Celebration of Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola has been producing and distributing its products in Croatia for more than five and a half decades. Our Croatian story began with the first bottle of Coca-Cola produced on September 17, 1968, in the Zagreb bottling plant. In addition to this, our company also marks 20 years since we published our Social Report, the first non-financial report in the Croatian market. We celebrated our two important anniversaries with key stakeholders at our headquarters in Zagreb and presented the results of our new, seventh-in-a-row, Sustainability Report.

The celebration was attended by more than 250 guests, including the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Davor Filipović, as the envoy of the Prime Minister. “I congratulate Coca-Cola and all its employees on successful years of doing business and wish you many more years of presence in the Croatian market. What should be highlighted is the sustainability story. 20 years ago, Coca-Cola issued the first report on the social aspects of the business. As I was informed, that was not only the first report of this kind in this part of Europe, but in general in the entire Coca-Cola system, which clearly demonstrates leadership. Everyone working on the management level says that leaders innovate, raise standards, and constantly move forward", emphasized minister Filipović.

Coca-Cola HBC Croatia is part of the Coca-Cola HBC Group, one of the world's largest bottlers and a partner of The Coca-Cola Company. Zoran Bogdanović, the CEO of Coca-Cola HBC, said on this occasion: “During our presence on the Croatian market we shared periods of prosperity, but also challenging times while remaining committed to our customers and to our role in the Croatian business community. Altogether, as a team, we aimed to develop a company that will be synonymous with the commitment to the highest standards by applying the best global practices. From the very beginning, the Croatian market had a great influence on the operations of the Coca-Cola HBC Group".

While presenting the new Sustainability Report, GM of the Coca-Cola HBC Adria Dora Strezova-Nikolova highlighted the company's long tradition of transparency and added: "Coca-Cola HBC Croatia published its first Social Report back in 2003 as a pioneer of sustainable and socially responsible business in Croatia. On these foundations, we continued to lead non-financial practices in the Croatian market and build a two-decade-long story of sustainability. While witnessing geopolitical instability and the visible effects of climate change, our legacy comes with greater responsibility than ever before. We need to infuse every business process, decision, and activity with a purpose, and to continue to look for new ways to achieve a shared vision of a more sustainable future".

Our new Sustainability Report focuses primarily on activities in 2022 and has been prepared with reference to GRI standards in collaboration with the WISE Institute at IEDC Bled School of Management and Ekvilib Inštitut as external consultants.

Key results of the Sustainability Report 2022.

• We reduced our water consumption per liter of produced beverage by 13% since 2010.
• We reduced our direct carbon emissions ratio per liter of produced beverage by 29% since 2017.
• 100% of the total electricity used in our plant comes from renewable and clean sources.
• We recycled 99% of our non-hazardous waste and handed over 100% of hazardous waste to authorized bodies.
• 100% of our consumer packaging is recyclable.
• 84.3% of products and services were procured locally.
• Equal opportunities and full gender equality of all employees are also in our focus, and with 47.6% women in management positions, we are close to achieving the goal of 50% set at the Group level.
• The lost time accident rate has been reduced by 62% since 2015.
• All employees are included in our performance and talent management cycle, which allows us to identify their development needs. Our training hours per employee have increased by 136% since 2019.
• Our direct & indirect contribution in taxes, wages, and profit amounts to a total of EUR 289 million or 0.5% of Croatian GDP.