How Danone helps set goals for the health of people and the planet that contribute to its performance, purpose, and B Corp certification
In 2018, Danone North America became a certified B Corp, and today is proud to be one of the largest B Corps in the world. This was a strategic business decision that reflected our leading corporate policies, purpose-driven strategy, and investment decisions related to the health of people and the planet.
Today, Danone is among 8,000+ companies in the global B Corp community. B Corp Month, an annual March milestone, is an opportunity to celebrate our company impact, share where we are taking action and progress against our commitments, and communicate why at Danone, we continue to believe in using the size and scale of our business as a force for good.
COMPANY HERITAGE
Danone has been turning values into value and driving growth by intentionally incorporating purpose-driven business into our governance structure since 1972, when then-CEO Antoine Riboud introduced Danone’s “Dual Project,” a trailblazing vision of corporate responsibility. Riboud redefined the traditional role of business and pioneered our future when he proclaimed, “a company’s responsibility does not stop at the factory gates or the office door.”
Danone’s global mission is to bring health through food to as many people as possible. Today, our B Corp Certification reflects the values that have been core to our heritage for 50 years, and is an expression of the company’s long-held belief in the importance of driving both shareholder and societal value. One way we set goals and track that value is through our sustainability strategy – what we call our Danone Impact Journey. This is part of how we set our goals when it comes to creating a healthier portfolio, reducing our impact on the planet, and supporting the people and communities connected to our business.
ABOUT OUR DANONE IMPACT JOURNEY
In 2023, we reframed our sustainability journey around three pillars: Health, Nature and People & Communities. Within each pillar, we are focused on a key set of priorities and objectives to help deliver the most impact and value. Here are a few recent and leading examples of how we are taking action across each pillar:
Promoting sustainable farming and agriculture practices: To feed our consumers, we are reliant on nature. Better food requires sustainable farming and agriculture conditions. Every day, we see the climate threats the planet is facing; for us, it is very clear: without cows, there is no yogurt; without almonds and soybeans, there is no plant-based milk; without fruit, there is no baby food. That’s why we’re taking action to reduce our environmental impact, working with leaders like the Environmental Defense Fund to prioritize methane reduction across the dairy sector. We’re also piloting breakthrough, innovative solutions; we recently launched a partnership with Cornell University to begin trials with Symbrosia, a company that is creating seaweed feed additives to help lower methane from cows – which is emitted from their burps.
Driving access to nutritious products: At the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health in 2022, we announced a $22 million investment to improve education on, access to, and availability of nutritious foods by 2030. Today, we are on a journey of constant improvement to make our product portfolio healthier and bring the right offerings, formats and entry points to consumers across the country. We’re leveraging the scale of our business to help make nutrition more equitable and inclusive for all, whether it’s using our platform to advocate for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children or forging partnerships to bring more nutrition to students at Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs).
Ensuring the holistic wellbeing of our almost 6,000 employees across North America: We embody the B Corp values of employee support and empowerment and are committed to our employees’ personal and professional growth. That means truly prioritizing work-life balance with flexible work arrangements, providing opportunities to grow with ample training and development paths, and fostering a culture driven by our values of Humanism, Openness, Proximity and Enthusiasm. It also means offering market-leading benefits (like our gender neutral Parental Bonding Leave policy) as well as programs designed to advance mental, physical and financial health.
Being a good partner and an engaged member of our communities: In line with B Corp’s high standards for ethical and sustainable business practices, we work with our supply chain partners to ensure we know where our ingredients come from and that our products are made in a responsible way. In addition, we are proud to partner with organizations on the frontlines of hunger and food insecurity such as Feeding America and FoodCorps. And, our brands take action to support the causes that matter to their consumers, as evidenced by Light + Fit’s recent International Women’s Day activation, through which the brand announced a new grant program with the Female Founder Collective, an organization helping female entrepreneurs around the globe grow their business through community, resources and education.
These examples represent critical health and environmental issues that are intersecting with our business. Taking action not only benefits people and the planet, it helps make our business more resilient and competitive. At Danone, we believe that sustainability without business performance has no impact, and business performance without impact has no future. As we undergo the process for B Corp recertification this year, we are proud to share that the B Corp logo is on more than 400 product SKUs across our portfolio in North America. Every time a consumer picks up one of those Danone products, they are part of our positive impact on the health of people and the planet.