Dedicated since 1919 to bringing health through food to as many people as possible, Danone is a French leading global food & beverages company, which has played a funding role to the Livelihoods Carbon Funds. Danone’s climate commitments started in 2008 when the company set the ambitious goal to reduce its carbon emissions by 40% within four years. At the same time, Danone explored solutions to offset the unavoidable carbon emissions generated within its value chain. The Danone Fund for Nature was created in this context to lead the company’s initial carbon offsetting experimentations.
Following the success of the first large-scale mangrove restoration project in Senegal, launched in 2009, Danone invited other corporates to join a common mission where high-quality carbon credits rimed with social and economic benefits for local communities, leading to the creation of the First Livelihoods Carbon Fund in 2011.
In 2015, Danone set an even more ambitious goal to become 100% carbon neutral by 2050 across its full value chain. Danone’s strategy to achieve carbon neutrality is based on 3 key pillars: reducing emissions, transforming agricultural practices to sequester more carbon in the ground, eliminating deforestation from its supply chain, and offsetting the emissions that remain. In 2017, together with 7 other corporates, Danone renewed its commitment by investing in the second Livelihoods Carbon Fund to improve the lives of 2 million people and offset around 20 million tons of CO2 over 20 years.
Thanks to its long-term partnership with the Livelihoods Carbon Funds, Evian (worldwide leader of natural mineral water), became Danone’s first global brand to become carbon neutral in 2020.
“Livelihoods was born out of the realization there was a close link between the carbon cycle and our agriculture and food cycles. It was also clear to us that we had to work within our own supply chains to address ‘livelihoods’ issues, meaning we had to think about how men, women, and their families could live off the land they cultivate, instead of just surviving”.
