Danone // 2020 Universal Registration Document

Social, Societal and Environmental Responsibility 5.3 Preserve and renew the planet ’ s resources DANONE UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2020 170 Preserving and restoring water resources in agriculture and watersheds For this first pillar, the Company pledges to do the following: • promote regenerative agriculture that respects the natural ecosystems and the water cycles; • protect water resources by optimizing the stewardship of the watersheds in which it operates and choosing green solutions such as protection, management and recovery. COMMITMENTS ACTION PLANS AND OUTCOMES Relating to agriculture From 2020 onwards: • develop, for the direct milk supply chain, plans to support farmers in five high-priority areas (the United States, Mexico, Russia, Southern Europe (including France) and North Africa); • ask all its suppliers to set up water stewar- dship plans. By 2025: • implement pilot projects using an integrated approach on a regional scale for five other key ingredients: milk powder, soy, almonds, strawberries and sugar cane. By 2030: For ingredients produced in highly water- stressed areas: • reduce the water use of farmers with which Danone works in high-risk areas by 25%; • increase the size of buffer zones by at least 15%; • optimize fertilizer use on farms for 75%of milk, fruit, almond and soy volumes. In 2020, the Water Cycle teamworked with the Agriculture Cycle team and the Cycles and Procurement Department to (i) identify the main ingredients on the basis of criteria such as the volume, expenditure or environmental footprint, and (ii) assess the water-related risks for all 68 ingredients in its supply chain. Danone uses the results obtained to define its priorities and its water stewardship plans for the ingredients produced in areas with a high or extreme water risk. Relating to watersheds By 2030: • build plans for protecting and/or restoring 100% of the watersheds in which Danone ope- rates, located in highly water-stressed areas (55 watersheds); • work locally to create an effective governance system with the stakeholders or integrate actions into the existing governance bodies; • develop a new, “open source” Danone plat- form on water stewardship, to share data and scientific studies and train the internal and external players concerned on integrated water stewardship. In 2020, Danone identified 54 at-risk watersheds based on its analysis of the water-­ related risks. To improve water resource stewardship and encourage biodiversity, soil health and car- bon sequestration, Danone develops solutions such as agroforestry, wetland protection or agriculture optimization. Danone does so by participating in the worldwide Nature Based Solutions alliance in order to (i) define green solutions shared between companies and civil society orga- nizations, and (ii) draw up suitable decision-making processes for the water resource stewardship programs. In 2020, Danone began to deploy 15 watershed protection plans. In addition, the Waters Reporting Entity has developed and set up its internal SPRING method, which it has operated for more than 15 years on its production sites (100% covered by SPRING audits since 2017), to ensure the stewardship and protection of its underground water resources. This method includes three main targets for production bottling plants: • providing a framework for guiding and assessing water stewardship performance and progress; • ensuring that suitable resources are allocated locally; • building awareness of the importance of proper water resource stewardship.