Marcel Martin, Coca-Cola HBC’s Chief Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer, has welcomed this important partnership.
He says: “At Coca-Cola HBC, water touches every part of our business and programmes like this will help us to protect this valuable resource.
“Working together with the public sector in this way is a vital part of our sustainability approach and we’re pleased to be working with the Consorzio di Bonifica Veronese over the long term.
“Through the Forest Infiltration Area in Italy, we are able to put back in the local aquifer more than we take out. We are also supporting the local ecosystem, increasing reforestation in the area and absorbing carbon emissions.
“All this will give us the opportunity to build our knowledge on how to manage water programmes that bring benefits to the local communities we operate in.”
Referring to the project promoted by Coca-Cola HBC Italia, Nicola Dell'Acqua, the Director of Veneto Agricoltura, says: “The importance of protecting ecosystems and the water resources that sustain them is more vital than ever for Veneto Agricoltura, which, together with the Veneto Region, continues to carry out activities and experiments in an increasingly rational management of water resources and adaptation to climate change.
“The creation of an infiltration forest area (FIA) in the Verona territory is therefore consistent with the strategy of increasing the available water resources and also give the possibility to Veneto Agricoltura to contribute to the territory, not only by sharing the technical knowledge acquired in the various projects such as Aquor and Redafi, but also by providing native plants useful for preserving forest biodiversity.”