An Irish MEP has branded Coca Cola’s sponsorship of the 27th Annual United Nations Climate Change ‘Conference of the Parties’ (COP27) “greenwashing”.
The world’s biggest plastic producer was chosen as a supporting sponsor for this year’s global summit by Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
And the selection has not gone down well with NGOs, climate activists and companies working on global warming mitigation either.
Read more: Ireland still biggest producer of plastic packaging per head of population in EU
Green Party politician Grace O’Sullivan said: “Unfortunately we are seeing more and more greenwashing surrounding these events - even the fact it is being hosted by a country that has just increased gas exports to the EU along with Israel and is guilty of egregious human rights offences.
“Oil, plastic and abuses all go hand in hand,” she added.
“Coca Cola is the largest producer of plastic and plastic waste in the world, four years in a row in 2021.
“This case shows how the climate crisis, biodiversity loss and pollution are all interlinked and stained by big money and big oil. The climate movement does not want their money.”
Egypt announced the deal with Coca Cola on September 28, saying “climate is a key area of focus” for the company as it works towards net zero by 2050.
Irish climate adaptation worker Peter Dynes from MEER.org says it’s like big tobacco sponsoring a World Health Organisation conference.
He told us: “Coca Cola are basically a plastics company with added syrup.
“They produce three million tonnes of plastic packaging a year.
“The fossil fuel industry continues to develop new extraction and processing capacity to meet this growing demand. All this is adding to the emissions problem, never mind the pollution.”
US-born drinks firm Coca Cola’s products are the world’s biggest polluters according to audits by Breakfree from Plastic.
They said: "Global beach cleanups were carried out by more than 11,000 volunteers in 45 countries to identify the most common plastic polluters. This year’s (2021) Brand Audit found nearly 20,000 Coca-Cola branded products, which represents more pollution than the next two top polluters combined—as has been the case each year since 2019."
While 99% of plastic is made from fossil fuels, plastic pollution and litter also harms wildlife, sea life and impacts lives around the world.
Greenpeace said in a statement about the move: “Coca-Cola produces 120 billion throwaway plastic bottles a year – and 99% of plastics are made from fossil fuels, worsening both the plastic and climate crisis.
“They have yet to even acknowledge this is a problem or explain how they will meet their climate goals without ending their plastic addiction.
“This partnership undermines the very objective of the event it seeks to sponsor.”
COP27 takes place in Sharm-El Sheikh, Egypt this November 6-18.
The global climate summit aims to encourage nations to reach agreements on tackling climate change, which is caused by carbon emissions mostly from burning fossil fuels.
Deforestation, wetland and bogland loss doesn’t help, as it reduces vital carbon sinks that can remove CO2 from the air.
Countries have already committed to keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees over pre-industrial levels, but even Ireland did not meet legally binding targets in 2020 while its 2021 emissions were up 4.7% according to the EPA.
Coca Cola has been contacted for comment.
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