Danone Pledges $2.2 Billion Climate Plan
February 26 2020 - 6:41AM
Dow Jones News
By Dieter Holger
Danone SA said Wednesday that it would spend 2 billion euros
($2.2 billion) over the next three years to fight climate change
through agriculture, energy, packaging and digital technology, as
the company looks to boost growth.
The investments, which include recurring costs behind its brand
and EUR1 billion in capital expenditures, are expected to "deliver
in the mid-term a consistent mid-to-high single digit recurring
earnings per share growth," Danone said.
As part of the plan, the French food company said its water
bottles will be made of 100% recycled plastic in Europe from 2025
onward as it aims to use 50% recycled plastic world-wide.
Starting in April, Danone's Evian and Volvic brands will offer
some recycled plastic bottles, including in Germany, France and the
U.K. The two brands should hit carbon neutrality later this
year.
Danone also estimates its emissions peaked at the end of 2019
and are set to fall. Overall, it said it cut its greenhouse-gas
intensity--the emissions required for an activity--by nearly a
quarter since 2015.
In an effort to link environmental, social and governance
metrics with financial performance, Danone said it would for the
first time price carbon emissions into its quarterly earnings.
The new "carbon adjusted" earnings per share factors in the
estimated cost for absolute GHG emissions throughout the company's
footprint.
Carbon-adjusted EPS is set to grow faster than recurring EPS
since the company's emissions are falling, Danone said. In 2019,
Danone said the carbon-adjusted EPS grew 12%, ahead of the
company's 8.3% recurring EPS growth.
"We are convinced that there is an urgent and significant
opportunity to put climate actions even more at the core of our
business model," said Emmanuel Faber, chairman and chief executive
at Danone, in prepared remarks.
Write to Dieter Holger at dieter.holger@wsj.com;
@dieterholger
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 26, 2020 06:26 ET (11:26 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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