Energy and Resources Institute

At the University of Michigan, where the Coca-Cola company has been placed on probation until December 31, 2006, the company has itself chosen a group in India, the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) to "develop a transparent and impartial independent third party assessment of water resource management practices at Coca-Cola company facilities in India."

Indian communities have rejected the choice of TERI to conduct the assessment because of the close relationship between the two organizations. Coca-Cola is an active funder of TERI's activities, and TERI has also named Coca-Cola as the most responsible companies in India in a survey. The two organizations have collaborated extensively in the past, and TERI has also organized Earth Day with the "support of Coca-Cola."

"Swarthmore College must insist that the investigation into the issues in India is indeed third party and independent for it to withstand scrutiny. The choice of TERI by Coca-Cola in the past to investigate its activities makes a mockery of generally understood principles of fairness, and the Swarthmore College must insist on a separate entity," said Amit Srivastava.^[1]

The Swarthmore College press release can be found at http://www.swarthmore.edu/x8347.xml

The objections to the choice of TERI by Coca-Cola to develop the investigation is at http://www.indiaresource.org/news/2006/1052.html

References

1. ^ http://www.indiaresource.org/news/2006/2063.html