Geography in the News: COP27 to be sponsored by Coca-Cola

Plastics campaigners call it ‘astounding’ that one of the world's top polluters is sponsoring such a key climate meeting. Which asks the question - is this just a case of 'greenwashing'?

COP27 is to be held in November in the Egyptian coastal resort of Sharm el-Sheikh - where governments, businesses and environmental organisations will meet to tackle the climate emergency. However this year the conference is being sponsored by Coca Cola, which campaign group Break Free From Plastic argue is the world's biggest plastic polluter. They have branded their sponsorship as greenwashing considering that Coca Cola produces 120 billion throwaway plastic bottles a year – and 99% of plastics are made from fossil fuels, and claim this undermines the objective of COP27.

Last year's COP26 was sponsored by Unilever, another huge multinational, along with Microsoft, Natwest, Sainsburys, Hitachi and many other large companies - all accused of greenwashing, ie. claiming to be environmentally conscious for marketing purposes but not making any notable sustainability efforts.

Coca-Cola argue... “We share the goal of eliminating waste from the ocean and appreciate efforts to raise awareness about this challenge. We are prepared to do our part and have set ambitious goals for our business, starting with helping to collect and recycle a bottle or can for every one we sell – regardless of where it comes from – by 2030."

This article raises an interesting discussion that you could have with students - do huge multinational companies, that have such a huge impact on the environment, have any place in important climate conferences?

Read the full article here - https://www.theguardian.com/en...

There is also a nice student-friendly guide to greenwashing here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsroun...