PepsiCo [pledges] to reduce the carbon emissions and water consumption of its UK operations by...50% in five years...leapfrogging Coca-Cola's plan to improve its ecological efficiency by a similar amount...The group says it will now replace the three varieties of potato it grows in Britain with types that need less water...and which store better. The 350 farms which cultivate the corporation's potatoes will also switch to low-carbon fertilisers and use more precise irrigation. Instead of applying about 10 tonnes of water in the field, to grow one tonne of potatoes in dry areas, after 2015 the farms will use about five tonnes...[PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have] been criticised...for depleting water supplies in drought-prone areas and for allegedly poisoning water with pesticides..."The focus of the business on improving its key environmental impacts … is most welcome," said Richard Perkins, commodities adviser at WWF.