DANONE - Registration document 2015

182 / 364

Social, societal and environmental responsibility
5.2 Information concerning Danone's social, societal and environmental performance in compliance with the Grenelle II law
DANONE REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2015 182
Environmental information
General environmental policy
Danone's action is at the heart of the nutrition supply chain which
extends from the production of agricultural raw materials and wa-
ter use to product end-of-life, and includes industrial processing,
packaging, transport and distribution.
Danone adopted an Environmental Charter in 1996 and established
goals and a 10-year roadmap in 2000. In 2008, Danone strengthened
its commitment by setting a goal of reducing its greenhouse gas
emissions intensity by 30% in five years for operations under its
direct responsibility. This goal was exceeded at the end of 2012. In
2013, Danone raised this goal to more than 50% by 2020 in order to
stabilize emissions while continuing to increase sales. At the end
of 2015, the rate of reduction was 46.4%.
Danone has identified four key areas around which the Nature
plan for 2020 is centered: climate (1), water (2), packaging (3) and
agriculture (4):
• (1) Fight climate change by reducing Danone's footprint while
helping nature sequester carbon;
• (2) Protect water resources, particularly when water is scarce,
and use it in harmony with the local ecosystems and communities;
• (3) Transform waste into a resource and use materials made
from sustainable resources;
• (4) Promote and encourage agriculture that produces a healthy,
balanced diet while at the same time remaining competitive,
creating economic and social value and respecting natural
ecosystems.
Each of these areas includes ambitious initiatives: in some cases,
Danone is already engaged, while others open up new frontiers and
create new targets.
In 2015, Danone published its climate policy, which defines a path
for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and contributing to a
“carbon-free” economy. For Danone's entire scope of emissions, the
target is zero net carbon in the long term and the strategy consists
of five key objectives:
• reduce emissions intensity by 50% between 2015 and 2030;
• encourage “carbon positive” solutions;
• eliminate deforestation of the supply chain by 2020;
• strengthen the resilience of the water and food cycles;
• offer healthy, sustainable products.
The climate policy and the commitments made by Danone un-
der its Nature 2020 plan are formalized in a report available at
in the “Publications” section.
Danone organization to address environmental
issues
Organization
The implementation of the Nature strategy and Danone's Nature 2020
commitments is supported by a Nature Department that reports
directly to a member of Danone's Executive Committee: Pascal DE
PETRINI, Executive Vice-President “Strategic Resource Cycles”, and
Nature directors at each of the Divisions.
Danone has also developed a network of more than 100 environ-
mental correspondents in its subsidiaries. In each subsidiary, a
“CarbonMaster” is responsible for the “Carbon Plan”, which includes
measuring greenhouse gas emissions, defining and overseeing
action plans to reduce these emissions and communicating with
the Divisions and the Danone Group.
Lastly, since 2010 Danone has held strategic discussions focusing
on Nature together with a panel of outside experts, opinion leaders
and NGOs (Board of Nature stakeholders) in order to continuously
optimize its priorities and long-term plans.
Information systems
Danone has collaborated with information systems developer SAP
to develop an innovative solution to measure its products' carbon
footprint. Based on an analysis of the product's life cycle and on
the operational monitoring of these various stages, this application
makes it possible to measure the carbon footprint of each product.
This module was successfully validated for two pilot entities in
2010 and deployed in 2011 in the subsidiaries equipped with the
SAP/Themis integrated information system (see section 2.5 Other
information related to Danone's activity and organization). As of the end
of 2015, 24 subsidiaries representing 35% of Danone consolidated
sales measured their carbon footprint using this tool.
Internal evaluation
The progress of the various subsidiaries is evaluated and audited
annually through the Danone Way initiative, in which four of the 17
key practices pertain to the “Environment” (see section 5.1 Danone
social, societal and environmental approach ).
External evaluation
Danone is evaluated by various non-financial rating agencies:
• since the last evaluation of companies in the food and beverage
sector, conducted in February 2015 by the Vigeo non-financial
rating agency, Danone has been included in the ESI Excellence
Europe, ESI Excellence Global, NYSE Euronext Vigeo Europe
120, NYSE Euronext Vigeo Eurozone 120, NYSE Euronext Vigeo
France 20 and NYSE Euronext Vigeo World 120 indices. With a
CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) score of 64/100, Danone
is considered an “advanced performer” and remains the leader
in the food and beverage sector in terms of environmental per-
formance (Vigeo's Global Food Universe);
• in 2015, Danone was recognized by the DJSI (Dow Jones
Sustainability Index, which each year selects the best perform-
ing companies based on criteria such as social responsibility,
innovation and economic performance), as a benchmark company
in the food and beverage sector, particularly in terms of pack-
aging, water-related risk management and health and nutrition;
• in 2015, Danone received aB rating for environmental performance
and a transparency score of 98 fromtheCarbonDisclosure Project.