Coca-Cola Enterprises Details Carbon and Water Footprint Reductions in 2011/2012 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Report

(3BL Media) Atlanta, GA - May 9, 2012 - Coca-Cola Enterprises (NYSE/NYSE Euronext Paris: CCE) today released its seventh company-wide Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CRS) report, “How can a drink build a more sustainable tomorrow?”

This is the company’s first CRS report since the publication of its “Deliver for Today, Inspire for Tomorrow” sustainability plan in September 2011. Built on extensive stakeholder feedback, the plan defines the company’s new sustainability vision, commitments and more challenging targets as it seeks to grow its business while building a more sustainable tomorrow.

The report demonstrates how CCE is delivering against its thirty seven targets in each of its seven CRS focus areas (Energy and Climate Change, Sustainable Packaging and Recycling, Water Stewardship, Product Portfolio, Active Healthy Living, Community, and Workplace). In particular, it focuses on the two areas in which CCE intends to lead the industry, Energy and Climate Change and Sustainable Packaging and Recycling, and addresses how the company plans to innovate for the future. The report emphasizes the importance of stakeholder engagement and collaboration and includes a range of questions posed to CCE by stakeholders in 2011.

“We have made important progress in the past year to reduce our water and carbon impacts while growing our business,” said John F. Brock, chairman and chief executive officer. “We know that taking broader accountability across our value chain is the right thing to do, and to create a more sustainable tomorrow, we will work even more closely with customers, suppliers and other partners.”

Key 2011/2012 progress includes reducing carbon emissions from the manufacture, distribution and cooling of CCE’s products by 8.4 percent while growing volume by 3.5 percent, and reducing the company’s water use ratio by 13 percent since 2007. In 2011, CCE announced a plastics recycling joint venture with ECO Plastics in Great Britain which, when operational, will enable the company to include 25% rPET in all its plastic packaging in Great Britain this year. 

“As we move forward on our CRS journey, we realize that we don’t have all the answers,” added Brock. “Innovation and collaboration with our stakeholders is key, particularly in the context of the macroeconomic and societal challenges we continue to face. In partnership with our stakeholders, we seek to continue developing CRS solutions that benefit our company, our industry and society at large.”  

2011/2012 CCE CRS Report Highlights:

• Grew volume by 3.5%, while reducing emissions from manufacturing, distribution and the cooling of products by 8.4%
• Became the first soft drinks company to receive the Carbon Trust Standard Award, receiving the best-ever score out of 675 companies.
• Certified three manufacturing sites to the new energy management standard, ISO 5000, with the company’s plant at Wakefield, Great Britain, becoming the first in the food and beverage industry to achieve this certification.
• Invested $23 million of capital expenditure on carbon reduction projects, such as solar panels installed on the roof of a new green distribution centre in Belgium and at three sites in Great Britain.
• Invited to join the EU Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change to demonstrate the support of business for the European Union to move to a low-carbon society.
• Launched a ‘Carbon Challenge’, in which 129 of CCE’s suppliers were surveyed on their carbon performance and asked to implement reduction plans.
• Reduced the amount of water required to make 1 liter of product to 1.43 liters – a reduction of 13 percent since 2007.
• Introduced PlantBottle – incorporating plastic from plant-based material - across all territories to popular 500ml PET Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero packages.
• Executed recycling programmes at major summer festivals in France, Belgium and Great Britain, as well as with major retailers ASDA and Carrefour, reaching over 4.7 million consumers with recycling messaging.
• Launched water replenishment partnership with WWF-UK and The Coca-Cola Company focusing on improving water quality in river catchments in South East England.
• Introduced Powerade Zero in France and started work on product reformulation to include plant-based sweetener stevia into some drinks.
• Invested $5.7 million in our communities. Activities included our ‘Real Business Challenge’ programme in Great Britain in which 45,000 students participated.

The report can be accessed at www.ccesustainabilityplan.com/crsreport2011-12

About Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc.
Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc. is the leading Western European marketer, distributor, and producer of bottle and can liquid nonalcoholic refreshment and one of the world's largest independent Coca-Cola bottlers. CCE is the sole licensed operator for products of The Coca-Cola Company in Belgium, continental France, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. For more information about our company, please visit our website at www.cokecce.com.

Coca-Cola Enterprises sustainability plan, “Deliver for Today, Inspire for Tomorrow,” defines its sustainability vision, commitments and more challenging targets. This is an important milestone on CCE’s Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability journey as it seeks to grow its business while building a more sustainable tomorrow. The Company is taking broader accountability outside its own operations and is working across its value chain to grow a low-carbon, zero-waste business. The company recently received the Best Report and Best Carbon Reporting awards from the Corporate Register Reporting Awards for its 2010/2011 CRS Report. For more information about our corporate responsibility and sustainability efforts, please visit our website at www.ccesustainabilityplan.com.