Coca-Cola cuts greenhouse gas emissions in fridges
sales and marketing will work without puffing out powerful
greenhouse gases, as the group jumps aboard the trend for
sustainable production.
Coca-Cola said 98 per cent of all new purchases of refrigerated sales and marketing equipment would not emit hydroflourocarbon (HFC) gases, considered powerful contributors to global warming.
The move, which should take HFCs out of 1,300 refrigerators, marks another step forward in the trend towards environmental responsibility sweeping the food industry.
"This new equipment will emit 75 per cent fewer direct greenhouse gas emissions, as compared to traditional sales equipment on the market today," said Jeff Seabright, Coca-Cola's vice president for environment and water resources.
HFCs are commonly thrown into the atmosphere by refrigeration units of all sizes. The gases currently account for around 1.5 per cent of global warming pollution, but some research estimates say this may rise up to 8.6 per cent by 2050.
"As this equipment replaces older models being retired from our fleet, it will result in an annual reduction of 30,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions," said Seabright.
Even environmental campaigns group Greenpeace was impressed with the move. "We hope that this courageous example will find a lot of imitators in industry and retail," said Wolfgang Lohbeck, one of the body's climate change experts.
Seabright re-iterated this sentiment, calling on other companies to commit themselves to sustainable refrigeration.
Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Unilever were last year awarded the US Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Protection Award, for their work on developing natural refrigeration technology.
The trio's 'joint venture', known as Refrigerants Naturally, linked up with the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development last December.
The ultimate goal of dumping greenhouse gases completely still needs more research, however.
Coke said the 2,000 beverage coolers it had supplied for this year's football world cup in Germany used CO2 instead of HFCs, although were also designed to use less energy.
CO2 remains a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
