Coca-Cola* Agrees to Reduce Virgin Plastic Use
Press Release Contact: Kyle W. Kempf, Green Century Capital Management, kkempf@greencentury.com, (617) 482-0800
Boston, February 10, 2021 – The Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola), a Fortune 100 company recently named as the most plastic polluting corporation on the planet, has agreed to set a new goal to reduce its virgin plastic use, precipitating a withdrawal of Green Century’s° shareholder proposal.
“Coca-Cola’s new commitment to reduce its use of virgin plastic is an extremely welcome first step that catches the company up to its peers,” said Leslie Samuelrich, president of Green Century Capital Management. “It is vital that Coca-Cola adopt even more transformative measures to reduce its outsized contribution to the world’s plastic pollution epidemic. Green Century will continue to press it to make absolute cuts to its plastic use and adopt and expand its refill and reuse models for product delivery.”
According to the withdrawal agreement with Green Century, Coca-Cola will reduce its cumulative use of virgin plastic by 3 million metric tons by 2025.
Coca-Cola is one of the world’s largest users of plastic resin. In 2019, it reported using about 3 million metric tons of Coca-Cola plastic packaging per year, which is the equivalent of making 200,000 plastic bottles per minute.
In December 2020, Break Free From Plastic, an international coalition that leads an annual effort to collect and track plastic packaging pollution, named Coca-Cola as the most plastic polluting company in the world for the third year in a row.
Experts estimate that approximately 11 million metric tons of plastic pollution entered the ocean in 2016, and this number is expected to grow to 29 million by 2040, unless concerted efforts are made to reduce plastic use and leakage.
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About Green Century Capital Management
°Green Century Capital Management, Inc. (Green Century) is the investment advisor to the Green Century Funds (The Funds). The Green Century Funds are the first family of fossil fuel free, responsible, and diversified mutual funds in the United States. Green Century Capital Management hosts an award-winning and in-house shareholder advocacy program and is the only mutual fund company in the U.S. wholly owned by environmental and public health nonprofit organizations.
*As of December 31, 2020, The Coca-Cola Company comprised 0.00%, 1.31%, and 0.00% of the Green Century Balanced Fund, the Green Century Equity Fund, and the Green Century International Index Fund respectively. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.
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This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.
The Green Century Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 235 W Galena Street, Milwaukee, WI 53212. 2/21
