Coca Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) accelerates its sustainability. The company chaired by Catalan businesswoman Sol Daurella is set to be carbon neutral by 2040, which requires transformation and changes throughout the chain, from the factory to the refrigerators where it sells. It combines this with constant growth, present in 30 countries after purchasing the Philippine bottler for 1,640 million, making it the largest bottler by revenue and volume. “It is an ambitious objective, ten years ahead of what European legislation establishes. We have to continue transforming,” says Carmen Gómez-Acebo, director of sustainability at CCEP Iberia (which includes Spain, Portugal and Andorra).
So far it translates into an investment to decarbonize the business of more than 300 million euros worldwide between 2020 and 2022. The roadmap attacks from ingredients to transportation. As the aim is to be neutral throughout the chain, “it involves working with suppliers, who make up 93% of the carbon footprint in Spain,” explains the directive. “You have to transform the industries parallel to your business, to your suppliers. “You can’t go alone.” In 2022, almost 25 million euros were allocated to logistics, energy and technologies to reduce emissions. “It is important to invest,” he says. This would emit 30,000 tons of CO₂ less per year and save 9,000 MWh.
To expand efforts to the entire chain, it has hospitality programs to reduce emissions, with 7,700 establishments participating; giving access to financing under advantageous conditions for suppliers to decarbonize, or with direct investment in startups that “transform or accelerate” sustainability.
Packaging, ingredients, transportation and refrigeration equipment focus attention, accounting for more than 90% of emissions. On the first front, an attempt is made to incorporate more and more recycled material and less raw material when manufacturing them. “We already designed them so that what was used to make one container can be reused to make more,” he says. Reusable packaging accounts for around 20% of the total, with a presence mainly in the hospitality industry and distributed to 300,000 points of sale. “The glass ones have 25 to 30 lives. Once deteriorated, it is recycled,” he explains. “We have a vision of new models where even the consumer goes with their packaging, to prepare for it at an industrial and investment level.”
Consumer trends collaborate in the ingredients section. “Having a greater weight of low- or no-calorie beverages helps decarbonization.” 64% of sales are from this segment and since 2010 sugar per milliliter has been reduced by 25%, it is noted. In addition, they are committed to purchasing local products, such as oranges or lemons from Fanta. “92% of our purchases are local, which is essential to reduce emissions in transportation,” he explains.
In transportation, it is committed to a mix of technologies, with electric vehicles in the last mile, but also with train routes “that greatly reduce emissions.” The company already uses it between Madrid and Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and Lisbon. In addition, together with Repsol and Grupo Sesé, it operates trucks with HVO fuel – made from used oil – in Bilbao. To top it all off, they have more efficient refrigerators at points of sale, today 7 out of 10.
Energy is not a minor issue. “Electricity is a great generator of emissions,” says Gómez-Acebo. The goal was for all plants to have a renewable share of their electricity by 2025, something already achieved. In some cases, such as in the Portuguese plant in Azeitão (Lisbon), solar panels provide 18% of the electricity. “Efficient management” of water is also sought. “It has always been a priority. It is the most precious resource, and the drought proves it.”
It all adds up: in October, 6 of its 11 Iberian plants were verified as carbon neutral: the factories in Barcelona and Azeitão and springs in Lugo, Burgos, Teruel and Huesca. To achieve this, we have gone to great detail, with intelligent LED lighting systems, new insulation and optimizing the bottle blowing process. “More than 50% of our manufacturing facilities are carbon neutral. The objective is to continue moving forward,” says the directive. Among so many changes, the business advances. Until the third quarter, CCEP invoiced 13,784 million in total, 6% more. In the Iberia region, 2,570 million and 10% more.
