It is important for The Coca-Cola Company to address agricultural challenges and opportunities systemwide and across our entire value chain. Fifty percent of the Coca-Cola system’s procurement expenditures goes toward agricultural ingredients, linking us closely with agricultural communities worldwide.

There are many aspects to consider, including rising demand of key commodities, women’s empowerment, economic development, water management, human and labor rights, and energy and climate impacts. The need to understand the interconnected relationships among all of these topic areas has led to the conclusion that the most effective approach to address sustainable agriculture is through the development of an integrated Water- Energy-Food strategy.

Four areas that we will focus on as part of this approach are: 

• Embedding sustainability into ingredient-procurement decisions. 
• Developing and implementing crop-specific programs to enhance the economic well-being of farming communities, improve yields and protect natural resources across the supply chain. 
• Building industrywide collaborations to gain alignment and effect change in the agricultural sector. 
• Driving change through partnerships.

Engaging our suppliers is an essential component of our multifaceted approach. Our Sustainable Agriculture Guiding Principles (SAGP) help define what “more sustainable sourcing” means to us and lay out our expectations for suppliers in the following areas: human and workplace rights, environmental stewardship and responsible farm management.

Building on these principles, we have developed a new Supplier Engagement Program, which gives guidance to our suppliers on various pathways to achieve SAGP compliance. This comprehensive program applies to all geographies and covers the key commodities and ingredients used to produce our products.

We believe that sustainable agriculture is in our collective best interest, ensuring improved environmental health, economic profitability and inclusion. For example, the global purchasing power of the Coca-Cola system allows us to apply our leverage and resources to support partnership initiatives and programs that seek to address universal and local social, political, environmental and other sustainability challenges.

We are working hard to create positive, long-term impact. As our strategy and activities evolve, we will continue to highlight our progress on our Journey website.