Should Coca-Cola sponsor the UN’s climate conference COP27?

Next week Coca-Cola will be sponsoring the UN’s climate conference COP27 that is taking place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, between 6-18 November.

The same Coca-Cola that is the consistently most polluting company according to beach clean audits conducted by Break Free From Plastic and Surfers Against Sewage.

The very Coca-Cola that produces well over 100 billion throwaway plastic bottles per year. Remember that 99% of plastics are made from fossil fuels so this is worsening the climate crisis as well.

Yes, the Coca-Cola that has a history of making voluntary reduction commitments with murky outcomes or signs of success.

This isn’t a new strategy. Coca-Cola sponsor environmental programmes such as Recycle Week, The Ocean Cleanup and WWF, to name a few. Coca-Cola is an active greenwasher and these collabs are essentially distraction tactics that delay and derail progress.

You could argue that polluting companies like Coca-Cola should be footing the bill for cleaning our environment and contributing to systems change. But the problem is that while huge conglomerates are investing in sponsoring programmes like COP27 (and COP26, by the way), they are also investing in lobbying against systems such as the Deposit Return Scheme while continuing to manufacture new plastic that is used to package hundreds of billions of products. 

Responsibility rests also with NGOs, charities and environmental organisations to resist Coca-Cola cash when it comes to sponsorship programmes. Partnerships with corporations like Coca-Cola can be game-changing in terms of establishing longer-term financial stability and funding vital work. But that can come at the cost of a diluted organisational vision or a nullified purpose, especially if you’re campaigning for a less plastic society when the work involves cleaning up after your sponsor.