Coca-Cola’s commitment to inspire protection of water

Thousands of school-age children have benefited from the clean water awareness initiative

Understanding the importance of water resources, Coca-Cola has led several initiatives in Vietnam to conserve water and to provide safe water access. Coca-Cola’s EKOCENTER programme, for example, has provided more than three million litres of clean water to residents in 13 provinces nationwide. On average, EKOCENTER provides 7,000 litres of clean water per day. Since the launch of the first EKOCENTER in Ho Chi Minh City in 2015, Coca-Cola has built 13 EKOCENTERs across the country to improve access to clean water for local communities.

Besides providing clean water, EKOCENTERs have become a daily hub in local communities providing residents with free Wi-Fi, filtered water from an advanced solar energy system, multi-purpose gymnasiums and a community home. In addition, kiosks in the EKOCENTER provide a place and opportunity for local women to sell various products, thereby enhancing their economic capacity.

Coca-Cola has also been working with the International Union for Conservation of Nature to implement a far-reaching project to help alleviate the twin impacts of both drought and floods in the Mekong Delta. Between 2017 to 2019, the project has invested nearly VND6 billion ($260,870) into sustainably improving the livelihoods of farming communities in flood-affected areas in the Mekong Delta.

Coca-Cola has also been helping to provide clean drinking water for secondary schools in Vietnam. It has partnered with the Center for Consultancy on Family Health and Community Development to launch a programme to increase access to clean water in schools and help raise awareness and appreciation among school children on the importance of water. In 2020, the beverage maker poured $110,000 into this programme.

In total, 6,244 school children and teachers directly benefited from the programme, as well as 12,488 people who live in the surrounding areas.

Furthermore, Coca-Cola has invested VND6.8 billion ($295,600) in conservation efforts at the Tram Chim National Park in cooperation with the World Wide Fund for Nature. Thanks to these efforts, 231 bird species have been successfully protected in the park over the years. Meanwhile, almost 200 households living around the park can participate in the use of natural resources during flooding season.

“We have a long history in Vietnam and around the world of supporting local water stewardship programmes,” said a representative of Coca-Cola. “For us, it’s a business imperative. Water is essential to our products and the communities where we operate.”

Coca-Cola is supporting communities in water conservation

Coca-Cola is utilising state-of-the-art technologies in the name of a cleaner environment

Coca-Cola Vietnam is also addressing water conservation through its internal business practices. Every year, the company optimises to reduce the amount of water per litre of product output, and at the same time, convert the water which is used for production from groundwater to tap water from 2019. From 2015 to 2020, water efficiency of Coca-Cola Vietnam improved on average by 25 per cent.

As part of its commitment to protect the environment, the company also focuses on wastewater treatment. With a designed capacity of 1,000 cubic metres per day and upgradable to 3.500 cu.m per day, the plant’s innovative waste water treatment system is upgraded with membrane bioreactor filtration systems featuring superior advantages, ensuring discharged waste water meets A-grade quality which exceeds current required standards.

Moving forward, Coca-Cola Vietnam will continue to show leadership in water stewardship and continue to partner in efforts to raise collective action and awareness.