COOL RIDGE Sustainability Profile

Asahi Beverages is a large drinks company with operations across Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Asia. Its sustainability pages focus on three themes: planet, people, and product. The company says it works with customers, partners, and industry groups on sustainability, and it has published at least one clear environmental milestone: all of its plastic soft drink bottles in Australia are now made with recycled plastic. Independent sources also point to some progress on packaging, climate, water, and human rights, but they also show mixed signals, including concerns about water use, political donations, and past opposition to a container deposit scheme. Overall, the picture is active but uneven.

Positive Sentiment Found
Public and third-party sources show a mixed but partly positive sustainability picture. Shop Ethical notes that Asahi Holdings (Australia) received a packaging performance level of 4 out of 5, or 'Leading', in APCO's 2026 report, which suggests stronger packaging management than many companies. The same source also highlights a collaboration with Charles Sturt University to track barley emissions across the beer supply chain, and Greenpeace says Asahi has committed to 100% renewable electricity by 2030 and has already invested in on-site solar. Independent benchmark data for the wider group is also fairly strong, including a CDP Climate Change score of A and a CDP Water Security score of A, which are high marks from a major disclosure platform that scores how companies manage climate and water risks.

Common Criticisms:
The negative picture is also clear. Shop Ethical reports that Asahi was involved in a 2018 water dispute in Victoria linked to bottling groundwater, which raised local concerns about water use. It also notes that in 2013 Schweppes Australia, part of Asahi Beverages, joined a court challenge against the Northern Territory's container deposit scheme, a recycling system designed to improve bottle recovery. The same source says the company donated $367,000 to major political parties between 2018 and 2023, which may concern readers looking for transparency around influence and lobbying. These issues do not prove all sustainability claims are false, but they do show gaps between public responsibility messaging and some past actions.