An Inside Look at Swire Coca-Cola's Sustainable Development Report

How do you feel now that the SD Report has been published? 
Sam: Honestly, I’m delighted that it’s finally done! You would not believe the time and effort that goes into producing a good quality report, especially given the scale and complexity of our business. We start the preparations early in Q4 each year and it’s truly a collaborative effort involving many people from different functions across our global operations. I'm grateful for their support and proud of what we’ve delivered together. 

What makes you proud of our report? 
Sam: We are open about our challenges and don’t just report the good news. We report transparently and provide lots of data, trends over time, examples of actions we’re taking and give readers a bit of context to help them draw their own conclusions. We also seek independent views and third-party assurance for specific data points. These things make our report more credible. We aim to present our information in an easily digestible format, without too much jargon. We want people to actually read our report. 

How has the SD Report evolved over time? 
Sam: We started with a very technical report that aligned with the GRI framework in 2017. Two years ago, we decided we also wanted to share the stories of the real people across our business that are actually delivering our strategy – it’s called “Our Choice, Our Future!” after all. 

What were some of the challenges in preparing this year's report? 
Sam: One of the biggest challenges was accounting for changes to our business. Our business looks very different today than it did when we launched our strategy back in 2020. We've added two new markets as well as still beverage plants in Chinese Mainland, while our parent company divested its US operations. We spent a lot of time thinking about how we would present our data, so it reflected our absolute impacts while still tracking progress against our original targets. 

Can you share some of the exciting sustainability initiatives Swire Coca-Cola has undertaken? 
Sam: I love the innovative Hot Water Center concept designed by our Chinese Mainland technical team that redirects waste heat to parts of our production process that need higher temperatures, as it has the potential for significant cost and carbon reductions. It’s a great example of how sustainability objectives can drive business value. There are also some great examples of how we are using technology to improve safety, and how we are engaging with suppliers, our people and communities. Please read our report and share your feedback with us!

Swire Coca-Cola's 2023 Sustainable Development Report is available here.