Coca-Cola European Partners aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Credit: Laura Chouette on Unsplash.

Bottling firm Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) has announced that it will invest €250m ($302m) over the next three years to fast-track its business decarbonisation efforts.

The company aims to reduce absolute greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its entire value chain by 30% by 2030 (vs 2019), and become a net-zero business by 2040.

The initiative by CCEP is said to be in line with a 1.5˚C pathway and the Paris Climate Agreement.

Coca-Cola European Partners CEO Damian Gammell said: “Our vision has always been to deliver loved brands, done sustainably, and today we recognise the even greater urgency to address climate change, one of the most serious and complex challenges facing society and our planet.

“We have developed an ambitious plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions which uses absolute science-based carbon reduction targets to underpin our ambition and chart our progress.

“We have a responsibility to the communities we serve to keep taking this action on climate. We know it will be a long and challenging journey – there are no quick fixes or silver bullets – but we are determined to drive this change as fast as we can and to play our part in helping and influencing others.”

CCEP said that it will be focusing on five areas of its value chain, which includes ingredients, packaging, operations, transportation and refrigeration.

To support its initiatives, CCEP’s investment will focus on sustainable packaging efforts, such as the progression of its 100% rPET roadmap and investing in the scaling of depolymerisation technology, expected to help the company in accelerating the delivery of its longer-term net-zero objectives.

The new targets were set by the company based on its works undertaken over the last decade to reduce GHG emissions across CCEP’s entire value chain by 30.5% (vs 2010) as part of This is Forward, a joint sustainability plan with Coca-Cola in Western Europe.

Additionally, CCEP said that it will be investing in projects, which remove carbon from the atmosphere or verified carbon offset projects.

To achieve its target, CCEP will also support its strategic suppliers to set their own science-based carbon reduction targets and use 100% renewable electricity.

In July, CCEP announced an investment in a recycling start-up CuRe Technology.