Our Coca-Cola HBC Group Sustainability Journey | At a Glance

Our Coca-Cola HBC Group sustainability goals are closely aligned with the business objectives and are embedded in the overall strategy, with a strong focus on our people, who drive sustainable growth at Coca-Cola HBC.

Our Coca-Cola HBC Group sustainability strategy concentrates on seven key areas: climate, packaging, water, ingredients, nutrition, people and communities, and biodiversity. This is supported by a series of external commitments known as Mission 2025 and further strengthened by our commitment to achieve a Net Zero carbon footprint by 2040 and net positive biodiversity by the same year. Coca-Cola HBC Group was ranked as the world’s most sustainable beverage company in the 2024 Dow Jones Best-in-Class Indices for the eighth time. This success comes from continuously evolving its business model to deliver growth and taking a strategic approach to sustainability. This approach allows us to both grow and make our business more resilient. Coca-Cola HBC Group also remains a global industry leader in sustainability this year, with leading scores and rankings in ten of the most-recognised ESG ratings.

Each year Coca-Cola HBC Group makes steady progress towards NetZeroBy40 target. On the central level we have decreased our absolute direct emissions by 58% and reduced our absolute total value chain emissions in Scope 1, 2 and 3 by a third from 2010 to the end of 2024, despite a global increase. Coca-Cola HBC Hungary is leading a number of initiatives to contribute to this.

• We are proud that Coca-Cola Hungary’s products are manufactured with green energy. Our Zalaszentgrót plant has used 100% renewable electricity since 2016 and our Dunaharaszti plant since 2017. Green operations are enhanced at Zalaszentgrót using heat pumps, which provide the plant with green thermal energy, making its operations almost entirely carbon-free.
• We are committed to improving our energy efficiency and reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from our activities.

A) In 2024, our Scope 1+2 emissions target was 10.35 kt CO₂, and we achieved this with an actual result of 10.32 kt CO₂. This success was supported by continued green electricity purchases consistent with prior years, ongoing fleet greening, efficient operation of the PET3 line (installed in late 2023), the implementation of energy-saving measures under Coca-Cola HBC Hungary’s TOP20 energy efficiency program, and pressure-reduction actions on compressors.

B) As over 90% of our emissions are in Scope 3, we are collaborating with our suppliers and customers to reduce them to an absolute minimum. So, the work we do with them is vital to our success.

• In 2024, we continued replacing coolers used for storing chilled drinks, reducing CO₂ emissions in the process. We are systematically upgrading to iCoolers, which are more energy efficient. That year, we purchased 5,913 commercial refrigeration units with the highest available energy efficiency. As a result, energy-efficient units in our commercial refrigeration fleet increased from 52.3% to 61.9%, reducing electricity consumption by 38.8 GWh.
• Our energy management practices are governed by our ISO 50001 energy management system, certified by SGS Hungária.

Packaging is one of our top sustainability priorities, playing a critical role in reducing both emissions and waste. We believe that every package has value and a life beyond its first use - it should be collected and recycled into a new package or reused.

• Among EU countries (Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia, Republic of Ireland) Hungary launched a Deposit Return System (DRS) on 1 July 2024. So far overall DRS collection rate reached 80% in Hungary (data source DRS operator MOHU), however DRS systems have proven track records of delivering very high collection rates, often above 90%.
• We eliminated single-use plastic film from multi-pack cans by introducing innovative KeelClip^TM technology. In 2023, it helped reduce plastic use in Hungary by nearly 202 tonnes.
• Significantly ahead of the June 2024 EU regulatory deadline - and the first of its kind in Hungary - we introduced tethered caps for carbonated soft drinks, making bottle and cap recycling easier. Both KeelClip™ and tethered caps support our transition to a circular economy model.

We focus on making a positive impact in different ways in the local communities, such as through financial support, volunteering and training for young people. 

• By the end of 2024, our flagship community program #YouthEmpowered (enjovom.hu), had trained more than 6,500 young people since its launch in 2018. The program improves young people’s employability.
• Since 2019, over 400 colleagues have participated in 10 volunteer days. As part of our Zero Waste Tisza program, colleagues collected the waste accumulated in Tisza River and its floodplains. Volunteers contributed 3,500 hours to cleaning areas around Kisköre, Dinnyéshát, Tiszaszalka and Lake Tisza, collecting 11.5 tons of waste.

Water is essential to every aspect of our business. Protecting this valuable resource is a priority, especially in areas where water is scarce or at risk. Although our plants in Hungary are not located in a water-scarce area, reducing the amount of water used to produce our products is one of our priority goals. We set annual water usage targets and deploy projects to meet them. We monitor our water consumption targets annually and pursue further initiatives based on the results. We monitor our water consumption with ISO 14001 environment management system.

• In 2024, our water consumption target per 1 litre of finished product was 1.72 litres of water, and our result was 1.66 litres. This is important because it helps conserve water, a precious resource, and reduces costs.
• In 2024, we transitioned from the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) certification to ISO 46001 requirements, and our system was certified by Lloyd's in January 2025. This certification shows that we have effective systems in place to manage and reduce water usage, which is beneficial for the environment and demonstrates our commitment to sustainability.