The 2019 Dow Jones Sustainability Index – a leading global benchmark for sustainability in business – has rated Coca‑Cola HBC Europe’s most sustainable beverage company. This is the 6th time in 7 years that the company has been ranked number 1 in the index and the 9th year in a row that it has been ranked in the top three Global and European beverage companies.

Maximum scores in 11 categories and positive improvements in 9 others contributed to an overall score of 90, which ranked the company second in the global ranking.

Commenting on the achievement, CEO Zoran Bogdanovic said: “We are honoured and proud that the commitment of our employees and partners to sustainable practices has again resulted in this recognition. We are well aware though that this is just a snapshot. In reality, the work never stops and there is always more to be done. That’s why we put so much focus on the consistent, long-term delivery of our sustainability goals.”

2018 sustainability highlights that contributed to our score

• We achieved our science-based commitment to reduce carbon emissions in our value chain by 25% (compared with 2010), two years ahead of the 2020 target date. In other words, we have saved 1.27 million tonnes of carbon emissions;
• We achieved an employee engagement score of 88%, above the average of FTSE 100 companies
• 37% of management roles are now held by women, our target is 50% by 2025;
• 98% of our €3.237m supplier spend was local, supporting employment and businesses in the countries in which we operate, while we contributed €328m in taxes to local economies.
• We invested €7.9m in community projects, of which more than one third in our flagship Youth Empowered programme to help young people develop business acumen and personal life skills;
• We reduced the amount of water used in production by 22% in our manufacturing plants (compared to 2010);
• We successfully recovered the equivalent of 45% of the total primary packaging we placed in the market for recycling.

Mission Sustainability

We launched our 2025 sustainability commitments in September 2018 to address six key areas: reducing emissions; water use and stewardship; World Without Waste; ingredients sourcing; nutrition; and our people and communities. The full commitments can be viewed here. We have already made good progress and are on track to meet these.

Coca‑Cola HBC’s sustainability performance is also recognised by other respected industry rankings, such as the CDP Climate Disclosure, the MSCI ESG Rating and the FTSE4Good Index.

What can we do to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of commuting to the airport? What are the alternative, sustainable ways of doing that? How can the ecological footprint of a passenger or airport staff member be reduced? These were among the questions requiring complex solutions that Budapest Airport sought to answer, with the help of transport development experts, as part of an EU project called LAirA, the international closing conference of which was held on 5 December at Terminal 1.

Environmental protection has numerous aspects relating to the way we access airports; tens of thousands of people commute to airports by road on a daily basis. To reduce the energy consumption and the environmental pollution resulting from this, the habits of passengers and airport staff members need to be changed, in addition to many other possible developments. As part of sustainable operation, Budapest Airport, the operator of Ferenc Liszt International Airport, pays special attention to the accessibility of the airport, from an environmental and infrastructural aspect as well. These efforts fit in well with the development concepts of the partners participating in the “Sustainable airport accessibility” project. The 14 partners, which included Central European airports, development agencies and local municipalities, formulated their development ideas in the LAirA (Landside Airport Accessibility) project, which was supported by the EU’s Interreg CE (Central-Europe) program. The aim of the project is to aid the integration of intelligent and low-emission transport solutions into the daily commute to urban airports.

As part of the project, Budapest Airport conducted a survey amongst passengers and employees last year. The results revealed that 60% of staff commute to work by car. To reduce the environmental pollution resulting from this, the airport operator developed a mobile application together with Oszkár, a Hungarian ride sharing service provider, whereby employees can share their trips with each other, and thus reduce the environmental burdens of their commute to work.

Using the information and the international best practices gathered in the course of the LAirA project, Budapest Airport also formulated its own, comprehensive mobility strategy. The construction of a turbo roundabout between main road number 4 and Terminal 2 commenced this year, which will manage the increasing passenger traffic of the airport and the cargo traffic turning off towards the newly opened Cargo City rapidly and efficiently. Budapest Airport also increased the number of chargers for electric vehicles available around the airport; 4 dedicated e-chargers are provided for cars used in airport operation. More charging stations are being established and the vehicles used at the airport are being replaced on a continuous basis. Our partners operating at the airport are also developing; the electric taxis used by Főtaxi can use 5 fast chargers and passengers arriving at the airport with electric vehicles have access to a fast charger in Terminal Parking. The airport operator also provides 15 dedicated parking spaces for the users of the MOL Limo car sharing service, with 6 charging stations to be installed during the summer of 2020.

An airport is a city in a city; BUD operates day and night on an area of approximately 1500 hectares, with numerous buildings and its own infrastructure. Accordingly, airport operation requires a comprehensive approach and mindset, whereby Budapest Airport has implemented numerous environmental protection measures. Ferenc Liszt International Airport has been certified carbon neutral for more than two years now, and has committed to reduce the harmful emissions of the airport to zero by 2050.

Circular economy is a flagship in the European Union: it appears in ecological and economical discussions and becomes more and more important in the research – development – innovation activities as well. One of the most important actors of the subject in Hungary is the Bay Zoltán Nonprofit Ltd. for Applied Research. There are several research activities within our organisation, focusing on this subject. However, the dissemination and education actions related to circular economy are very important as well, supported by our newly established Science Shop. For us it was quite obvious to join the European Waste Reduction Week and to organise several events.

Our first event within the week was the 14th LCA Conference, which was organised with the support of the CIRCE2020 project. It was held on 18-19 November 2019 in Szentendre, with the title “Circular solutions, innovation – challenges in field of lifecycle management”. The 2-day conference attracted nearly 60 participants from the corporate, research and academic sectors interested in industrial symbiosis and greening industrial processes. Lecturers from our organisation informed the audience about the CIRCE 2020 project achievements, with a special view to the life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost assessment (LCC) learning procedures that have been carried out in the consortium.

