At Danone, we believe that each time we eat and drink, we can vote for the world we want to live in. Over the years, Danone has continued to innovate to meet consumers’ needs. What has never changed is our commitment to our mission: bringing health through food to as many people as possible. Across our business and brands, health continues to be our North Star, and the cornerstone of our impact.

Commitments by aspirational objectives:

The Danone Impact Journey, launched in 2023, is a blueprint for defining our sustainability priorities and our transformation ambition built on 3 pillars: Health; Nature; and People & Communities. As a result of the Danone Impact Journey, we are renewing and realigning our commitments and ambitions for
the EU Code of Conduct – outlined below.

Aspirational objective 1: Healthy, balanced, and sustainable diets for all European consumers, thereby contributing to: 

1) Reversing malnutrition and diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the EU;

2) Reducing the environmental footprint of food consumption by 2030.

With the following aspirational targets:

a) Improved food consumption patterns in the EU;

b) A food environment that makes it easier to choose healthy and sustainable diets.

Danone commitments:

The nutritional profile of our brands’ portfolio has always been a priority for Danone. In 2022, 91% of volumes of products were sold in healthy categories, and 82% of volumes of products sold without added sugars. We strive to offer tastier and healthier food and drinks with the following commitments:

• 85% volume of dairy, plant-based and aqua drinks rated 3.5 stars by Health Star Rating by 2025 globally;

• 95% volume Kids dairy and plant-based with less than 10g total sugars/100g by 2025 globally;

• 95% volume toddler milk (1-3 yo) with less than 1.25g added sugars/100kcal by 2025 globally.

We believe that everyday products should provide a positive contribution to diet beyond just energy. We commit to increasing the number of products with a meaningful amount of positive nutrients:

• 85% volume of Kids dairy fortified with relevant vitamins & minerals by 2025 globally.

We are also committed to helping consumers make an informed choice for a healthy, balanced diet and we strongly call for the adoption of a harmonised front-of-pack nutritional labelling scheme at the EU level. In the meantime, we have made the following global commitment:

• 95% volumes sold of dairy, plant-based, and aqua drinks products with on-pack/online interpretative nutritional information by 2025 globally.

We remain committed to promoting a shift to flexitarian diets, which consist of plenty of plant-based foods (cereals, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds) along with good quality dairy products, but lower amounts of meat.

Aspirational objective 2: Prevention and reduction of food loss and waste (at consumer level, within internal operations, and across value chains)

With the following aspirational target: 

A 50% reduction of per capita food waste at the retail and consumer level by 2030 and reduced food losses along the food production and supply chains in the EU.

Danone commitments:

As a food company, we strongly support SDG 1-2.3 objective to reduce food waste by half by 2030 (vs. 2020). We recognise that we have a role to play in eliminating food waste in our operations
and supply chains.

• We commit to achieve SDG 12.3—reduce food waste within our operations and supply chain by half by 2030 (vs. 2020).

Aspirational objective 3: A climate-neutral food chain in Europe by 2050

With the following aspirational target: Reducing net emissions from own operations, contributing to a 55% GHG emission reduction  target in the EU food chain by 2030 (following a science-based approach).

Danone commitments:

Tackling our GHG emissions, direct and indirect, is central. Our Science Based Targets for 2030 were approved in 2022, and Danone was one of the first companies in the world to set an SBTI approved 1.5°C FLAG target, as well as the first global food company to set a methane target.

• We commit to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 across our full supply chain including the following interim targets:

  • CO2 reduction by 2030 in line with the 1.5°C SBTi target;

  • 30% reduction in methane emissions from fresh milk in 2030;

  • 30% improvement in energy efficiency by 2025.

For Danone, agriculture is the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions and the main source of water use. Given the importance of agriculture in addressing climate change, Danone is firmly committed to regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture is an outcome-based, holistic approach with three dimensions – people, planet, and animals – which can maximise the benefits of agriculture by protecting and improving soil health, biodiversity, water resources, and climate, while promoting animal welfare and supporting farming resilience and long-term profitability. While we take commitments to source from regenerative agriculture, there is a need for additional financing mechanisms (banking guarantees, new financing tools, public-private partnerships) to successfully and rapidly support and embark farmers in on the transition.

• Danone commits to purchase 30% of its volume of agricultural ingredients directly from farms that have begun to transition to regenerative agriculture by 2025.

Aspirational objective 4: An optimised circular and resource-efficient food chain in Europe 

With the following aspirational targets:

a) Improved resource efficiency within own operations, contributing to sustainable, efficient use and management of energy and natural resources in operations by 2030;

b) Improved sustainability of food and drink packaging, striving for all packaging towards circularity by 2030.

Danone commitments:

• We commit to make our packaging 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025;

• Halve the use of virgin fossil-based packaging by 2040, with a 30% reduction by 2030, accelerating reuse and recycled materials;

• Lead the development of effective collection systems globally to recover as much plastic as we use by 2040.

We note that these commitments are dependent on the availability at scale of collection, sorting, and recycling infrastructure as well as the availability of recycled content. Policy at the EU and Member States level must ensure that collection is improved (notably through deposit-and-return schemes for beverage bottles and cans and through national collection targets for all packaging types) and must avoid the downcycling of recycled materials from food to non-food packaging (through priority access to recycled materials for the food and drink industry).

Aspirational objective 7: Sustainable sourcing in food supply chains

With the following aspirational targets:

a) Transformed commodity supply chains that do not contribute to deforestation, forest degradation, and destruction of natural habitat and which preserve and protect high-value ecosystems and biodiversity;

b) Improved social performance in (global) food supply chains.

Danone commitments:

Danone commits to zero deforestation & conversion of key commodities by 2025:

• 100% recycled or certified virgin paper (FSC, PEFC, or equivalent). The top five direct suppliers, by weight, will match our commitments by 2025. 80% of secondary and tertiary packaging by weight contains recycled material by 2025.

• 100% traceable soy to traders and sub-national regions by 2023 for our plant-based products.

• Farm-level traceability for all direct soybeans by 2025 in high-risk regions for deforestation and conversion.

• 100% RSPO Segregated palm oil by 2025. 100% traceability of palm oil to plantation by 2023.

• 100% of cocoa verified deforestation and conversion-free cocoa by 2025. Top three direct suppliers and their progress towards our goal, and associated risk assessment. Third-party farm-level traceability for all forms of cocoa.

• 100% mapping and risk assessment of animal feed by 2025.

There is a lot we can collectively do to protect watersheds and create value for people and the ecosystems they live in. At Danone, we are determined to play our part, building on decades of experience in water stewardship and collective action. For ingredients grown in high-water stressed areas, Danone commits to the following by 2030:

• 4R approach (reducing, reusing, recycling, reclaiming) to be deployed in all production sites by 2030;

• Watershed preservation/restoration plans to be developed in highly water-stressed areas by 2030.

Full detail of the pledge in the provided attachment.