Case Study #1

Coca Cola
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY
Coca-Cola started its business in 1886 as a local soda producer in Atlanta, Georgia (US)
selling about nine beverages per day. By the 1920s, the company had begun expanding
internationally, selling its products
first in the Caribbean and Canadian markets and then
moving in consecutive decades to Asia, Europe, South America and the Soviet Union. By the
end of the 20th century, the company was selling its products in almost every country in the
world. In 2005, it became the largest manufacturer, distributor and marketer of non-alcoholic
beverages and syrups in the world.1 Coca-Cola is a publicly-held company listed on the New
York Stock Exchange (NYSE).2

COCA COLA’S CSR POLICIES & REPORTING

In 2007, Coca-Cola launched its sustainability framework Live Positively embedded in the
system at all levels, from production and packaging to distribution. The company’s CSR
policy Live Positively establishes seven core areas where the company sets itself measurable
goals to improve the business’ sustainability practices. The core areas are beverage benefits,
active healthy living, the community, energy and climate, sustainable packaging, water
stewardship and the workplace.

Coca-Cola has a Code of Business Conduct which aims at providing guidelines to its
employees on – amongst other things – competition issues and anti-corruption. 3 The
company has adopted international CSR guidelines such as Global Compact4 and Ruggie’s
Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework (Ruggie’s Framework),5 but these guidelines do

1
The Coca-Cola Company, ‘2010 Annual Review’,
<http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/ourcompany/ar/pdf/TCCC_2010_Annual_Re- view.pdf>
(last visited 1 December 2011).
2
Coca-Cola company’s profile at the NYSE: <http://www.nyse.com/listed/ko.html> (last visited 10
April 2012).
3
The Coca-Cola Company, ‘Code of Business Conduct’,
<http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/ourcompany/pdf/COBC_English.pdf> (last visited 2
December 2011).
4
Global Compact is an initiative created in 1999 under the leadership of the former UN Secretary-
General, Ko Annan. It establishes ten principles for conducting responsible business covering the areas of
human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption. See <www.unglobalcompact.org> (last visited
29 March 2012).
5
The ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework is an initiative devised by John Ruggie, Special
Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other
Business Enterprises. It lays the foundation for a system for better managing business and human rights
challenges. It is based on three pillars: The State’s duty to protect human rights, the corporate
responsibility to respect human rights, and access to an effective remedy for breaches of human rights.
See <http://www.ohchr.org/documents/issues/ business/A.HRC.17.31.pdf> (last visited 29 March
2012).
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 not seem to be integrated into the Code of Business. However, these CSR initiatives are
included in other activities or policies of the company. For instance, the UN Global Compact
principles are cross-referenced in the company’s annual Sustainability Reviews 6 and
Ruggie’s Framework is partly adopted in the company’s ‘Human Right Statement’. 7 After the
conflict in India, in 2007 Coca-Cola formed a partnership with the World Wildlife Fund
(WWF)8 and became a member of the CEO Water Mandate, as water is one of the company’s
main concerns.

Every year Coca-Cola publishes a directors’ report denominated ‘The Coca-Cola Company
Annual Report’; the last one was published in March 2011 and comprises the company’s
activities during 2010.9 In this report there is a small section dedicated to CSR and it includes
a brief description of the initiatives in community development and water preservation that
the company has developed. Since 2001, Coca-Cola also annually publishes a separate report
devoted to CSR called ‘The Coca-Cola Company Sustainability Review’. ese reviews, which
are published every two years, are verified and assured by a third party, the sustainability
rating firm FIRA Sustainability Ltd.10 is verification provides ‘moderate assurance’ on the
reliability of the information reported by Coca-Cola. Both reports – the annual company
review and the sustainability reports – are elaborated based on the GRI G3 guidelines, which
were adopted by the company in 2001.11 Due to its relevance to Coca-Cola’s business, the
company also annually reports on the progress of the water stewardship program’s targets.

