Greenpeace Cheers Eco-Friendly Coke Machines

The environmental organization Greenpeace is applauding the Coca-Cola company's pledge to use natural refrigerants and energy-saving technology at all its coolers and vending machines to be used during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Greenpeace and Coca-Cola have been working together on ways to improve the environmental friendliness of refrigeration systems since the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

"This innovative approach of combining natural refrigerants and energy-efficient technology is a great example of how a business can work with other stakeholders to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," said Lo Sze Ping, campaign and communications director of Greenpeace China. "We hope Coca-Cola's efforts can accelerate industry-wide actions to combat climate change."

"Greenpeace continues to be a tremendous collaborator to Coca-Cola as we develop innovative sustainable refrigeration solutions together," added Christina Lau, external affairs director of Coca-Cola China. "While we are pleased with the progress already made on this complex issue, we recognize that our company and our industry still have much more to do."

By using hydrofluorocarbon (HFC)-free insulation, HFC-free refrigerants and energy technology that improves efficiency by up to 35 percent, Coca-Cola estimates that it will be able to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions at the 2008 Beijing games by about 45,000 metric tons. That's equal to the emissions of about 218,000 cars during the two weeks of the games. The beverage company expects to install about 6,350 of the climate-friendly refrigeration units throughout the officials Olympic venues in Beijing and six other co-host cities throughout China.

Greenpeace has been campaigning to phase out HFC air-conditioners and refrigerators since the early 1990. The organization points to United Nations research that shows, over time, some HFCs can be 11,700 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. The group added that German research predicts that HFCs and other fluorinated gases will account for 8.6 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 -- equal to about as much carbon dioxide as was put out by all the world's passenger cars in 2004.

Greenpeace, "Coca-Cola Commits to Expanding the Use of Innovative Refrigeration Technologies to Reduce Its Carbon Footprint and Increase the Sustainability of Its Business." URL: (http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/press-center/releases2/coca-cola-commits-to-expanding)