Press release – Paris, 5 March 2020

DANONE’S WATER BRANDS LAUNCH ‘WEACTFORWATER’ TO PIONEER A NEW WAY TO DO BUSINESS
The collective of Danone’s water brands (including evian, Volvic, AQUA and Bonafont) is taking major steps to tackle global water challenges

Aimed at bringing healthy hydration and safe drinking water to people around the world in the most responsible way, ‘WeActForWater’ is a set of urgent actions, ambitious objectives, and new investments.  Deployed by Danone’s iconic water brands, including evian, Volvic, AQUA and Bonafont, it focuses on responsible packaging, climate neutrality, watershed preservation and access to safe drinking water.1

The ‘WeActForWater’ collective will support bold new objectives set by its brands to strengthen its growth model and build truly recognized activist brands on the front of global water challenges including:

1- Halving the amount of virgin plastic used by the water brands, reaching 50% recycled PET (rPET) use worldwide and 100% across Europe in 2025;

2- Accelerating towards carbon neutrality in Europe by 2025, with evian and Volvic becoming carbon neutral this year;

3- Matching every liter of water sold with a liter for people in need, by creating a fund to help 50M people in developing countries access safe drinking water by 2030;

4- Enhancing watershed and wetlands preservation around the world;

5- Expecting the collective of its water brands to achieve B Corp certification worldwide by 2022.

Danone’s Chairman & CEO Emmanuel Faber said: “Water is one of the most precious resources on Earth and one of the biggest topics for mankind. The bold actions we are announcing today with WeActForWater are a critical milestone for our brands to act on climate, nature and access issues. It will drive conversations to the fundamental purpose of water. I am confident that the pioneering responsible business model we are setting going forward will uniquely position our water brands to create and share value for all in the future.”

Danone’s Executive Vice-President Waters, Henri Bruxelles, said: “Water is our most precious resource and the healthiest drink on the planet; we want to bring its benefits to people around the world in the most responsible way, protecting natural sources for generations to come. We need to act today to address our most pressing challenges. That’s what WeActForWater is about – taking urgent action, making and meeting ambitious objectives, and transforming our business to be even more open. We need to be part of the solution and we’re determined to act together for water.”

Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, Martha Rojas Urrego, said: “Just three percent of the water on our planet is fresh and is mostly found in wetlands, which include lakes, rivers and aquifers.  Yet 35 % of the world’s wetlands have been lost since 1970 and they continue to disappear three times faster than forests. Acting to conserve and restore freshwater ecosystems is the only way to guarantee a future with water for all.  The Convention on Wetlands applauds Danone for launching WeActForWater and their efforts to conserve the world’s wetlands, watersheds and the precious biodiversity they contain.”

Ellen MacArthur Foundation CEO, Andrew Morlet, said: “The scale of the global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution demand ambitious actions and businesses have a vital role to play. By taking a systemic approach Danone's WeActForWater strategy, which includes investments in reducing the use of virgin plastic in packaging, biodiversity preservation, and shifting to renewable energy, puts the circular economy into action. Integrating elements such as carbon neutrality targets and increased use of recycled materials into its business plan will further strengthen the business case for the transition to a circular economy. We are pleased to see Danone taking the lead by seeking to transform its business in this way.” 

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More detail on WeActForWater / Notes to Editors

             

  1. Investing in the circular economy of packaging, keeping bottles in the loop and out of nature
  • Packaging is essential to bringing water and its health benefits to people, and this needs to be done in the most responsible way.
  • Danone’s water brands are accelerating its packaging transformation beyond plastic and single-use materials by
    • developing more reuse and refill solutions – almost half of Danone’s water brands’ volumes are already sold in reusable formats (mainly in Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey) and the aim is to accelerate the expansion of this to Western countries;
    • offering alternative packaging materials;
    • investing in new “enhanced” recycling technologies like Loop;
    • co-building highly efficient bottle collection systems in all countries where it operates, collaborating with government, industries and consumers to ensure no bottle is used only once.
  • 2025 targets:
    • halving the amount of virgin PET used
    • reaching 50% recycled PET (rPET) use worldwide and 100% rPET across Europe (with evian’s bottles at 100% rPET worldwide)
    • achieving 100% recyclability (from 88% today)
    • AQUA in Indonesia collecting more plastic than it uses
  • 2020 actions:
    • all Volvic’s products in Germany, all evian and Volvic small formats in France, and evian on-the-go products in the UK will be made from 100% recycled PET
    • launching new large formats (above 5L), which reduce the usage of plastic per liter by 20 to 40% and are made with 100% recycled PET
    • AQUA currently collecting more than 12,000 tons of plastic bottles per year through Recycled Business Units across Indonesia
       
  • Accelerating progress to reduce carbon emissions and become carbon neutral
  • 2030/2025 targets:
    • Danone’s water brands aim to be fully carbon neutral across Europe by 2025
  • 2020 actions:
    • evian and Volvic will become carbon neutral full scope, by reducing emissions throughout product life cycles and investing in carbon-positive projects that protect or restore natural ecosystems2.
       
