The Coca-Cola Company has set a goal for replenishing 100% of water used in finished beverages. Water restoration is not just about water volumes. Through restoring nature and providing ecosystem services, water replenishment can bring many additional societal benefits.

For The Coca-Cola Company , water replenishment projects are an instrument for managing risks in the watersheds in which they operate. Through the co-benefits of ecosystem services, water replenishment projects in fact act as Nature-Based Solutions to societal challenges. TCCC wants to understand the added value of these co-benefits for nature in order to be able to better optimise project investment and prioritisation.
The potential of Nature-Based Solutions is clear, but the challenge lies in measuring, understanding and managing this potential across the diverse range of projects worldwide.

Valuing Water in The Coca-Cola Company – about the project:

The Coca-Cola Company undertakes over 250 water replenishment projects worldwide, focused on nature restoration and community access to water & sanitation. TCCC routinely collects information on m3 of water restoration, but not for other natural capital benefits.

This project concerned developing a methodology for routinely

• collecting natural capital data, and
• valuation of natural capital benefits from water replenishment projects, all in line with the requirements of the Natural Capital Protocol.

This included:

• Materiality assessment – based on screening 40 projects in TCCC’s European business units
• Methodology development – setting data collection requirements that are realistic for nature restoration specialists (but not valuation experts) to implement. Combining this with state-of-the-art science for economic valuation of ecosystem services.
• Piloting the methodology for 7 projects diverse projects throughout Europe, including detailed sensitivity analysis of results and each methodology.
• Developing an in-depth methodological guidance document

The results and findings of the project can be found in this White Paper, created in collaboration with denkstatt group and Easton Consulting.

*Additional information on Coca‑Cola Europe’s water replenishment projects can be found here.