Coca Cola CSR Framework

WORLD: The final category of Coca Cola’ CSR framework focusses on environment conservation. Programs introduced by Coca Cola under this category include water conservation projects, sustainable packaging and sustainable agriculture.

♣ Water Conservation Projects-Since water is the most important component of Coca Cola’s products, it has placed heavy emphasis on water conversation projects. These projects include construction of check dams, restoration of water bodies, rainwater harvesting, artificial recharge and water stewardship. Two of the notable water conservation projects of Coca Cola India are Project Santusthi and Neerjal
a. Under Project Santusthi, salt water at India’s largest salt lake named Sambhar Lake is treated to provide drinking

Despite all its CSR activities it continued to attract criticisms from all fronts, all its CSR activities were termed “Green washing” as an effort to improve the companies tarnished brand image. (Kaur & Aggarwal, 2012) The major areas of criticisms can be divided into three main areas:

♣ Water Shortage- Coca Cola has been regularly accused of depleting groundwater and causing water shortage for local communities. In 2002, protests erupted from locals in Kerala against Coca Cola’s exploitation of water resources. Their concerns were that the company’s operation had depleted ground water to such an extent that there was severe shortage of water for agriculture and consumption. Similar issues have been reported around other Coca Cola bottling plants such as the one at Varanasi where groundwater fell by 26 feet in five years. Such has been the severity of these protest that Coca Cola had to shutdown its Kerala plant in 2002 and Varanasi plant in 2014. Another argument against Coca Cola has been the comparsion of its advertising budget and water conservation efforts.In 2014, critics argued that its investment in water conservation was just 20 million which was 1% of its 2.4 billion advertising budget. (Faheem,

CSE claimed that these pesticides caused a variety of illness like cancer, damage to the nervous and reproductive systems. The result was a sales decline of 40%. (Hills, 2005) Studies conducted by the Indian government showed that the pesticide content were within Indian standards but exceeded European standards,and this allowed it to continues operations in India. Again in 2006, Coca Cola products were found to have pesticides at 24% beyond permitted limits, which resulted in it being banned in a number of Indian states for some time. (Bremner,