Climate activists are outraged over the recent announcement that Coca-Cola will be a major support partner for this year's UN COP27 climate summit in Egypt.
COP27 announced that the international drinks corporation would be a sponsor for the conference, with Egypt’s ministry of foreign affairs citing Coke’s emission reduction plans as the reason for the partnership.
However, the announcement was heavily criticised by climate activists who accused COP27 of hypocrisy as Coke is the world's largest plastic polluter - according to #breakfreefromplastic.
In 2019 the Ellen MacArthur Foundation reported that Coke produced three million tonnes of plastic yearly - while they have a plan outlined to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050 many have called this plan an example of greenwashing.
Greenwashing is the process of a company or government making it seem like they are environmentally friendly through public displays while not committing to action behind closed doors.
Greenpeace Aotearoa plastics campaigner Juressa Lee (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Rarotonga) believes that Coca-Cola should be committing to changing its business model to be more environmentally friendly, instead of public acts.
“Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of the COP27 climate meeting undermines the very objective of the event and its classic greenwash,” they said.
“Coca-Cola produces 120 billion throwaway plastic bottles a year – and 99% of plastics are made from fossil fuels, worsening both the plastic and climate crisis.
“Cutting plastic production and ending single-use plastic is in line with the goal of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees. If Coca-Cola really wants to solve the plastic and climate crises, it needs to turn off its plastics tap and shift to reuse and refillable systems,."
Greenpeace's Aotearoa’s lead climate campaigner Christine Rose told 1News that Coke sponsoring COP27 is an example of greenwashing and that it's harmful to the climate movement as a whole.
“Greenwashing is harmful to the whole climate movement because it breeds cynicism of governments among those who see the climate crisis unfolding as politicians fail to use their power and political capital to respond with appropriate urgency,”
“This runs the risk of people losing faith in governments as well as the actual solutions we need,” she said.
She said while "we've essentially won the battle against climate denial", but greenwashing was taking its place "as a tactic for diluting and delaying action".
In a statement to 1News, Coca-Cola International said that their sponsorship of COP27 was a part of their effort to reduce their carbon footprint.
"Our support for COP27 is in line with our science-based target to reduce absolute carbon emissions 25% by 2030, and our ambition for net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Packaging represents around 30% of our carbon footprint, so our World Without Waste and carbon reduction efforts go hand in hand," they said.
"While we have made progress against our World Without Waste goals, we’re also committed to doing more, faster so that we grow our business the right way."
They are also partnered with a number of groups including The Ocean Cleanup and the Benioff Ocean Initiative.
COP26, held in 2021 was slammed by activist Greta Thunberg, who called it a “greenwashing festival.”
The COP27 Climate Conference is set to take place from November 6 to 18 this year in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
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