IFC provides $70 million climate investment loan to Morocco’s soft drink maker

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is providing a €64 million ($70 million) loan to Morocco-based Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company (ECCBC) to reduce its water and energy consumption across its operations in 13 countries in North and West Africa.

ECCBC operates seven bottling plants and 44 production lines in Africa, producing, commercializing, and distributing well-known soft drinks, water, juices, and other drinks. The company reaches over 160 million consumers and employs 5,000 people directly and 35,000 indirectly.

The IFC financial package includes a €52 million loan from IFC’s account, €8.5 million from the Canada IFC Blended Climate Finance Programme, and €3.5 million from the Alafaq Aljadida Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Private Sector Development programme.

According to IFC, the funds will be used for climate investments and enable the company to progress on its climate agenda.

With IFC’s support over the past two years, ECCBC has developed a strategy that includes upgrading or replacing production lines to improve efficiency, implementing a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) collection and recycling program in Algeria, replacing coolers in its distribution network to save energy, installing solar panels at bottling plants, and piloting solar-powered retail coolers in Ghana and Morocco.

“I am proud to say that Equatorial Coca-Cola has fared well in the face of the rapidly evolving challenges of the last few years and that we have continued making strides in our path towards becoming a more responsible, inclusive, diverse, and sustainable business,” said Alfonso Bosch, Chief Executive Officer at ECCBC. “To achieve this purpose, partnerships like the one with IFC are essential. By working together, we can unify forces to develop more impactful solutions and achieve larger goals, in order to improve the future of Africa.”

“By working with Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company, we aim to help shape the beverage sector’s sustainability path and influence industry practices throughout Africa. The project targets reducing the company’s water and energy footprint through technological upgrades, solar solutions and piloting recycling programs. We look forward to working closely with more companies across Africa to help them achieve their climate and sustainability goals,” said Henrik Elschner Pedersen, IFC Regional Industry Director in Africa for Manufacturing, Agribusiness, and Services.

IFC will, in addition, provide advisory services to help the soft drink producer to implement sustainability measures.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries.