Coca Cola Europacific Partners : rsquo; manufacturing site in Dongen becomes the Netherlands’ first recipient of an Alliance for Water Stewardship certificate for its sustainable water management

Picture from left to right: Eva Amsterdam (Senior Manager sustainabilityCCEP), Jos Peeters (Enviromental Manager Dongen CCEP), Eerik Schipper (Control Union), Moortgat Kris (Director Supply Chain CCEP)

CCEP's manufacturing site in Dongen, the Netherlands has been awarded a platinum certification - the highest level of certification - for sustainable water stewardship by the global Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS), a global membership collaboration that drives, recognises and rewards good water stewardship performance. This is the first AWS certification for any site in the Netherlands.

Water usage at the site has been optimised in several of ways over a number of years; including the launch of a collaboration with local partners to coordinate communal uses for water, as well as an adaptation to the factory's line that washes used bottles that now means only reused, clean water is used. These measures have improved water efficiency and contribute to protecting the health of the watershed and local ecosystem.

Joe Franses, VP Sustainability at CCEP says: 'Water is an essential resource across our value chain, and we need to treat it with the care it deserves. Good water stewardship is a key part of our sustainability strategy so we're delighted that the important work that has been taking place in Dongen has been recognised by AWS. We are aiming to make all our production facilities as water efficient as possible, by reducing our water consumption on a continual basis and protecting local water sources for future generations.'

As part of its Action on Water strategy, CCEP adopts a value chain approach to water management. All of its production facilities in Europe have implemented water management plans to support CCEP's ambition to address water scarcity challenges and take care of water resources. Since 2010, there has been a 13.7% reduction in the amount of water used to make one litre of product at CCEP sites, and 275% of the water used in its drinks, where sourced from areas of water stress, was replenished.

The site in Dongen is also part of a CCEP programme that aims for at least six of its sites to become carbon neutral certified according to the international standard PAS 2060 by the end of 2023. To reduce emissions at the site, all the transport vehicles on-site (forklift trucks and road sweepers) will be switched to electric, the gas powered boilers will be replaced by electric heating systems and the site's 100% renewable energy will be supplied by local solar and wind farms.

This programme is a key part of CCEP's Net Zero 2040 ambition and target to reduce its value chain emissions by 30% by 2030 (versus 2019) that focuses first on reducing its own value chain emissions before investing in verified carbon offset projects, prioritising those that remove carbon from the atmosphere, to take away any remaining emissions.