COCA COLA’S CONFLICTS

Several campaigns and demonstrations followed the publication of a report issued by the
Indian NGO Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in 2003. The report provided
evidence of the presence of pesticides, to a level exceeding European standards, 12 in a sample
6
The Coca-Cola Company, ‘UN Global Compact’,
<http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/un_global_compact.html> (last visited 2 December
2011).
7
The Coca-Cola Company, ‘Human Rights Statement’,
<http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/pdf/human_rights_statement. pdf> (last visited 6
October 2012).
8
T. Lambooy, ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Water Use’, 2011 Journal of Cleaner Production
19, p. 855.
9
The Coca-Cola Company, ‘The Coca-Cola Company 2010 Annual Review’, <http://www.thecoca-
colacompany.com/ourcompany/ar/pdf/ TCCC_2010_Annual_Review.pdf> (last visited 28 November
2011).
10
The Coca-Cola Company, ‘2010/2011 Sustainability Report: Reasons to Believe’, <http://www.thecoca-
colacompany.com/sustainabilityreport/TCCC_2010_2011_Sustainability_Report_Full.pdf> (last visited
30 March 2012).
11
See GRI, supra note 12. Also see more on Coca-Cola’s GRI reporting on The Coca-Cola Company, ‘GRI
Index’, <http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/gri_index.html> (last visited 10 April
2012).
12
The CSE Report on pesticide residues in so drinks in India used European norms on maximum
admissible pesticide concentration, regulated by the European Economic Community’s Directive
(80/778/EEC) on the ‘quality of water intended for human consumption’. This was the preferred
standard by CSE because it sets a maximum admissible concentration for individual pesticides and
2
 of a dozen Coca-Cola and PepsiCo beverages sold in India.13 With that evidence at hand, the
CSE called on the Indian government to implement legally enforceable water standards. The
report gained ample public and media attention, resulting in almost immediate effects on
Coca-Cola revenues. The main allegations made by the NGO against Coca-Cola were that it
sold products containing unacceptable levels of pesticides, it extracted large amounts of
groundwater and it had polluted water sources.14

PRESENCE OF PESTICIDES
Regarding the allegation about Coca-Cola beverages containing high levels of pesticide
residues, the Indian government undertook various investigations. The government set up a
Joint Committee15 to carry out its own tests on the beverages. The tests also found the
presence of pesticides that failed to meet European standards, but they were still considered
safe under local standards. Therefore, it was concluded that Coca-Cola had not violated any
national laws. However, the Indian government acknowledged the need to adopt
appropriate and enforceable standards for carbonated beverages.16

In 2006, after almost three years of ongoing allegations, the CSE published its second test on
Coca- Cola drinks, also resulting in a high content of pesticide residues (24 times higher than
European Union standards, which were proposed by the Bureau of Indian Standards to be
implemented in India as well).17 CSE published this test to prove that nothing had changed,
alleging that the stricter standards for carbonated drinks and other beverages had either been
lost in committees or blocked by powerful interests in the government. 18 Finally, in 2008 an
independent study undertaken by the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) ended the long-
standing allegations by concluding that the water used in Coca-Cola in India is free of
pesticides.19 However, because the institute did not test the final product, other ingredients

related products in drinking water at 0.1 μg/L (0.0001 mg/L). Although the report mentions the existence
of other international standards – such as those of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the US Environment Protec on Agency (USEPA) / Food and Drug
Administration Act (FDA) – the report is not clear on why EU standards are more adequate to make their
analysis in Coca-Cola beverages. See Centre for Science and Environment, infra note 13.
13
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), ‘CSE Study on Pesticide Residues in Soft Drinks’, 2003
Media Reports, vol. 1, pp. 12-14, <http://www.cseindia.org/user les/SOFTDRINK.pdf> (last visited 19
March 2012).
14
J. Hills & R. Welford, ‘Case Study: Coca-Cola and Water in India’, 2005 Corporate Social Responsibility
and Environmental Management 12, p. 168.
15
A Joint Committee (JC) is one of the highest ranking bodies which can be set up in India. In 2003 the
Indian government decided to convene a JC to look specifically into the issue of dangerous levels of
pesticides in soft drinks after the CSE report had exposed the results of studies yielding high levels of
pesticide content in beverages in India. See Joint Committee on Pesticide Residues in and Safety
Standards for Soft Drinks, Fruit Juice and Other Beverages, infra note 16.
16
Joint Committee on Pesticide Residues in and Safety Standards for Soft Drinks, Fruit Juice and Other
Beverages, ‘Report’, 4 February 2004, Lok Sabha Secretariat, pp. 158-161.
17
M. Burne & R. Welford, ‘Case Study: Coca-Cola and Water in India: Episode 2’, 2007 Corporate Social
Responsibility and Environment Management, 14, no. 5, p. 301.
18
Down to Earth, ‘The street fight’, 15 August 2003, <http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/street-
fight> (last visited 21 March 2012).
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 could have contained pesticides.20

