Nexio Projects supports Coca-Cola HBC in achieving EcoVadis success

Coca-Cola HBC, a bottling partner of The Coca-Cola Company, has achieved the prestigious EcoVadis Gold Medal. That accreditation process was supported by sustainability consultancy Nexio Projects.

The partnership saw Nexio Projects play a strategic role in helping Coca-Cola HBC (CCHBC) with the assessment process to eventually attain EcoVadis Gold, which put the bottling company in the top 5% of companies with outstanding sustainability performance evaluated by EcoVadis over the past year.

Serving more than 715 million consumers in 29 countries mainly in Europe and Africa, CCHBC is the world’s third-largest Coca-Cola anchor bottler in terms of volume with sales. Headquartered in Switzerland and listed on the Swiss stock exchange, the company operates mostly in Western and Eastern Europe, but also further afield in Egypt and Nigeria.

CCHBC has long focused on helping to boost the socio-economic development of the regions it operates in while creating value for its stakeholders. The beverage company has already been recognized for its commitment to sustainability. For example, in 2024 it was ranked the world’s most sustainable beverage company for the eighth time by the Dow Jones Best-in-Class Indices, issued by S&P Global.

Thanks to this existing track record of sustainability, CCHBC already had much of the data and documentation it needed to complete the EcoVadis assessment. The challenge for both CCHBC and Nexio Projects was to ensure that the process was completed as efficiently as possible and following the specific requirements set out by EcoVadis.

“Nexio Projects helped us to understand the EcoVadis rating methodology, interpret the requirements in a proper manner and complete the questionnaire in a way that reflects our efforts in addressing global sustainability issues and our policies, processes and actions,” said Yana Yordanova, sustainability reporting specialist at Coca-Cola HBC.

The road to Gold

Nexio Projects is itself a Platinum-rated EcoVadis partner and was able to leverage its expertise and hands-on experience in the certification process. The consultancy began the process with a comprehensive screening to measure CCHBC’s level of readiness for the certification. This first step allowed the consultants to pinpoint areas of focus to make the assessment process more targeted and efficient.

“If we had gone through the assessment on our own, we’d have lost significant amounts of time handling detailed information,” noted Yordanova. “We would have likely focused on information that wouldn’t have had any impact on our final score. Working with Nexio Projects allowed us to focus on the assessment areas that mattered most and eliminate process inefficiencies.”

In the next step of the assessment, Nexio Projects developed a customized training program for Coca-Cola HBC’s internal team focused on the EcoVadis assessment. Their overall goal was to make all the expectation around the process clearer and to make sure everyone was able to carry out their roles.

The assessment process for EcoVadis certification covers a wide range of areas in sustainability, including things like energy efficiency, waste management, diversity and inclusion, and more, which are divided across four themes: environment, ethics, sustainable procurement, and labor and human rights.

Overcoming the obstacles

The somewhat daunting assessment process was not without its challenges. Nexio Projects helped Coca-Cola HBC overcome a major hurdle: Submitting extensive social impact data within a strict 55-document limit. The consultants worked closely with the CCHBC team to optimize the submission, ensuring all key information was included without exceeding the threshold.

The consultants also provided a detailed breakdown of the EcoVadis methodology and facilitated communication with EcoVadis in order to ensure the final score accurately reflected the company’s sustainability efforts. As a result, CCHBC earned the EcoVadis Gold medal on its first attempt.

“Thanks to the expert training and hands-on support of Nexio Projects, the whole team was delighted with the final result, and we can now communicate our EcoVadis score to customers and suppliers and move forward on our EcoVadis journey with confidence,” said Yordanova.

From the initial preparations to appeal, the end-to-end support that Nexio Projects offered in this EcoVadis assessment process allowed Coca-Cola HBC to better understand EcoVadis rating methodology and show off its sustainability performance in the best possible light.

EcoVadis is a globally recognized platform that assesses and rates companies’ sustainability performance across a range of ESG criteria. These types of assessments are important because they provide a standardized, third-party verification of a company’s sustainability efforts, which builds trust with customers, investors, and partners. More than 150,000 companies around the world have been rated by EcoVadis.

Commitment to ESG

Coca-Cola HBC has already had a good reputation in corporate responsibility, as well as environmental and social concerns. The company set its first sustainability target before most other companies were considering such moves – way back in 2006. Since then the company has also received an A-rating from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).

“These achievements are the result of our clear vision and targets in sustainability, our entrepreneurial mindset, and continuing investment,” said Marinela Paida of Coca-Cola HBC.

“Strong collaboration with our suppliers, partners, and highly skilled and committed colleagues working across our markets has also been crucial in this success. We know we still have work to do and remain committed to being part of the solution to global sustainability challenges.”