Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Coca-Cola has a broadly positive stance on climate change and is somewhat actively engaged with climate policy. The company generally supports the renewable energy transition and circular economy. However, some of Coca-Cola’s industry associations engage more negatively and with less transparency than the company, such as the US Business Roundtable.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Coca-Cola has positive top-line messaging on climate policy. In a joint letter signed by its CEO, James Quincey, in October 2023, the company emphasized the need for increased government ambition and the necessity to incentivize corporate investments through an enabling regulatory environment and carbon markets. Moreover, Coca-Cola's 2022 Annual Report, released in April 2023, supports land-use techniques to reduce emissions in line with IPCC guidance. Additionally, Coca-Cola advocated for increased government-led investments and financial incentives in a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in November 2023.
Engagement with Climate-Related Policy: Coca-Cola offers generally positive positions on specific climate policy and regulations, although its advocacy is generally limited to top-line positions and sign on letters. In a meeting with the EU Commissioner in September 2023, Coca-Cola supported circular economy regulations to reduce plastic waste. However, in a position paper from April 2023, Coca-Cola was less clear on its position on the EU's strategy to prevent waste generation. Coca-Cola has shown unclear support for UK’s energy efficiency policy for net-zero economy, advocating for a consistent long-term strategy and supportive policy environment in its November 2023 letter to the Chancellor. Additionally, Coca-Cola supported measures to decarbonize industry, backing the EU Green Deal Industrial Plan and endorsing GHG emissions reduction targets per its October 2023 letter to the Heads of State attending COP28.
Positioning on Energy Transition: In a joint letter with the We Mean Business Coalition in October 2023, Coca-Cola strongly supported the transition of the energy mix and the removal of fossil fuel subsidies, and advocated for clean energy measures and the decarbonization of the power sector. Additionally, the company also supported a 2030 zero-emissions purchase target for corporate car and van fleets in the EU, and promoted the electrification of fleets in its February 2023 joint letter on the European Commission Greening Corporate Fleets Initiative.
Industry Association Governance: Coca-Cola is partially transparent about its indirect influence, and has published some details of its industry associations' positions and engagement activities on specific climate-related policies. However, the company it’s a member of several groups that advocate more negatively. For example, in February 2024, Business Roundtable advocated for weaker implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act's clean hydrogen tax credit, and in July 2023, the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations also supported for maintaining a high GHG emissions energy mix in July 2023. The company's 2023 CDP Climate Change response lists its relationships with industry associations such as the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations, the Japanese Business Federation, and the Federation of French Industry, but omits key groups such as the US Chamber of Commerce, Kankeiren, and the Consumer Goods Forum.
InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q3 2025.