WATER POLLUTION AND OVER-EXTRACTION OF GROUNDWATER

Coca-Cola was also accused of causing water shortages in – among other areas – the
community of Plachimada in Kerala, southern India. In addition, Coca-Cola was accused of
water pollution by discharging wastewater into fields and rivers surrounding Coca-Cola’s
plants in the same community. Groundwater and soil were polluted to an extent that Indian
public health authorities saw the need to post signs around wells and hand pumps advising
the community that the water was unfit for human consumption. 21

In 2000, the company established its production operations in Plachimada. Local people
claimed that they started exp
eriencing water scarcity soon after the operations began. The
state government initiated proceedings against Coca-Cola in 2003, and soon after that the
High Court of Kerala prohibited Coca- Cola from over-extracting groundwater. 22 By 2004 the
company had suspended its production operations, while it attempted to renew its license to
operate. Coca-Cola argued that patterns of decreasing rainfall were the main cause of the
draught conditions experienced in the area. After a long judicial procedure and ongoing
demonstrations, the company succeeded in obtaining the license renewal to resume its
operations.23 In 2006 Coca-Cola’s successful re-establishment of operations was reversed
when the government of Kerala banned the manufacture and sale of Coca-Cola products in
Kerala on the ground that it was unsafe due to its high content of pesticides. 24 However, the
ban did not last for long and later that same year the High Court of India overturned
Kerala’s Court decision.25 More recently, in March 2010, a state government panel
recommended fining Coca-Cola’s Indian subsidiary a total of $47 million because of the
damage caused to the water and soil in Kerala.26 Also, a special committee in charge of

19
See Burne & Welford, supra note 17, p. 303.
20
‘TERI report says Coke should shut Rajasthan plant’, Indian Express, 16 January 2008,
<http://www.indianexpress.com/news/teri-report-says-coke-should-shut-rajasthan/262199/> (last
visited 18 April 2012).
21
See Hills & Welford, supra note 14, p. 169.
22
T. Banerjee, ‘Right to Water: Some Theoretical Issues’, 2010 Contemporary Issues and Ideas in Social
Sciences, p. 11.
23
See the case at Peruma y Grama Panchayat v. State of Kerala, [2003] High Court of Kerala,
<http://www.elaw.org/resources/text.asp?id=2551> (last visited 21 March 2012).
24
The Rights to Water and Sanitation, ‘Case against Coca-Cola Kerala State: India’, <http://www.righ
owater.info/ways-to-in uence/legal-approaches/case-against-coca-cola-kerala-state-india/> (last visited
21 March 2012).
25
‘Today in Business: Cola Ban Overturned in India’, New York Times, 23 September 2006,
<http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?
res=9E03E6DB1E31F930A1575AC0A9609C8B63&scp=40&sq=coca+cola+company+india&st=nyt> (last
visited 18 March 2012).
26
‘India: Pollution Fine Sought Against Coca-Cola’, New York Times, 23 March 2010,
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/world/asia/24briefs-Indiabrf.html> (last visited 20 March
2012).
4
 looking into claims by community members affected by the water pollution was set up. 27

The long legal procedures against the Indian government that Coca-Cola had to face were
not the only consequence of the conflict. The brand suffered a great loss of consumer trust
and reputational damage in India and abroad.28 In India there was an overall sales drop of
40% within two weeks after the release of the 2003 CSE report. The impact in annual sales
was a decline of 15% in overall sales in 2003 – in comparison to prior annual growth rates of
25-30%.29 This highly publicized conflict in India also caught the attention of consumers in
the US. After a series of demonstrations by students who joined two activist groups in the
US, ten American universities30 temporarily stopped selling Coca-Cola products at their
campus facilities.31

COCA COLA’S CSR POLICIES POST-CONFLICTS

Two years before the water conflict in India in 2003, Coca-Cola adopted the GRI Guidelines
and started reporting on sustainability. By 2003, the company had already experienced a few
CSR-related conflicts in other parts of the world.32 However, none of them had the grave
consequence of a loss of trust in the company and its products by consumers and the public
in general.

