Because water is essential to nature, communities, and business, The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) launched a transformational partnership in 2007 to help conserve the world’s freshwater resources. Expanding this focus and building on our progress, the collaboration was renewed through 2020 to achieve even greater impact by helping address the natural resource challenges that impact fresh water. The partnership is focused on helping to ensure healthy, resilient freshwater basins in 11 key regions, measurably improving environmental performance across the company’s value chain, integrating the value of nature into public and private decision-making processes, and convening influential partners to solve global environmental challenges. Through this collaboration, WWF and TCCC are working with field partners to develop the Continuous Improvement Grain Program in the Mackinaw River Watershed in McLean County, Illinois, as part of our efforts in the broader Mississippi River Basin. This pilot program will drive continuous improvement of grain agriculture against key sustainability indicators to meet TCCC’s goal to be 100% sustainably sourced by 2020, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve water quality, and deliver value to growers.

Project Results

Field program collaborations between TCCC and WWF, including Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture and the Continuous Improvement Grain Program, expand the use of tools that measure water, fertilizer, and energy usage and greenhouse emissions. This project and others like it will contribute to Coca-Cola’s goal of engaging farmers representing 250,000 acres by the end of 2015, and up to 1 million acres by 2020 - equating to roughly 50% of the company’s global corn supply.