Lahore: The Coca-Cola Company and its global bottling partners on Monday announced that they have met their goal to replenish, or in other words, balance, the equivalent amount of water to their global sales volume, back to nature and communities, making Coca-Cola the first Fortune 500 Company to publicly claim achieving such an aggressive water replenishment target. Replenish projects work to balance, or offset, the direct water use of The Coca-Cola Company and its bottling partners across operations in more than 200 countries. The water use is inclusive of water used within manufacturing as well as finished beverages, which includes water from fountain sales. Based on a global water use assessment validated by LimnoTech and Deloitte, and conducted in association with The Nature Conservancy, the Coca-Cola system returned an estimated 191.9 billion liters of water to nature and communities in 2015, through community water projects, with this being equivalent of 115 percent of the water used in Coca-Cola’s finished beverages last year. Coca-Cola Pakistan has also made a significant contribution to achieve the global water replenishment target through the Ayubia National Park Sub-watershed Management Project, being implemented in phases since 2008 in partnership with WWF-Pakistan. The company has so far invested over Rs. 85 million in this project, which has positively impacted 135,000 local people. The project achievements include recharging of over 782 million liters of groundwater, protection and development of 20 out of the 23 natural springs in the area, remodeling of water channels and construction of check-dams to conserve water, and the installation of rainwater harvesting systems. “This achievement marks a moment of pride for Coca-Cola and our partners. A goal that started as aspiration in 2007 is today a reality and a global milestone we plan to maintain as our business grows,” said Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company. “Now, every time a consumer drinks a Coca-Cola product, they can have confidence that our company and bottling partners are committed to responsible water use today and tomorrow. We are keenly aware that our water stewardship work is unfinished and remain focused on exploring next steps to advance our water programs and performance.” The Coca-Cola system has achieved its water replenishment goals through 248 community water partnership projects in 71 countries focused on safe water access, watershed protection and water for productive use. In many cases, projects also provide access to sanitation and education, help improve local livelihoods, assist communities with adapting to climate change, improve water quality, enhance biodiversity, engage on policy and build awareness on water issues. These program aspects are in addition to Coca-Cola’s replenish volume. Replenish performance is independently reviewed by LimnoTech and verified by Deloitte. That work is reflected in a 1,188 page report. The methodology for calculating water replenishment benefits was created in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy and LimnoTech. It was the subject of scientific technical peer review to verify its accuracy, and uses generally accepted scientific and technical methods. Projects are reviewed annually and evaluated using this methodology.