According to Pirson and Malhotra, the main reason why this controversy ended so badly for
Coca- Cola lies in its response to the problem.33 Coca-Cola denied having produced
beverages containing elevated levels of pesticides, as well as having over-exploited and
polluted water resources.34 By denying all claims and trying to prove its integrity, instead of
demonstrating concern towards the situation, Coca- Cola failed to regain consumers’ trust. 35
27
See Lambooy, supra note 8, p. 492.
28
For an anthropological perspective on the brand image damage to and the loss of consumer trust in
Coca-Cola products in India see N. Vedwan, ‘Pesticides in Coca-Cola and Pepsi: Consumerism, Brand
Image, and Public Interest in a Globalizing India’, 2007 Cultural Anthropology 22, no. 4, pp. 659-684.
29
M. Pirson & D. Malhotra, Unconventional Insights for Managing Stakeholder Trust, 2008 Working Paper,
Kennedy School of Government, pp. 9-10.
30
University of Michigan, New York University, Rutgers University in New Jersey and Santa Clara
University in California, among others.
31
‘U. of Michigan Becomes 10th College to Join Boycott of Coke’, New York Times, 31 December 2005,
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/31/business/31coke.html> (last visited 2 April 2012).
32
For instance, in 1999 four African-American employees led a suit at the District Court of Georgia
making allegations of racial discrimination (see Ingram et al. v. The Coca-Cola Company, Case No. 1-98-CV-
3679 (RWS)). Also in 1999, the Belgian government banned Coca-Cola’s products for ten days due to
reports of more than 240 people in Belgium and France experiencing intestinal problems after drinking
Coke (see ‘Business: The Company File. Belgium bans Coca-Cola’, BBC, 14 June 1999, available at
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/369089.stm> (last visited 20 March 2012)).
33
See Pirson & Malhotra, supra note 42, p. 9.
34
The Coca-Cola Company, ‘Comment from the Coca-Cola Company on The Christian Aid Report’, 20
January 2004, <http://www.the-coca-colacompany.com/dynamic/press_center/2004/01/comment-
from-the-coca-cola-company-on-the-christian-aid-report.html> (last visited 20 March 2012)
35
See Pirson & Malhotra, supra note 29, pp. 9-10.
5
 The Indian population viewed Coca-Cola as a corporate villain who cared more about profits
than public health.36 In comparison, previous conflicts experienced by the company in the US
and Belgium were better handled because it included stakeholder engagement in its
strategy.37
It appears that the company became aware of its mistake after the controversy had been
ongoing for a couple of years. In 2008 Jeff Seabright, Coca-Cola’s vice president of
environment and water resources, recognized that the company had not adequately handled
the controversy. He acknowledged that local communities’ perception of their operation
matters, and that for the company ‘(...) having goodwill in the community is an important
thing’.38

Although Coca-Cola still denies most of the allegations, the reputational damage
experienced after the controversy in India pushed Coca-Cola to take damage-control
measures. Those measures at first consisted of statements to confirm Coca-Cola’s integrity.
For example, Coca-Cola dedicated a page in the Corporate Responsibility Review of 2006 to
address the controversy. e statement consisted mainly of providing information supporting
its good practices and water management of its operations in India. 39 But this statement did
little to combat the declining sales and increasing losses exceeding investments.

Coca-Cola gradually changed its strategy to include damage-control measures that

addressed the Indian communities’ grievances. In 2008 the company published its first
environmental performance report on operations in India, which covered activities from 2004
to 2007.40 It also created the Coca-Cola India Foundation, Anandana, which works with local
communities and NGOs to address local water problems.41 But perhaps the most outstanding
change of strategy by Coca-Cola consisted of launching various community water projects in
India. An example is the rainwater harvesting project, where Coca- Cola’s operations

