s trading arm, Global Energy Management & Sales (GEMS) provides energy supply agreements, energy trading, risk management and asset management services to business customers.”

The advertising slogans being used reflect Coke’s desire to be linked to the lifestyle of the consumer. They cut through and are remembered. Whether it is the 1906 slogan “The Great National Temperance Beverage” as some turned away from alcohol, or the 1976 slogan “Coke adds life.” The ads in Australia were usually set on the beach with happy bronzed Aussie teenagers having a game of volleyball.

With the move away from sugar and into renewable energy, the next slogan might have to do with Green Coke. Coke Green will really add life. Is coke getting closer to being the real thing? Will things go better with coke as it fights climate change? Coke might even revisit the slogans of 1927 — “Pure as Sunlight” — and 1932 — “Ice Cold Sunshine.” May I be so bold as to propose a new slogan – “Coke Green Adds Life.”

Coke isn’t just a soft drink add-on. It is a massive multinational business. So, its movement towards green energy will have a significant impact in the fight against climate change. From its small beginnings in a pharmacist’s home laboratory to the multinational it is today: “The original syrup was created in 1886 by Confederate Colonel and pharmacist Dr John Pemberton and sold two years later to American businessman and politician Asa Griggs Candler, who founded the Coca-Cola Company in 1892. Today, Coca-Cola is sold in more than 200 markets and is the world’s most-consumed soft drink.” The name comes from two of its original ingredients: coca leaves and kola nuts (a source of caffeine). It was intended to be a patent medicine and an alternative to morphine, to which Pemberton was addicted due to pain from his wounds sustained in the American Civil War.

^{“In Australia, Coca-Cola and its other brands, Sprite and Fanta, command just over 40 per cent of the soft drink manufacturing market…. The Australian bottling operation’s revenue came in at nearly $6 billion in 2022, a 75 per cent jump on $3.4 billion the previous year.”}

Managing Director at CCEP Australia Orlando Rodriguez explains Coke’s commitment: “As the maker and distributor of some of the world’s most popular beverages, we have set a series of ambitious targets to reduce our carbon footprint and environmental impact. To reach our renewable electricity goal in Australia, we have engaged in strategic power purchase agreements and made the most of our rooftop real estate with solar panels at many of our facilities across the country.”

“Our partnership with ENGIE and the signing of the VPPA agreement has accelerated our transition to reach our RE100 target in Australia a full year early. This will make CCEP one of the first FMCG [fast moving consumer goods] players in the country to achieve the RE100 commitment and is an important milestone for our business,” he added.

CCEP joined the RE100 initiative in 2021, committing to 100% renewable electricity by the end of 2025. The installation of rooftop solar panels at its production sites and securing several key power purchase agreements have enabled the company to reach its goal early. The 10-year agreement with ENGIE to purchase energy from the Wellington North solar farm in New South Wales will be another step toward fulfilling Coke’s RE100 goal of net zero by 2040.

“Under the PPA with ENGIE, CCEP will purchase a percentage of renewable energy and associated Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) from the newly built Wellington North Solar Farm, owned by Lightsource bp, located north-east of Wellington and south-east of Dubbo in the Orana region of New South Wales. The site spans over approximately 970 hectares, over three times the size of Sydney’s CBD, utilising more than 1.2 million solar panels, and has the capacity to generate 925,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of renewable electricity per year. It has also provided economic benefits to the local community, including the creation of up to 400 local construction jobs.”

CCEP has broader ambitions, as outlined in “This is forward,” the company’s sustainability action plan. The plan sets out actions “across key social and environmental topics, including climate, packaging, water, wellbeing, and society.”

These days, the only time I drink Coke is when there is some rum in it. However, I can still remember the first time I tasted it when a child at my mother’s work Christmas party in the sixties. I can still remember the Coke ads aired on TV over the past several decades, the posters and the slogans and the jingles. Whether you are a fan or not, you can’t argue that Coke is intertwined with our lives. Now, it looks like Coke is giving back in a big way and I appreciate that. Let’s raise a glass to Coke Green — Classic or sugar free, your choice.