Media Teleconference with Greenpeace

Muhtar Kent, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Coca-Cola Company
December 3, 2009

As prepared for delivery

Thank you, Lisa, and good morning, everyone.

It's a pleasure to participate today with Greenpeace in taking what I believe is an important step forward in The Coca-Cola Company's commitment to climate protection. I am especially pleased to be joined by Phil Radford, who recently took over the leadership of Greenpeace USA and by Gerd Leipold, who was Executive Director of Greenpeace International until a few weeks ago.

We are here today to talk about the elimination of the use of a potent greenhouse gas -- hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs.

Today, HFCs are used in multiple refrigeration applications across numerous industries and they represent about 2 percent of the global climate change problem. But, they are forecast to grow to 8 percent by 2050.

As you might know, Coca-Cola's 10 million units of cold-drink equipment are the single-largest contributor to our carbon footprint. This is why we are so intent on reducing their impact.

We are committing today to the total elimination of HFCs in new vending machines and coolers by 2015 [read news release]. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is our preferred HFC-free technology to replace HFCs. This commitment to commercialize CO2 refrigeration technology has required nearly a decade of effort from our equipment innovation team and roughly $50 million dollars in R&D investment.

Let me reiterate, by 2015, we're committed to having 100 percent of all our new cold drink equipment be HFC-free. And by as early as 2012, 50 percent of our new equipment will be HFC-free.

Next year, The Coca-Cola Company and our bottling partners will purchase a minimum of 150,000 units of HFC-free equipment, effectively doubling our current rate of purchase to put us on a path to achieve these goals. This transition to HFC-free refrigeration will reduce our equipment's direct greenhouse gas emissions by 99 percent and reduce energy consumption up to 15 percent.

With this commitment, we will reduce emissions by 52.5 million metric tons of equivalent carbon dioxide through 2025. That's the equivalent of removing 11 million cars off the road for one year.

We are committed to working within our supply chain to continue to innovate and bring to market climate-friendly refrigeration solutions -- and we are investing in making an HFC-free future a reality.

Even in these challenging times, we believe this is the right long-term investment for our business and indeed will help position us to come out of this downturn in much better shape than when we entered into it.

Our hope is that our initial investments will trigger adoption by other companies in the food and beverage industry. This in turn will help bring the price of CO2 equipment down -- but it will take industry collaboration.

We feel a deep responsibility to lead by example and we believe other industries and businesses will want to take a leadership role as well. Coca-Cola accounts for just 1 percent of compressor purchasers worldwide.  If this technology is going to live up to its transformational potential, it's going to require everyone to get on board.

So, today, in addition to announcing our expanded commitment to climate-friendly coolers, I am issuing a Call to Action -- A Call to Action to our peers in the commercial refrigeration sector to join us in investing in climate-friendly, HFC-free systems. 

I'm pleased that there are other companies that have already stated their intention to move to HFC-free refrigeration.  They've joined us in an initiative called "Refrigerants, Naturally!" This initiative aims to raise awareness on the emergence of natural refrigeration and to share the experience of like-minded operators. 

To our friends in the supplier community, let me just say that climate-friendly refrigeration represents a real business opportunity... and a huge positive step forward in the fight against climate change.

On that point, let me move on to one final though about climate change -- and that is the need for a blueprint for action.

At Copenhagen, we are prepared to join forces with the business community to call for an ambitious and equitable global deal. We believe there are a number of ways in which government can better motivate and incent business to drive greater behavioral change as well. Success will not happen through a series of independent players. Real change will require new partnerships between business, government and civil society.

We also believe that the greatest focus of business innovation over the next decade will be at the intersections of sustainability and supply chains. We are working collaboratively with multiple partners across our supply chains to drive low-carbon growth. I'm proud to say that this journey really began with our engagement with Greenpeace.

Once again, I want to thank our friends from Greenpeace for their wise counsel and collaboration on this initiative.

Before I turn things over to Gerd for his comments, let me say a few things about a man who has led an extraordinary career. His team at Greenpeace as called him their "Activist in Chief," but he also is a scientist who has studied physics, meteorology and oceanography. He joined Greenpeace in 1980 and became the Executive Director of Greenpeace International in 2001. Just last month, he retired after eight years at the helm of a very effective and dynamic organization. I want to wish Gerd well in the next phase of his professional life.

His leadership and his friendship have been most valued and most appreciated. My colleagues and I look forward to working with Gerd's successor, Kumi Naidoo.

Thank you all for your time and attention.