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Water Initiative

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Coca-Cola Water
Neutrality Initiative
Water is an element that is required to sustain human life. Even though it makes up 80% of the planet, many areas on Earth experience a deficit supply of water. All water molecules are made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, but not all water is equal. Water can sustain life in its solid, liquid and gas forms, however its polluted element can often be poisonous and deadly. The Coca-Cola Company experienced a policy changing public issue with its operational plants in India in the 2000s (Lawrence & Weber, 2011). Coca-Cola neglected to consider how their overconsumption and pollution of the water resources would affect the host community’s supply and climate. As a result, the plants’ productivity livelihood faced endangerment of closure.
The residents of India protested, challenged and charged the company with waste and abuse of their limited water resource. Local officials shutdown a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Kerala because it depleted the groundwater and poisoned it with pesticide residues (Lawrence & Weber, 2011). Reactions like this directly affected the company, the workers of the plant, and the residents of the supplying water community and indirectly affected investors. The investing stakeholders probably expected higher profit postings because cost of operations in India would be lower or that there are more operational plants producing, but closures would not produce such results. Of the eight strategic radar screens, the geophysical environment would be the most significantly represented. Coca-Cola failed to realize that water could be a definite resource if it is not recycled in the same area. Should the community have allowed the company’s plants to use up the water, there would be none left to continue operations afterwards. Coca-Cola was aware that their facilities required access to water

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