36
See Pirson & Malhotra, supra note 29, p. 9.
37
In the United States, even though the company se led and denied the charges in the settlement
agreement, part of the agreement was the creation of a panel, a Task Force, constituted to engage with
Coca-Cola’s employees, to survey their discrimination concerns in the company, and to serve as a
watchdog for 5 years to evaluate compliance with the settlement agreement (see ‘First Annual Report of
the Task Force’, 2002, http://www.thecocacolacompany.com/ourcompany/pdf/task_force_report.pdf.
(last visited 29 November 2011)). In Belgium, on the other hand, Coca-Cola took responsibility – even
though it was later proved that the reported health problems had not been caused by Coca-Cola
products. The company apologized and offered to cover the health-care costs of anyone who had been
affected by the incident. The company also launched a massive marketing campaign, and generally
demonstrated concern for its customers (see Pirson &Malhotra, supra note 42, p. 8).
38
‘Water Pressure’, Time Magazine, 12 June 2008,
http://www.me.com/me/magazine/article/0,9171,1814261,00.html. (last visited 21 March 2012).
39
For instance, it stated that from 1999 to 2006 operations in India reduced water consumption by 35
percent, and had also helped to install more than 300 rainwater harvesting systems in 17 states. See The
Coca-Cola Company ‘2006 Corporate Responsibility Review’, 2007, p. 26, http://www.thecoca-
colacompany.com/citizenship/pdf/corporate_responsibility_review2006.pdf (last visited 21 March
2012).
40
Coca-Cola India, ‘Towards Sustainability’, 2008,
<http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/pdf/india_env_rpt.pdf> (last visited 14 November
2012).
41
See Anandana at <http://www.yatn.net/aboutfoundatiom.html> (last visited 21 March 2012).
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 partnered with the Central Ground Water Authority, the State Ground Water Boards, NGOs
and communities to address water scarcity and depleting groundwater levels through
rainwater harvesting techniques across 17 states in India. ese techniques consist mainly of
collecting and storing rainwater while preventing its evaporation and runoff for its efficient
utilization and conservation. The idea behind this is to capture large quantities of good
quality water that could otherwise go to waste. By returning to the ecosystem the water used
in its operations in India through water harvesting, the company expected that this project
could eventually turn the company into a ‘net zero’ user of groundwater by 2009. 42 In the
2012 Water Stewardship and Replenish Report, Coca-Cola stated that its operations in India
have ‘achieved full balance between groundwater used in beverage production and that
replenished to nature and communities – ahead of the global target’.43

It appears that the controversy in India was a learning experience for the company, and that
it motivated the company to adopt a more proactive CSR policy on a global scale that focuses
on water management. In June 2007, Coca-Cola implemented a water stewardship program
and committed itself to reduce its operational water footprint and to offset the water used in
the Company’s products through locally relevant projects.44 To achieve those commitments
Coca-Cola established three measurable objectives:

(1) Reducing water use by improving water efficiency by 20% over 2004 levels by 2012. The
latest data available from 2010 shows a 16% improvement over the 2004 baseline.45

(2)  Recycling water through wastewater treatment and returning all water used in
manufacturing processes to the environment at a level that supports aquatic life and
agriculture by the end of 2010. By September 2011, the progress observed concerning this
target was 96%.46

(3)  Replenishing water used by offsetting the liters of water used in finished beverages by
2020 through local projects that support communities and nature (i.e. watershed protection
and rainwater harvesting).47 Currently, Coca-Cola reports that it holds a global portfolio of
386 community water partnerships or community-based replenish projects. 48 By 2011, about
35% of the water used in finished beverages was replenished. 49

42
See Coca-Cola India, supra note 40, p. 12.
43
The Coca-Cola Company, ‘The Water Stewardship and Replenish Report’, 2012, p. 21,
<http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/pdf/TCCC_WSRR_2012_FINAL.pdf> (last visited
3 April 2012).
44
A. Wright (Global Environment & Technology Foundation), ‘Quantifying Water Access Benefits in
Community Water Partnership Projects’, 2009,
<http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/pdf/sustainability_reports/
2009_water_access_bene ts.pdf> (last visited 3 April 2012).
45
See The Coca-Cola Company, supra note 43, p. 27.
46
Ibid.
47
See Wright, supra note 44.
48
See The Coca-Cola Company, supra note 43, Appendix A.
49
Ibid., p. 27
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It is noteworthy that Coca-Cola publishes, in addition and separate to the sustainability reports,
an annual water report. In these reports the company publishes assessments of and the progress
in its water initiatives. Some of the assessments are made by the Global Environment &
Technology Foundation, an American NGO experienced in facilitating the creation of public-
private partnerships.50

Also in 2007, Coca-Cola entered into a partnership with WWF. Its core objectives are increasing
understanding on watersheds and water cycles to improve Coca-Cola’s water usage, working
with local communities in various locations worldwide, and developing a common framework
to preserve water sources.51 Finally, and also in the same year, the company became a member
of the public-private initiative CEO Water Mandate, which is a public-private initiative that
assists companies in the development, implementation and disclosure of water sustainability
policies and practices.52

50
See Wright, supra note 44, p. 2.
51
See Lambooy, supra note 8, p. 855.
52
The Coca-Cola Company, ‘CEO Water Mandate’,
<http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/water_mandate.html> (last visited 28 November
2011).
8