OneWorld.net (U.S.)

WASHINGTON, Oct 29 (OneWorld) - Indian activists blasted the Coca-Cola company yesterday for publishing a "Sustainability Review" that brushes serious environmental issues under the rug.

Empty water jugs near a Coke plant in India. © India Resource Center"Everyone concerned with transparency and good corporate practices needs to take a good look at Coca-Cola's Sustainability Review," said Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Center, charging that by "conveniently forgetting to mention its ongoing trouble spots" the company is trying to "mislead the public."

Coca-Cola has been under fire in India, and with sympathetic student activists in the United States and Britain, for appropriating too large a share of scarce water resources and polluting land and water -- and even its own soft drinks -- with toxic waste.

The official Coca-Cola review highlights the company's "commitment to growing its business in an economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable way," but does not refer to the strong local opposition to its operations in many Indian states or the findings of an assessment carried out earlier this year.

The company's main plant in Kerala state was shut down in 2004 due to community opposition related to excessive water use that left the community dry. A court found that Coke's water use "had aggravated water scarcity" but also noted that the area was experiencing drought. The plant remains closed. 

Studies undertaken in 2003 and 2006 found unacceptably high levels of toxic pesticides, including DDT, in soft drinks produced by Coca-Cola in India. Seven states imposed full or partial bans on sales as a result.

Local communities also complain that Coca-Cola plants produce toxic waste that pollutes land and groundwater resources. In a situation mentioned in a June 2005 Wall Street Journal article, Coke was accused of giving heavily polluted groundwater to local farmers as "fertilizer."

"The entire life cycle of Coca-Cola, from extraction to consumption, is unsustainable."
- India Resource Center"The dispute in India does raise questions about Coke's waste-disposal practices there," according to Wall Street Journal reporter Steve Stecklow, who noted that the company "violated its own global safety standards" by not conducting toxicity tests on a dump site used by one of its plants.

Earlier this year, India's Energy and Resources Institute undertook an assessment of Coca-Cola operations in India that identified serious water and pollution management problems, and recommended shutting down its plant in Kala Dera due to the impact on local water resources.

The assessment also criticized the company's waste management and pollution protection standards, and charged that plants had been built according to the company's own "business continuity" goals, with no community consultation.

Coca-Cola agreed to the assessment following pressure from students in the United States and the loss by Coke of its place in a list of socially responsible businesses, along with millions in revenues due to student boycotts.

In response to the growing criticism of its operations in India, the company announced plans to become "water neutral" in India by 2009. Monday's Sustainability Review, however, states: "We do not yet have a date for when we hope to attain water neutrality."

According to critic Amit Srivastava, Coca-Cola believes the term "water neutral" has tremendous marketing opportunities, deflecting attention from the water crisis it contributes to, despite the fact that "scientifically speaking, it is impossible to be water neutral."

"We are watching Coca-Cola's operations closely in India to see just how they become water neutral by 2009," he added.

Countering the claims of yesterday's report that the company is moving toward greener operations, the India Resource Center insists that, when its India operations and the health problems associated with Coke consumption are taken into consideration, "the entire life cycle of Coca-Cola, from extraction to consumption, is unsustainable."

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