Danone has announced that it will adopt a French legal corporate mission and have an independent committee oversee and report on its social, societal and environmental goals.
Introduced by French law in 2019, “Entreprise à Mission” defines a company which better aligns their business model to include wider social and environmental fields.
According to Danone, this will make it the first listed company to adopt the framework.
The board plans to recommend these changes at Danone’s 2020 AGM on 26 June 2020.
The move is part of Danone’s ambition to achieve global B Corp status, in which companies that meet certain social and environmental criterial are awarded.
To date, 20 subsidiaries of Danone have become B Corp Certified including Danone North America, while an additional 15 subsidiaries are in the process of certification for 2020.
After embedding the framework, Danone’s progress towards its social, societal and environmental goals will be verified by an independent third party and overseen by a newly-created mission committee.
The mission committee will review and challenge the company’s roadmap and progress particularly on subjects such as health and nutrition, water, agriculture, biodiversity, packaging, social innovation, people and social matters.
Emmanuel Faber, chairman and CEO of Danone, said: “Putting the DNA of Danone at the heart of our articles of association by becoming an Entreprise à Mission may be a natural step for us. But it could not be timelier and more meaningful, as employees, consumers, customers, partners, governments and shareholders now see the critical importance of a balanced multi-stakeholder approach to value creation and sharing.
“I am convinced that becoming an Entreprise à Mission will meet our objective to serve, in a fair and transparent manner, everyone in our business ecosystem, and therefore create for Danone a consistent and efficient framework for how we will create resilient, and therefore sustainable, value in this new world.”
