Image from an E-card,
part of the Cokespotlight campaign, which
successfully changed Coke's policy on climate-killing
refrigerants.
31/05/2005 — Coke is replacing nearly a
million vending machines in Japan with units
that won't use climate-damaging chemicals
for refrigeration. If Coke can do it in
Japan, there's no excuse for any company
in any country to be chilling their beverage
at the cost of warming the globe.
Coke isn't taking this action out of the
goodness of their heart. It took consumer
pressure and creative lobbying by Greenpeace,
Adbusters, and other groups to make it happen.
But to their credit, Coke responded energetically
to the challenge.
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, our online
activists took on Coca-cola for using climate-killing
chemicals in the refrigeration units they
were sending to the "Green" Olympics.
A barrage of e-cards, e-mails, and stickers
on Coke machines around the world secured
a promise from the Coke CEO to phase out
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) -- a potent greenhouse
gas.
HFCs were introduced in the late 1980s
as an alternate to refrigeration using Chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs) which were responsible for punching
a hole in the protective ozone layer around
the Earth.
Greenpeace partnered with industry to create
a technology called "Greenfreeze"
which transformed the European industry.
Coca-Cola says that they and a collation
of industry partners, including McDonald's
and Unilever, have invested more than 30
million dollars to build climate-friendly
vending machines. They estimate the switch
will save 70,000 tons of carbon from entering
the atmosphere by 2010.
The lesson of this victory is that action
to save the climate is possible. If it can
be done in one country it can be done everywhere
else. If it can be done by one company,
it can be done by all others. If it can
be done in one industrial sector it can
be done in all other sectors.
Coke's action is proof that companies can
make the right choices for our world; and
that Greenpeace's brand of online activism
can help spur them to make those choices.
