COP27, the next climate conference to take place in Egypt from 6-18 November, is full of debate. On the one hand, the unmistakable respect for human rights in this country has provoked multiple responses of annoyance from organizations and even official delegations. But now a new cause for concern has been added: The Coca Cola company, which is considered to be the company that produces the most plastic waste on the entire planet, is one of the sponsors of this climate summit..
99% of the world’s plastic is made from fossil fuels, the enemy to defeat at climate peaks. As soon as this contradiction was announced by the UN, it made a mess.
According to the 2021 Brand Audit Report carried out by the Break Free From Plastic organization, Coca Cola It became the first in the list of the companies producing the most plastic in the world for four consecutive years.
This soft drink company 120,000 million disposable plastic bottles each year, representing a significant consumption of fossil energyapart from the large amount of plastic waste produced in the natural environment.
In fact, the company has been increasing its waste in recent years, according to the association, which estimated 19.826 million plastic parts last year caused by Coca-Cola.
“It is surprising that a company so closely linked to the fossil fuel industry is allowed to sponsor such a vital meeting for the climate.. The fact that Coca Cola sponsored COP27 is naive green wash [lavado de cara verde]. “One of the world’s largest consumers of plastics,” said Emma Priestland, coordinator of Break Free From Plastic.
Canadian journalist and writer Naomi Klein criticized this fact: “It’s fun to hold a climate summit in a police state sponsored by Coca-Cola”made irony on the nets.
John Hocevar, director of Greenpeace’s Oceans campaign in the US, said: “It is worrying that Coca Cola is sponsoring the Conference in Egypt this year. They have yet to acknowledge that this is a problem or explain how they will achieve their climate goals without kicking their addiction to plastic.. This undermines the purpose of the event it plans to sponsor.”
“If Coca-Cola really wants to solve the plastic and climate crisis, it needs to turn off the plastic tap,” he said.
The anger has gotten to the point where signatures have already begun to be collected on Change.org to demand the withdrawal of this company as a collaborator of this world event for climate.
Coca-Cola’s reaction
The company has defended itself against these criticisms and affirmed that it shares its “goal of eliminating waste from the ocean” as well as commending “awareness-raising efforts about this challenge” being carried out on the planet. .
We are ready to contribute a grain of sand and have set ambitious goals for our company.It starts by helping to collect and recycle a bottle or can for every one we sell (regardless of origin) by 2030,” the company explains.
“In 2020, we signed a joint statement urging United Nations Member States to adopt a global agreement to tackle the plastic waste problem with a holistic circular economy approach. Our support for COP27, Our science-based target to reduce absolute carbon emissions by 25% by 2030 and our goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050,” he adds.
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