Coca Cola Enterprises Makes 10% Full Range Calorie Reduction Pledge by 2020

11 Jun 2015 --- Coca Cola Enterprises, which bottles Coke for European countries like the UK, France, Netherlands and Belgium, has announced that it plans to cut calories across its full portfolio by 10% in the six years to 2020. The move comes as the soft drinks industry remains under enormous pressure to take some responsibility for the gorwing global obesity crisis, which is in part attributed to the consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks.

Hubert Patricot, European President of Coca Cola Enterprises, told FoodIngredientsFirst: "Obesity is a serious and complex issue, and an important one for our business. We must ensure that we grow our business responsibly and sustainably, and we will work with our consumers and civil society to ensure we address the issue of obesity together. We will continue to offer our consumers choice – among low-, mid- or no-sugar products and a range of pack sizes – and we are always exploring opportunities to expand the portfolio of products that we offer. We will also continue to collaborate with The Coca-Cola Company to use innovative sweeteners to create further choice for consumers. I am confident that these steps will help the people who buy our products make the right choices for themselves and their families."

The news came as part of the company’s 10th Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Report, in which it also announced an ambitious plan to halve the company’s carbon footprint by 2020.

The company has pledged to ensure that 40% of the PET it uses is recycled PET or from renewable materials and supporting the skills development and learning needs of 250,000 young people every year. The bold calorie reduction target represents a significant leadership position for the soft drinks industry amid growing concerns about calorie intake and obesity. CCE has also committed to encouraging people to be physically active, targeting three million people across its territories by 2020.

John F. Brock, Chairman and CEO, Coca-Cola Enterprises, said: “Ten years into our sustainability journey, we are proud of our achievements but we know that there is still much more to do. Our new commitments embrace both environmental and social issues – with a stronger focus than ever before on promoting the well-being of our consumers. If we want to build a long-term sustainable business, there’s no room for complacency and these ambitious targets reflect our desire to take a lead in our industry when it comes to sustainability.”

Joe Franses, Director, Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, Coca-Cola Enterprises, comments: “Our new commitments have been heavily shaped by the expectations of our stakeholders – we listened, and their feedback has helped us set new and more challenging goals, particularly around well-being and carbon. This isn’t just another report – it’s a milestone and an opportunity to make a real difference.

Katharine Jenner, Campaign Director at Action on Sugar, told FoodIngredientsFirst: “We welcome any moves that will genuinely reduce total calories from our diet; however it does not seem that Coke’s bottlers will be able to gradually reduce sugar (the only source of calories) from their entire drinks line, but are hoping to shift consumer's behaviour, which is a much harder approach. We would strongly encourage the makers of Coke to make the bottlers’ job much easier, and actually remove some sugar from their sugary drinks.”

Calories in soft drinks have been largely blamed for rising levels of obesity around the world. Many studies show that consumers, particularly children, gain a large proportion of calories from soft drinks, some of which contain up to six teaspoons of sugar per serving. Obesity is a leading cause of non-communicable disease globally, including heart disease, type-2 diabetes and some cancers. Opponents of soft drinks would like to see them banned in schools and a tax introduced to dissuade consumers from drinking too many sugar-filled drinks.

Sales of soft drinks have been steadily falling in favour of alternatives such as water and smoothies and in the soft drinks segment, sales of low-calorie or no-calories drinks are rising faster than their full-sugar counterparts. Last year, Coca Cola in the US pledged to reduce the amount of calories consumed from soft drinks by 20% by 2025.

By Kelly Worgan