Media Contacts: Josh Chetwynd, jchetwynd@greencentury.com, 303-573-5558; Annalisa Tarizzo, atarizzo@greencentury.com, 781-349-2789
Boston, February 8, 2022 – Green Century° has filed a shareholder proposal with The Coca-Cola Company, urging the beverage giant to reduce its use of single-use plastics and, instead, expand its refillable bottle options. Green Century co-lead filed the proposal with shareholder advocacy group As You Sow.
Coca-Cola has been named the world’s top corporate plastic polluter for four years running. Investors believe refillables are an important strategy for Coca-Cola to diminish the amount of packaging that enters the environment from its products, as well as to reduce the reputational risk stemming from the company’s association with plastic pollution. According to Coca-Cola’s most recent World Without Waste report, refillables are also among the packaging options best suited to reduce the company’s carbon footprint.
“Not only are refillable bottles critical for combating the plastic pollution crisis, they are also deeply intertwined with Coca-Cola’s history,” said Annalisa Tarizzo, shareholder advocate with Green Century Capital Management. “The first ever bottle of Coke was a refillable one. It’s time for the company to embrace its history by bringing this solution to a wider range of customers and making real strides toward reducing its plastic pollution.”
Coca-Cola already has a sizable refillable bottle footprint, which represents approximately 11% of its product packaging globally. Its refillable business makes up more than half of its sales in certain Latin American and African countries, but the company has yet to set a strategy for significantly expanding this type of operation on a global scale.
This is the second proposal Green Century has filed with Coca-Cola regarding its plastic packaging footprint. The first was filed in 2020 and resulted in the company setting a goal to reduce its use of virgin plastic by 3 million metric tons by 2025, or the equivalent of 200,000 plastic bottles per minute for a year.
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About Green Century Capital Management
°Green Century Capital Management, Inc. (Green Century) is the investment advisor to the Green Century Funds (The Funds). The Green Century Funds are the first family of fossil fuel free, responsible, and diversified mutual funds in the United States. Green Century Capital Management hosts an award-winning and in-house shareholder advocacy program and is the only mutual fund company in the U.S. wholly owned by environmental and public health nonprofit organizations.
*As of December 31, 2021, The Coca-Cola Company comprised 0.00%, 1.12%, and 0.00% of the Green Century Balanced Fund, the Green Century Equity Fund, and the Green Century International Index Fund respectively. As of the same date, other securities mentioned were not held in the portfolios of any of the Green Century Funds. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.
You should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please click here, email info@greencentury.com, or call 1-800-934-7336. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.
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The Green Century Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 235 W Galena Street, Milwaukee, WI 53212. 2/22