What Does Plastics Court Case Settlement Mean for Danone?
Food and beverage giant Danone has ended a long-running legal dispute relating to plastics pollution with the environmental law organisation ClientEarth.
The settlement, which includes Danone making four significant commitments, concludes two years of legal challenges instigated by ClientEarth alongside its French allies Surfrider Europe and Zero Waste France.
ClientEarth, spearheaded by CEO Laura Clarke, has been vocally committed to confronting plastic pollution.
"It's a step forward in the fight against plastic, but we still have a long way to go," Laura warned.
Backdrop to the legal battle
At the beginning of 2023, ClientEarth and its partners accused Danone of failing to fulfil its legal obligations concerning plastics vigilance under French law, which mandates companies to consider and mitigate their operations' effects on the environment, health and human rights.
The allegations stemmed from Danone's practices and policies around plastic usage.
Before the court hearing, legal notices were served to major corporations including Danone, Nestlé France and McDonald's France in September 2022 for “inadequately addressing the risks related to the plastic pollution they produce”.
In response, Danone issued an updated vigilance plan which failed to satisfy the environmental groups, resulting in the filing of a court action by ClientEarth and its collaborators. As legal proceedings progressed, the court opted for independent mediation in September 2023, leading to the finalised agreement.
Agreement details and commitments
The agreement forged between Danone and ClientEarth encapsulates four major commitments from Danone. These include updating their risk assessments related to plastic use in their vigilance plan, strengthening policies for mitigating associated plastic risks, releasing data on their plastic footprint and committing to annual discussions with ClientEarth and its partners from 2025 to 2027.
Danone has now updated its vigilance plan, acknowledging the substantial risks the use of plastics – especially in packaging – poses to water, air, soil, climate, human rights and health.
"Danone now indicates that the use of plastic in its packaging can have impacts on the environment, health and human rights," Laura continued. "Danone also intends to identify the presence of plastic in its business activities.
“This result sends a strong signal to the food sector that plastic carries risks, and those risks need to be disclosed and addressed.”
Danone's revised vigilance plan details the potential adverse outcomes from plastic packaging usage and elaborates on the company's approach towards reducing, reusing, recycling and recovering plastic packaging. The revision aligns with Danone's status as a Société à Mission, a French certification for companies that incorporate social and environmental goals into their business model.
Implications of plastic pollution
ClientEarth stresses the ongoing plastic crisis, which poses a severe threat to marine biodiversity and is implicated in broader environmental degradation including pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
The organisations highlights: "Global plastic waste nearly doubled between 2000 and 2019 and could triple by 2060. Even when disposed of properly, getting rid of plastic is not so simple.
"It’s not widely enough known, but plastics are made from oil and gas. The process of extracting these fossil fuels and converting them into plastic is also highly carbon-intensive.”
ClientEarth also points out that plastic packaging can contain chemicals “known to be harmful to our health, including endocrine disruptors, which can have serious consequences for fertility”.
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