  • Matching each liter sold worldwide with access to safe drinking water for communities in need in Asia, Africa and Latin Americato help 50M people access safe drinking water:
  • Danone will anchor a new blended Water Access Acceleration Fund (W2AF), working with fund manager Incofin Investment Management.
  • The fund aims to raise €50M, with Danone providing catalytic capital of €10M.
  • 2030 targets:
    • The fund, building on Danone Communities’3 work over the past 12 years, will contribute alongside other Danone initiatives to bringing health through water to 50M people.
    • For every liter of water Danone sells, it will help to provide access to one liter of water to people in need.
  • 2020 actions
    • This will start this year with Volvic matching every plain liter sold.
       
  • Enhancing watershed and wetlands preservation around the world
  • Working with an internal network of expert hydrogeologists, Danone will continue investing in locally-developed, nature-based solutions, working with other users (e.g. farmers, communities, local authorities and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands since 1998) to lead water preservation for future generations. This work also fosters biodiversity enhancement, livelihoods improvement, carbon capture and more sustainable water resource management.
  • 2025/2030 targets:
    • Full water stewardship programs will cover 25 watersheds by 2025 and 46 watersheds by 2030.
  • 2020 actions:
    • Danone’s water brands will accelerate their preservation programs in the 70 watersheds they operate in.

             
             

  1. Expecting B Corp certification worldwide by 2022
  • The collective of Danone’s water brands will seek B Corp Certification4 worldwide by 2022, joining the global movement to build a more sustainable and inclusive economy.
  • Currently the collective water has five B Corps (covering more than one third of Danone’s water brands’ turnover), including AQUA, the biggest B Corp certified company in Asia5.

-ENDS-

About Danone (www.danone.com)

Dedicated to bringing health through food to as many people as possible, Danone is a leading global food & beverage company building on health-focused and fast-growing categories in 3 businesses: Essential Dairy & Plant-Based, Waters and Specialized Nutrition. Danone aims to inspire healthier and more sustainable eating and drinking practices, in line with its ‘One Planet. One Health’ vision which reflects a strong belief that the health of people and that of the planet are interconnected. To accelerate the food revolution and create superior, sustainable, profitable value for all its stakeholders, Danone has defined nine 2030 Goals, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. Danone commits to operating in an efficient, responsible and inclusive manner, as reflected by its ambition to become one of the first multinationals certified as B CorpTM. With more than 100,000 employees, and products sold in over 120 markets, Danone generated €25.3 billion in sales in 2019. Danone’s portfolio includes leading international brands (Actimel, Activia, Alpro, Aptamil, Danette, Danio, Danonino, evian, Nutricia, Nutrilon, Volvic, among others) as well as strong local and regional brands (including AQUA, Blédina, Bonafont, Cow & Gate, Horizon, Mizone, Oikos, Prostokvashino, Silk, Vega).

Danone is committed to leading the battle against climate change by putting climate actions even more at the core of its growth model, joining people’s fight for climate and nature with the power of its brands. Danone is one of only 6 companies worldwide with a ‘triple A’ score by CDP in recognition of its leading environmental efforts to tackle climate change, fight deforestation and protect water cycles.

Listed on Euronext Paris and on the OTCQX market via an ADR (American Depositary Receipt) program, Danone is a component stock of leading sustainability indexes including the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, Vigeo Eiris, Sustainalytics, the Ethibel Sustainability Index, MSCI Global Sustainability, MSCI Global SRI Indexes, the FTSE4Good Index and Bloomberg Gender Equality Index.

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1 These investments fall within Danone’s recently announced investment acceleration plan.

2 evian has been carbon neutral in the US, Canada, and at the brand’s bottling site in France since 2017, and in Germany and Switzerland since 2019

3 Danone Communities is a venture capital fund supporting early-stage social businesses solving the dual issues of water access and malnutrition

4 B Corp certified businesses seek to balance profit and purpose by measuring the impact of their decisions and operations on workers, suppliers, communities and the planet.

5 Danone’s B Corp certified water bransd are: Danone Waters America (US and Canada); Danone Waters Spain; Danone Waters Germany; Aguas Danone Argentina; AQUA (Indonesia)


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