What steps is Coca‑Cola taking towards improving the carbon footprint of its Olympic sponsorship?

As a global company, we are committed to growing our business without increasing our carbon footprint. Every Coca-Cola cooler installed in an Olympic or Paralympic venue will be HFC-free, energy efficient and use LED lighting. After London 2012, these will be installed in customer premises across Europe.

We have a dedicated warehouse from which products will be delivered to the London venues. Known as ‘Voltaic’, it includes many environmentally friendly features including solar PV cells and solar water heating, sky lights and motion-sensing lighting, a ground source heat pump, and a rainwater harvesting system.

We have acquired 14 biogas trucks to deliver products to our customers in the London area during London 2012. They are powered by methane captured from a landfill site in Surrey. Each vehicle has a carbon footprint less than half that of a typical diesel truck. After the Games, these trucks will continue to be used to distribute our products, ensuring that this carbon reduction benefit lasts well beyond the Games.

Over their lifespan, our 14 biogas trucks will cut the carbon footprint of the Coca-Cola system by approximately 1,500 tonnes. Between them, the Voltaic warehouse and our low carbon trucks mean that the carbon footprint of our distribution system for London 2012 has been cut by a third.

We are ensuring our sponsorship of London 2012 is zero carbon by reducing emissions from our operations, and will compensate for the remainder by purchasing Gold Standard carbon offsets. We have invested in a state-of-the-art low-carbon warehouse and a fleet of biogas vehicles – which between them are cutting the carbon of our distribution system for the Games by a third.

Greenpeace awarded us the 'first green medal' of the Beijing Games and we will be using this experience to ensure London 2012 is the most sustainable Games possible.