Health organisations call on the UNFCCC to protect COP from corporate greenwashing following Coca-Cola sponsorship
Health organisations call on the UNFCCC for robust conflict of interest management of COP following Coca-Cola's COP27 sponsorship
- 60 health organisations from around the world have voiced their objections to Coca-Cola's sponsorship of COP27 in an open letter to Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
- Coca-Cola is the world’s leading plastic polluter, whose products are linked to obesity, poor oral health, and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer and diabetes
- The letter calls on the UNFCCC to develop and enforce robust mechanisms to mitigate against greenwashing and corporate capture for all future events
- The organisations include the World Obesity Federation, Health Climate Network, NCD Alliance, and The George Institute of Global Health.
- The open letter with the list of signatories can be found here.
London, 11 NOVEMBER, 2022 - 60 health organisations from around the world have written an open letter to Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to voice their objections to Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of COP27.
Coca-Cola is the world’s leading plastic polluter, whose products are linked to obesity, poor oral health, and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer and diabetes. The letter says that sponsorships such as Coca-Cola’s put the transparency and evidence-informed nature of COP27 policy dialogues and negotiations at risk.
The organisations outline that providing such a high-profile platform for corporate actors to ‘greenwash’ their reputation is incompatible with the aims of climate change negotiations. By allowing Coca-Cola to sponsor COP27, the UNFCCC is contributing to the illusion that the company is committed to change, despite its very poor track record of achieving its sustainability pledges and the impact that Coca-Cola products have on human and planetary health.
Dr Alison Doig, Director, Health Climate Network, said:
“The private sector plays an important role in providing the food needed globally and can play a positive role. Recognising this, the UNFCCC should have strong guidance for countries hosting its annual COP meetings to avoid the undue influence of companies who continue to promote unhealthy diets, ultra-processed and packaged foods, and the over-exploitation of natural resources, and rather promote healthy, sustainable diets.”
For decades, the tobacco, alcohol, ultra-processed foods, and fossil fuel industries have exercised their corporate power to “resist, delay and subvert evidence-informed public health policy at all levels.” The 60 health organisations are therefore calling on the UNFCCC to develop and enforce robust mechanisms to mitigate against corporate capture, limit and manage conflicts of interest and limit the influence and interference of environment- and health-harming industries on COP-related policy making and commitments. This includes ensuring that all future sponsors fully respect human rights, including the right to a healthy environment.
Johanna Ralston, CEO, World Obesity Federation, said:
“It’s deeply disappointing to see the COP27 profess to take action on the climatogenic environment while promoting products that contribute to the obesogenic environment. Obesity, undernutrition and climate change are all connected and our best and only hope is to work together, not at cross-purposes”.
"It is unacceptable that a convention like UNFCCC accepts companies such as Coca-Cola as sponsors. Support for COP27 must be protected from conflicts of interest, partnering with companies that respect public health and the environment." Carlos Monteiro Head, Center for Epidemiological Studies in Health and Nutrition, University of Sao Paulo
The open letter signatories includes global organisations from across the health sector, such as: World Obesity Federation, Health Climate Network, NCD Alliance, Vital Strategies, and the Global Climate and Health Alliance, in addition to nationally and regionally focused organisations, including: Africa NCDs Network, Healthy Caribbean Coalition, European Public Health Alliance and the Healthy India Alliance.
Read the letter
Sixty health organisations from around the world have voiced their objections to Coca-Cola's sponsorship of COP27 in an open letter to Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Read it here