From working with teams in bottling factories around the world to supporting sugar cane farmers in Queensland, water is always front of mind for director of sustainable operations at
But when Paul first set foot in a
“We realised that we needed to reduce the amount of water we were using and we needed to give back water that was used in our production and in our beverages,” Paul said.
After the United Nations released a statement in 2003 warning of global water stress,
Coca-Cola has since achieved the target and has reduced water use for 14 years in a row. “And now I can go into just about any plant and ask, ‘How much water do you use?’ Paul said. “And they can tell me.
“That’s a tremendous culture shift and a tremendous shift in the way the company’s done business and that’s been extremely rewarding,” he said.
The amount of water
Supporting farmers
Last year alone, the
As part of Project Catalyst,
“The growth of sugar cane in northern Australia impacts the Great Barrier Reef with the run-off and the fertiliser use,” Paul said.
“So we worked with some farmers where we could help them understand the impact that good, sustainable farming would make.
“That has helped reduce significantly the amount of run-off into the Great Barrier Reef,” he said.

The
Shaping the future
Further abroad
In Mexico, this includes working with local communities to plant thousands of trees to help reforest targeted areas. “It not only helps capture water, so now water doesn't just rush off, it settles into the soil and then into the aquifer but those trees also sequester carbon in those areas,” Paul said.
“We’ve done projects in India where we’ve restored rainwater catchment basins so that when it rains, they fill with water which helps replenish the aquifers.
“In Africa we’ve done a large number of projects where we’ve provided sustainable water supplies to villages,” he said.
Mapping our community water projects
Through these projects combined,
“I think there’s a lot more that we can do and I expect us to do a lot more, but right now that’s one of the things I’m most proud of.
“We have to really think and make conscious decisions to do things like reuse water, capture water, and make sure that it doesn’t go down the drain.
“That every drop gets used multiple times,” he said.
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