Water Stewardship and Replenish Report - Psddev.com

Advancing Water Stewardship
Science and Innovation
We continue implementing an increasingly holistic approach to water stewardship, recognizing that water must be considered
in the broader political, social, and ecological context. At the same time, the art and science of water conservation are evolving
as water resources experts in academia, NGOs, business, and government join forces to understand and devise solutions to the
world’s most pressing water issues. This collective effort has given rise to a number of promising areas of study and exploration.
Water Funds
We are excited about the use of water funds to encourage upstream communities to practice conservation and effective
watershed management by providing an ongoing source of funding. Through The Nature Conservancy, Inter-American
Development Bank, and our bottling partner FEMSA, we are already doing this in Latin America (see page 24), and hope to
expand the practice to other parts of the world.
Water Footprints
As a founding partner of the Water Footprint Network, we are continuing our work in water footprint assessments, an emerging
science. To date, we have conducted focused studies on the blue, green, and grey water footprints of sugar beets, orange juice,
and Coca-Cola ® to help us pinpoint potential sustainability impacts in specific watersheds. Notably, in late 2010, Coca-Cola
Europe published a summary report on its assessment of the water footprint of sugar use in Europe, 80% of which is derived
from locally grown beets. Continued in 2011, this work underscored the importance of linking the footprint to the potential
impacts of water used, not solely to its quantity. This breakthrough has changed the prioritization of our assessments to focus on
the impact of water use more than the water use itself. As part of this process, Coca-Cola Europe has proposed a methodology
for water footprint sustainability assessments, and we are contributing our key learnings to the global dialogue. To read the
report, please visit thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/community_initiatives.html.
Corporate Water Risk Management
Globally, we have deployed a unique water risk decision support system worldwide with over 800 manufacturing plants. In
addition, as noted earlier, we have shared with the Aqueduct Alliance our extensive body of water risk data and geospatial
models for analyzing water stress, quality, socioeconomic factors, as well as potential impacts from economic development and
climate and population changes. Although we once considered this information proprietary, we now believe its ability to support
global, strategic decision-making around global water supplies makes it extremely valuable to others as well.
Thought Leadership and education
Our in-house water experts regularly speak about water issues and best practices in water management, addressing national
and global water conferences, elected officials, colleges and universities, schools, and community groups. Many of them also
serve on the boards and committees of international water organizations. In addition, The Coca-Cola Company is engaged with
several industry and business forums to address and raise awareness of global water challenges. One of the first companies to