the NGO France Nature Environnement files a complaint against Coca-Cola for greenwashing

For the NGO, the sugary drink giant misled consumers by displaying false ecological ambitions and must now answer for “its actions”.

Already questioned this summer for its massive use of plastic when it was sponsor and official seller of drinks for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Coca-Cola firm was targeted, Wednesday November 27, by a complaint from the NGO France Nature Environment that attacks it for “greenwashing” or “deceptive commercial practices”.

Coca-Cola, historic partner of the Olympic Games, has “communicated for months about his desire to revolutionize an edition [des JO] wanting to be more sustainable than ever”according to the NGO, displaying an objective “ecological accompanied by ads” as “the deployment of 700 fountains” or “the sale of reusable glass bottles”. However, during the Paris 2024 Games, more than 6 million plastic bottles were emptied into reusable cups, a “sad performance” making Coca-Cola win “the medal of the world's leading plastic polluter”quips the NGO which is taking advantage of the last negotiation session of the global treaty against plastic pollution, which began on Monday, to announce its complaint.

For the NGO, the sugary drink giant deceived consumers by displaying false ecological ambitions and must now respond “of his actions” pour “put an end to the impunity of industrial polluters who give themselves a false ecological image”.

The fight will be tough, recognizes Anne Roques, the lawyer from France Nature Environnement: “We are confronting a huge plastic pollution industry.” But it is also about publicly displaying the firm, “we are very happy to show the public that behind these Olympics there were also economic interests, we know that Coca-Cola does not limit the quantity of plastic waste because for them it is profitable, so it is a bit the sad part of these Olympic Games”. In 2022, the Coca-Cola group produced around 4,250 plastic bottles per second, consuming more than 3.4 million tonnes of plastic per year, according to France Nature Environnement.