6.28.2000 ET

(CSRwire) The Coca-Cola Company today announced a range of initiatives, which will have a significant impact on its contribution to the worldwide movement to combat global climate change.

The initiatives are detailed in the Company's new environmental policy for cold drink equipment, which Douglas N. Daft, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Coca-Cola Company, unveiled today. "Consistent with the leadership role we took on chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the 1990s, we will continue to lead our business system to use the most responsible cold drink equipment commercially available. We will intensify our efforts to support research and innovation to accelerate the technological development of more environmentally friendly equipment," said Mr. Daft.

The initiatives include:
By the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, the Company will no longer purchase new cold drink equipment using hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) where cost efficient alternatives are commercially available. This initiative applies both to refrigerant gases and insulation.

Between now and 2004, the Company will expand its innovative research and development program to identify and field-test a variety of promising alternative refrigeration technologies.

Suppliers will be required to announce specific time schedules to use only HFC-free foam insulation and refrigeration in all new cold drink equipment by 2004.

In concert with the international Kyoto Agreement on climate change, we are requiring our suppliers to develop, by the end of the decade, new equipment that is 40-50 percent more energy efficient than today’s equipment.

In support of today's announcement, Coca-Cola also declared it had reached an agreement with one of the largest commercial refrigeration companies in the Southern Hemisphere to develop the capability to produce large single door, high performance commercial coolers using HC gases, which have a negligible impact on global warming.

"Finalizing this agreement with Skope Industries, a key supplier in the South Pacific, will be a significant legacy of our involvement in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games," continued Mr. Daft.

Since the 1997 Kyoto Agreement, the Company has had a task force focusing on alternative refrigeration technologies and climate change issues. "We are moving forward as fast as the technology for the range of our equipment sizes and needs will allow," said Geoff Walsh, Coca-Cola South Pacific, "and the agreement with Skope is indicative of our commitment to stay on the leading edge of progress."

Throughout 1999/2000, Coca-Cola joined with the Danish Technical Institute, Danish Energy Agency and two Danish suppliers, Vestfrost and Danfoss, to conduct trials on small single door coolers that reduce energy consumption. "We are extending similar trials to Sydney 2000. For the first time in Australia, 100 drink coolers that use hydrocarbon refrigerant with negligible impact on global climate change will be installed at Sydney Olympic Park as part of the field trial of this new equipment," Mr. Walsh said.

The Coca-Cola Company's latest policy for cold drink equipment equipment is posted on the Company’s web site.