On 19th November 2019, we joined the „Science Mosaic 4.0.” festival at the CsoPa Science Centre. The main focus of our prorgamme was the circular economy, and our aim was to show how applied science can contribute to achieving the circularity within the economy. Participants could study about the critical raw materials, check an interesting experiment related to these materials and could learn about how to become Raw Material Ambassadors within RM@Schools 3.0 project. There was an opportunity to clean water, to make recycled paper or to learn about avoiding wasting food. The head of Circular Economy area of Bay Zoltán Research Centre, Péter Chrabák held a lecture for pupils about the basics of circular economy and what can anyone do for a sustainable life.

On 23th November, an open event was held in Szimpla Kert, called „Waste reduction in everyday life”. Our aim was to show how we can re-use the everyday waste or how to reduce quantity of food waste. Our young and enthusiastic scientists showed how to prepare jewellery from PET bottles or lipbalm from home ingredients. There was an opportunity to refresh old metal stuff or to learn how the old clothes can start a new life. A workshop was also organised with the title of „The role of re-use in the circular economy”.

This interactive discussion started with a presentation, in which participants could hear about the waste produced in the European Union. It was surprising to learn how low percentage of this waste is recycled or re-used. Re-use was in the focus of the workshop, as it is studied within the SURFACE project. After the presentation, participants discussed the difficulties of re-use and their own experience.

Düsseldorf – Henkel extends its collaboration with the social enterprise Plastic Bank for another five years. Following the achievements of the partnership launched in 2017, Henkel will support ongoing projects in Haiti, the Philippines and Indonesia and significantly contribute to developing an infrastructure of more than 400 Plastic Bank collection points in Egypt. Alone in 2020, Henkel will integrate more than 600 tons of the recycled material – called Social Plastic® – in its product packaging.

As part of its commitment for a circular economy and against plastic waste in the environment, Henkel was the first global consumer goods company to partner with Plastic Bank. The joint goal is to reduce plastic waste in the oceans while improving the lives of people in poverty – especially in countries that lack waste management infrastructure. The idea behind: At dedicated centers, the local population can return collected plastic waste and exchange it for money, goods, or services. This material is then integrated back into the plastic value chain as Social Plastic®.

Since the start of the collaboration, Plastic Bank opened additional collection centers in Haiti. Furthermore, Henkel helped the organization to establish a supply chain to ensure the collected plastic waste can be processed and recycled to finally be integrated back into the value chain. Earlier this year, Henkel launched a range of Beauty Care and Laundry & Home Care products with packaging including up to 50 percent Social Plastic®. In total, more than 200 tons of Social Plastic® were already processed by Henkel. This milestone received external recognition: For example, Henkel received Packaging Europe’s “Best Practice” Sustainability Award and Ecovia’s Sustainable Beauty Award in the “Sustainable Packaging” category.

Establishing a collection ecosystem in Egypt

The extended partnership, backed by Henkel’s consumer goods businesses Beauty Care and Laundry & Home Care, continues to focus on two aspects: Further increasing the integration of Social Plastic® in the company’s product packaging and scaling up Plastic Bank’s global footprint to prevent plastic waste to end up in oceans or waterways and to provide opportunities for people in need.

Henkel will support Plastic Bank in further enhancing the availability and integration of Social Plastic® as a resource for packaging. Through establishing a collection ecosystem in Egypt, Plastic Bank expects to reach an additional collection capacity of up to 5,000 tons annually – this corresponds to up to one billion bottles over the five year-period.

Holistic approach to tackling the problem of plastic waste

“Plastic Bank creates a value chain that contributes to a better world. Our partnership with Henkel is a good example of what can be achieved by joining forces and we are delighted about our extended collaboration,” says David Katz, CEO of Plastic Bank. “Together we can create true added value by tackling the waste problem in a holistic approach while at the same time helping people in need.”

“The cooperation with Plastic Bank helps us to pursue our strategy to implement more recycled plastic into our product’s packaging while ensuring a steady income for the collectors”, says Jens-Martin Schwärzler, Executive Vice President and responsible for Henkel’s Beauty Care business. “The partnership with Plastic Bank also enables us to match our consumer’s desires to apply environmental consciousness into their daily lives.”

“Since joining forces about two years ago, we’ve been working closely to avoid plastic ending up in the ocean and improve the lives of people in poverty – particularly in countries without effective waste management infrastructure,” says Bruno Piacenza, Executive Vice President and responsible for Henkel’s Laundry & Home Care business.

“Our collaboration with Plastic Bank is a unique partnership, addressing two of the world’s biggest challenges of today: plastic waste and the lack of opportunity for people in need”, says Sylvie Nicol, Executive Vice President Human Resources and Chairwoman of Henkel’s Sustainability Council. “We are excited to take the next steps – for the environment and a better future for even more people in Haiti, the Philippines, Indonesia and Egypt.”

Commitment for a circular economy

The partnership with Plastic Bank is part of Henkel’s various activities to foster a circular economy and to promote sustainable packaging solutions. The company has set itself specific packaging targets to promote a closed loop for plastic: By 2025, all packaging will be recyclable, reusable or compostable* and the proportion of recycled plastic in the packaging of consumer products in Europe will rise to 35 percent. Already today, many product packaging already consists of 100 percent recycled plastic. To drive progress in the field of sustainability, Henkel is collaborating with different partners along the value chain and participates in many cross-industry initiatives. For example, the company is member of the New Plastics Economy and founding member of the global Alliance to End Plastic Waste. To learn more about Henkel’s strategy and activities in the field of plastic, visit www.henkel.com/plastic.