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Product sustainability cuts costs for companies including Coke and General Mills, according to a report by consulting firm Pure Strategies.

CNN Money reports that approximately 30% of Coke bottles in North America are PlantBottles, but only 7% of Coke bottles around the world are made from plant materials. The company's goal is to use PlantBottles exclusively by 2020.

The Coca-Cola Company, which uses about 300 billion liters of water a year - a quantity so big it's as if every person on earth donated 40 liters of the shared resource of water to its operations -  announced Monday that it reached a goal it set a decade ago: To "replenish" or restore the equivalent quantity of all the water it uses in a year in its global operations to produce, bottle and sell Coke, Sprite, Fanta, Minute Maid orange juice and hundreds of other beverages.

The Coca-Cola Company has installed its 1 millionth hydrofluorocarbon (HFC)-free cooler using natural refrigerant, preventing the emission of 5.25 million metric tons of CO2 over 10 years, the company says.

Coca-Cola and Nike are among the global companies that have acknowledged that climate change is a major threat to commerce and adapted their business practices as a result, the New York Times reports.

Coca-Cola, Ford, Nike, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever are among the 9 founding members of the Bioplastic Feedstock Alliance, which seeks to encourage the use of sustainable materials to make bio-plastics.

Nestlé, Walmart Chile, Coca-Cola Chile, PepsiCo, and Unilever have signed a partnership to reduce waste and support a new recycling network in Chile. The companies have backed the Collective Recycling Project, which aims to recycle about 1,200 metric tons of waste per year through the installation of five recycling centers in the capital of Santiago.

Coca-Cola will convert 100 of its Chevrolet Express service vans into hybrids using technology from XL Hybrids. The move is expected to reduce fuel consumption up to 20% and avoid 4,000 tons of CO2 emissions over the vans' lifetime.

Conservation International's Business & Sustainability Council (PDF) examined the corporate risk and opportunities related to the energy-water-food nexus. Shell, Chevron and Coca-Cola have working solutions for the energy-food-water nexus.

Two of the world's most iconic food and beverage brands have launched ambitious initiatives aimed at significantly reducing waste and increasing the recycled and biobased content of their packaging. Together, they mark the acceleration of a yearslong war on waste.

Coca-Cola is working to stay ahead of consumers' sustainable packaging needs via such innovations as the recyclable PlantBottle, as well as by working with suppliers and maximizing the use of renewable materials, said Sarah Dearman, the company's head of sustainable packaging. "Our suppliers play a critical role by working together to advance innovation to help enable all parties to meet their goals," she said.

Coca-Cola European Partners, Avery Dennison, Viridor and PET UK have teamed up to reduce waste, costs and the carbon footprint of Smartwater production in the UK. The initiative, which turns label waste into products, was rolled out late last year in an effort by CCEP to reduce the carbon footprint of its Morpeth factory by approximately 180-200 tons of CO2. The participating parties expect to achieve annual savings of over $30,000 by simply recycling, rather than incinerating or disposing of bottle liners.

Coca-Cola and SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment expect SeaWorld's switch to PlantBottle plastic in its refillable cups to remove 35 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually, the companies say. The recyclable cup, using Coke's sustainable packaging technology, is now available in all SeaWorld and Busch Gardens parks across the US.

The Coca-Cola Company has achieved its goal to replenish 100% of the water used in its global sales volume and production by the end of 2020, five years ahead of schedule. The company also made progress against another water-related goal by increasing its water use efficiency by 2.5% from 2014 to 2015.

Coca-Cola is moving to eliminate an ingredient used in many of its citrus-flavored products after consumers expressed concerns.The company said on Monday that it was replacing brominated vegetable oil, which contains bromine, an element found in flame retardants, in products that contain it.

Since 2007, the World Wildlife Fund and Coca-Cola have jointly raised tens of millions of dollars for water conservation projects. The partnership proved a winner for both organizations, write E. Richard Brownlee and Allison Elias. "What began as a relationship full of risk and uncertainty grew into a robust partnership built on trust at all levels of the organizations," they explain

A coalition of companies with skin in the game - food and beverage giants General Mills, Driscoll's and Coca-Cola North America, Gap Inc., Symantec and home builder KB Home - are coming together to launch a new campaign urging companies to enact more aggressive measures to maximize California's local and state water resources.