Is Coca-Cola ethical?
Our research highlights several ethical issues with Coca-Cola. The company has received 40 points or less in every category it has been rated on: agriculture, climate change, company ethos, tax conduct and workers.
Below we outline of some of these issues. To see the full detailed stories, and Coca-Cola's overall ethical rating, please sign in or subscribe.
People
“As a privately held firm, the Coca-Cola firm seeks to maximize profits by lowering labour expenses.”
This quote by the Highlights in Business, Economics and Management journal sums up the company’s approach to workers’ rights.
Coca-Cola’s supplier code of conduct has adequate policies on forced labour, discrimination, safe working environment, and freedom of association. However, it doesn’t commit to several crucial aspects, such as the payment of a living wage and no use of child labour.
Its supplier code of conduct only applies to its direct suppliers. This means that suppliers beyond this level have no accountability towards the company.
It also doesn’t work with trade unions, thus limiting workers' rights. It states that it has ongoing engagement with the International Union of Foodworkers (IUF). But when we checked the IUF website it only featured several articles stating that The Coca-Cola Company was violating the rights of workers in various countries.
Know The Chain, a resource whose benchmarks aim to help companies protect the wellbeing of workers placed Coca-Cola, “the world’s largest soft drink company”, as 13th out of 60 companies.
Politics
Coca-Cola didn’t receive any marks in our tax conduct category. When we checked in January 2025, Coca-Cola had several high-risk subsidiaries in countries that are considered to be tax havens. These included Bermuda, Singapore and Switzerland.
The US Internal Revenue Service is currently seeking $2.7 billion (about £2.2bn) of unpaid taxes from Coca-Cola from the sales of Sprite and Fanta between 2007 and 2009. This amount is expected to rise to $6 billion (£4.8bn) when accounting for interest. The company is disputing its liability and is currently appealing in court.
The Australian Tax Office is also claiming unpaid taxes from Coca-Cola. The company allegedly withheld AU$174 million (about £88m) of royalty payments received from Coca-Cola Amatil Australia. The company disputes these claims too.
Environment
Coca-Cola is the single largest plastic polluter in the world. The company sells more than 100 billion single-use plastic bottles each year with many ending up in landfills and the ocean. It achieved its number one polluter status for the sixth year running, keeping its lead ever since the organisation Break Free From Plastic has carried out its audits.
Greenpeace USA accused the company in 2021 of “playing a key role in driving the demand for plastic and therefore fossil fuels”. The Greenpeace report discussed the carbon intensity of PET plastic bottles and the failure of companies to reduce their use of PET or significantly increase the amount of recycled content used.
Coca-Cola's environmental report has a detailed discussion about how it is reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. These plans, however weren’t considered credible when it came to its future emissions as it did not cover a significant proportion of the business's activities in detail.
Agriculture
Coca-Cola’s main ingredients are sugar, corn, orange juice and water. Some of its sugarcane fields are linked to land-grabs and its abuse of water has been criticised for decades.
In the the first trans-boundary human rights litigation of its kind in Southeast Asia, hundreds of families have been seeking justice after being violently displaced by Thai sugar giant Mitr Phol. The company is a supplier to various global brands, including Coca-Cola. Affected Cambodian households lost extensive rice fields, orchards, grazing land, crops and access to forests that sustained their livelihoods.
Coca-Cola has an Integrated Pest Management System but this doesn’t include any intention to reduce the use of pesticides. It also has a Supplier Guiding Principles and Principles for Sustainable Agriculture but neither documents show demonstrable ways to prevent agricultural pollution/run-off for its main products. Agricultural run-off is a major water pollution issue that can harm water-based habitats, kill fish and plants and impact other wildlife, such as birds.
The company has adequate policies for water management. One of its goals is to “achieve 100% regenerative water use across 175 of our facilities identified as facing high levels of water stress by 2030”. It also aims to improve the health of 60 watersheds identified as most critical for its operations and to return a cumulative total of 2 trillion liters of water to nature and communities globally.
The reality, however, is different. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian revealed that despite more than half of Mexico suffering from drought and the national water authority declaring a state of emergency, Coca-Cola did not halt its water use and instead used private wells to continue extracting groundwater for its production lines.
Similar is true for its promises on sustainable agriculture. In its 2023 CDP Forest Response it says that it has a “specific principle on Conservation of Forests which asks suppliers to promote sustainable forest management and help protect woodlands from deforestation and illegal harvesting.” But in late 2024 Carbon Credits published the “Bottled Truth”. The organisation said that Coca-Cola had removed its goal to source 100% of its priority agricultural ingredients according to its Principles for Sustainable Agriculture.
Animals
Several Coca-Cola products, including popular soft drinks, contain animal products, including fish gelatine, honey, and vitamin D sourced from lanolin in sheep's wool and milk. While the company's most popular brand, its Coca-Cola soft drink, was explicitly stated to be suitable for vegans, many of its other products contained animal goods. It had very minimal policies regarding animal derivatives in its products.
To see the full detailed stories, and Coca-Cola's overall ethical rating, please sign in or subscribe.
The research behind this company profile was conducted in early 2025.