Correction: Danone’s Water Brands Launch ‘weactforwater’ to Pioneer
a New Way to do Business
Press release – Paris, 5 March 2020
DANONE’S WATER BRANDS LAUNCH
‘WEACTFORWATER’ TO PIONEER A NEW WAY TO DO
BUSINESSThe 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.”
************************************************************************************************
More detail on WeActForWater / Notes to
Editors
- 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
America to 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.
- 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.
“FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release contains certain
forward-looking statements concerning Danone. In some cases, you
can identify these forward-looking statements by forward-looking
words, such as “estimate”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “project”,
“plan”, “intend”, “objective”, “believe”, “forecast”, “guidance”,
“foresee”, “likely”, “may”, “should”, “goal”, “target”, “might”,
“will”, “could”, “predict”, “continue”, “convinced” and
“confident,” the negative or plural of these words and other
comparable terminology. Forward looking statements in this document
include, but are not limited to, predictions of future activities,
operations, direction, performance and results of Danone. Although
Danone believes its expectations are based on reasonable
assumptions, these forward-looking statements are subject to
numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results
to differ materially from those anticipated in these
forward-looking statements. For a description of these risks and
uncertainties, please refer to the “Risk Factor” section of
Danone’s Registration Document (the current version of which is
available on www.danone.com). Subject to regulatory requirements,
Danone does not undertake to publicly update or revise any of these
forward-looking statements. This document does not constitute an
offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy Danone
securities.”
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)
- PR-we-act-for-water-03052020
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