Providing expert guidance to support Coca-Cola HBC in their EcoVadis success  

Coca-Cola HBC is proud to be global industry leader in sustainability, with leading scores and rankings in ten of the most-recognised ESG ratings. In response to customers’ requests for an EcoVadis assessment, Coca-Cola HBC was looking for expert guidance to ensure its sustainability performance and leadership in the beverage industry were accurately represented in the final score. 

Nexio Projects provided comprehensive support throughout the entire process – from initial preparation and data collection to the submission and appeal stages. Thanks to this end-to-end approach, Coca-Cola HBC achieved an EcoVadis Gold medal on its very first assessment. Coca-Cola HBC demonstrates that a company can have equally strong performance in financial results and in sustainability results. 

“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.” 

Yana Yordanova, Sustainability Reporting Specialist at Coca-Cola HBC 

Read on to discover how we enabled Coca-Cola HBC to secure an EcoVadis Gold Medal and build a strong foundation for long-term success in future EcoVadis assessments. 

Showcasing Coca-Cola HBC’s sustainability progress 

Coca-Cola HBC (CCHBC),is a growth-focused consumer packaged goods business and strategic bottling partner of The Coca-Cole Company. CCHBC operates in 29 markets and creates value for its stakeholders by supporting the socio-economic development of the societies where it operates and builds a more positive environmental impact and that is integral to its future growth. 

The company’s holistic approach to sustainability spans key areas including greenhouse gas emissions reduction, water stewardship,  packaging and circularity, #YouthEmplowered, community investments. These support the company’s long-term commitment to responsible, sustainable growth. CCHBC also is proud of its transparency comprehensive reporting on environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. This is embodied in the company’s engagement with recognized reporting frameworks. 

Indeed, the EcoVadis assessment is just one of many frameworks that Coca-Cola HBC uses to benchmark and communicate its sustainability performance. For example, the company was ranked as the world’s most sustainable beverage company in the 2024 Dow Jones Best-in-Class Index for the eighth time, it has been recognised by the double-A rating from CDP on climate and water in 2024. Coca-Cola HBC publishes a GRI-aligned and CSRD-compliant integrated annual report and has validated and approved by the SBTi NetZeroby40 emissions reduction target. 

This well-established, data-driven approach to sustainability meant that Coca-Cola HBC already had nearly all the information required to complete the EcoVadis assessment – with robust initiatives in place across all assessment categories. The challenge was to ensure that the process was completed as efficiently as possible while accurately reflecting the company’s performance as per the specific requirements of EcoVadis methodology. 

How we helped Coca-Cola HBC achieve EcoVadis Gold 

As a Platinum-rated EcoVadis partner, Nexio Projects brings both technical expertise and hands-on experience to support companies throughout the entire EcoVadis assessment process. Our collaboration with Coca-Cola HBC is a strong example of how a strategic, tailored approach can lead to exceptional results. 

The process began with a comprehensive screening and gap analysis to determine Coca-Cola HBC’s assessment readiness. This enabled our dedicated consultant to identify the most relevant and impactful focus areas, ensuring a more efficient assessment process. “If we’d gone through the assessment on our own, we’d have lost significant amounts of time to interpret and then complete detailed information. Even sometimes we would focus on information that wouldn’t have had impact on our final score,” shared Yana Yordanova, Sustainability Reporting Specialist at Coca-Cola HBC. “Working with Nexio Projects allowed us to focus on the assessment areas that mattered the most and eliminate process inefficiencies.” 

Targeted training to streamline the EcoVadis assessment process 

The EcoVadis assessment is well known for its breadth, covering a wide range of sustainability topics such as energy efficiency, waste management, diversity and inclusion, supplier engagement and anti-corruption. While this comprehensive scope is one of its strengths, it can also pose a significant challenge – particularly when it comes to building internal alignment and engaging the right stakeholders. 

To address this challenge, Nexio Projects developed a tailored training programme for Coca-Cola HBC’s 15-member internal EcoVadis team. The goal was to demystify the EcoVadis assessment process, clarify expectations and ensure that everyone involved understood their specific role. This helped to develop a stronger shared understanding of the EcoVadis assessment requirements and prevent unnecessary workload. 

Overcoming challenges on the path to EcoVadis Gold 

Following the initial training, Nexio Projects continued to support Coca-Cola HBC through each stage of the EcoVadis assessment process, providing strategic guidance to help overcome challenges as they arose. One hurdle was sharing the company’s extensive social impact data within the strict 55-document upload limit set by EcoVadis. Nexio Projects worked closely with the team to optimise their submission, ensuring that all key information was covered without exceeding the document threshold. 

Since our EcoVadis assessment support extends far beyond the initial submission, we were able to give Coca-Cola HBC the tools they needed to optimise their EcoVadis score at every stage of the process. This included providing a detailed breakdown of the EcoVadis methodology and supporting the engagement with EcoVadis directly to ensure the final score accurately reflected the company’s comprehensive sustainability strategy. As a result, Coca-Cola HBC was awarded with the prestigious EcoVadis Gold Medal on its first EcoVadis assessment – putting it in the top 5% of companies assessed and earning it the prestigious EcoVadis Gold Medal. 

Next steps on Coca-Cola HBC’s EcoVadis assessment journey 

With a robust EcoVadis assessment process now firmly embedded across the organisation, Coca-Cola HBC has built a solid foundation for agile and efficient approach to future reassessments. 

“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 Yana Yordanova, Sustainability Reporting Specialist at Coca-Cola HBC. 

Want to find out more about getting support with your EcoVadis assessment? Visit our EcoVadis assessment service page today or get in contact for a free consultation. 

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