Abstract

In December 2024, US-based beverage giant, The Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola), faced criticism globally after it scaled back its packaging goals. The backlash was against the company’s decision to revise its ‘voluntary environment goals’ and introduce a number of new goals which reportedly replaced Coca-Cola’s previous targets in the areas of water, packaging, and emissions. Coca-Cola had set an ambitious goal of achieving 100% recyclable packaging by 2025 and increasing the use of recycled material in primary packaging to 50% by 2030, but in its revised goal, the company pushed back the use of recycled material in its packaging targets significantly to 30-35% along with extending the timeline for achieving the goals from 2030 to 2035. Executive Vice President and Chief Communications, Sustainability and Strategic Partnerships Officer Bea Perez framed the move as a necessary “evolution.” The company cited operational barriers as a reason for the announcements. The operational barriers included a constrained supply of food-grade recycled plastic and disparate global recycling infrastructure. It remained to be seen how would Bea manage Coca‑Cola’s commitment to sustainability in the light of operational barriers in meeting targets? How would she be able to strike a balance between the goals and the ground realities?

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the four layers of Carroll’s CSR Pyramid (economic, legal, ethical, philanthropic) and evaluate which layer faces the greatest stress for Coca-Cola in the given case.
• Apply Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model to analyze Coca-Cola’s sustainability transition and identify the specific leadership actions required to overcome operational barriers.
• Use the SWOT framework to assess Coca-Cola’s revised sustainability goals and determine how they align with the company’s long-term strategic positioning.
• Evaluate Coca-Cola’s sustainability strategy through the Triple Bottom Line (People, Planet, Profit) and suggest how the company can balance long-term goals with operational realities, while prioritizing one dimension for credibility and feasibility.

Keywords

Coca-Cola; Bea Perez; Sustainability; Plastic recycling; Business Strategy; Business Ethics; Corporate Social Responsibility; Operational barriers; Change Management,Coca-Cola; Beverage; Sustainability; Corporate Social responsibility; Social marketing; Operational Challenges; Greenwashing; Ethical Dilemmas