Drop Coca Cola as COP27 climate summit sponsor, Kerala’s Plachimada agitators urge UN

The Plachimada Anti Coca Cola Struggle Committee based in Kerala's Palakkad district has urged the United Nations to remove Coca Cola from the sponsorship of the COP27 UN climate meeting which begins in Egypt on Sunday.

The struggle committee has decided to stage a protest in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt’s resort town which hosts the climate meet, in association with various non-governmental organisations, the committee said in a press statement on Saturday.

The committee said it has planned the protests in a bid to expose the UN's move to make Coca Cola, the company which cheated the people of Plachimada by not paying them the due compensation, a sponsor of the event. A protest meet will be held in front of the defunct Coca Cola factory at Plachimada at 10 am on Sunday even as the COP27 begins. A cycle rally will also be taken out from Palakkad to Plachimada.

"We are grateful to the United Nations for its major role in addressing the climate crisis since the formation of the IPCC in 1987. On numerous occasions, you have personally come forward with strong appeals to world rulers and people to initiate serious actions to tackle the climate crisis.

“Despite the big role played by the UN in addressing this biggest existential crisis for humanity, we are very sad to note that intervention by international corporate bodies at the annual Conference of Parties is jeopardizing the success of the COPs.

“Being the victims of a plant of Coca Cola in a remote village of Kerala in India, we are particularly disturbed and agitated to learn that Coca Cola is the official sponsor of the COP 27. We request you to remove Coca Cola from the sponsorship of the critical COP27," the Plachimada struggle committee wrote to The Secretary General, UN, in its letter dated November 4, 2022.

The letter also briefs the UN about the health and environmental damages caused by the Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd (HCBPL) in Plachimada and the findings of the Kerala government-appointed High Power Committee which studied the allegations against the multi-national company.

"The HCBPL plant at Plachimada started its operation in 1999. In the five years of its operations until the plant stopped functioning in May 2004, it had badly destroyed the social and environmental fabric of the region. The report of the High Power Committee constituted by the Government of Kerala to assess the damages caused by the HCBPL states that 'It is evident that the damages caused by the Coca Cola factory at Plachimada have created a host of social, economic, health and ecological problems, cutting across different sectors',” the letter reads.

"The high power committee arrived at a very conservative figure of Rs 216.26 crores (26.14 million USD at current rate) as compensation to be paid by HCBPL. Unfortunately, the company has refused to pay even this meagre amount. We request you to remove Coca Cola from the sponsorship of COP 27 as they are gross violators of all environmental norms and to restore the integrity of the decisive environmental conference," the letter reads.

The Plachimada Struggle Committee has also requested the UN to use global body's "good offices to impress upon Coca Cola of their duty to compensate for the damages caused, as per the reference report along with interest at prevailing rates."

More than 120 world leaders will attend this year's UN climate talks. Issues up for discussion at the November 6-18 talks include further cutting greenhouse gas emissions and boosting financial aid for poor countries struggling with the impacts of climate change.