Like so many other companies across the UK, at Danone, we have been working hard to get urgent help to people affected by the coronavirus pandemic. 

Danone factory

Nearly one in three of Danone’s operations are accredited B Corps

Although the emergency response to the crisis might be over, now is not the time to stop. Businesses must continue to step up and play an integral part in building a more equitable and sustainable future. To build back better, leaders should consider becoming a B Corp.

Danone is built on the concept that for the company to thrive the rest of the world must be thriving too, and the past 14 weeks have certainly reinforced the critical link between business and our communities.

As with other companies, employees across Danone have been playing their part to get critical help to people in greatest need since the crisis began. This includes more than doubling our supply of medical food to the NHS to support patients, getting immediate donations to grassroots charities across the UK and distributing food to food banks and other community causes.

Force for good

As the UK moves from the immediate crisis response to ensuring a sustained recovery for communities and the environment, people are rightly looking to businesses to help build back better. Committing to becoming a B Corp is a key part of this: to grow an even wider community of companies using business as a force for good.

Being a B Corp means that your company is legally required to consider the impact of all its decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community and the environment. 

The B Corp community works toward reduced inequality, reduced poverty, a healthier environment, stronger communities and the creation of more high-quality jobs. 

It is a sign that a company is demonstrating exceptional standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. It signals a better way of doing business.

“As well as being the right thing to do, being a B Corp makes clear business sense”

Danone was the first UK dairy company to gain B Corp certification three years ago. Around the world, 30% of Danone’s total operations are accredited B Corps. We are working hard to transform all of our subsidiaries into B Corps by 2025. As a business with a global staff of 100,000, it’s a significant but hugely important undertaking.

There are now around 40 B Corps in the UK food and drink sector and more than 3,000 across 150 industries in 71 countries. It is a fast-growing and influential community but we urgently need many more businesses to join us to accelerate positive change.

With the opportunity to build back better, now is the time for greater industry-wide commitment and collective action across sectors.

Danone B Corp illustration

Source: Danone

Danone was the first UK dairy company to gain B Corp certification

Like other businesses in our sector, we face challenges around packaging and plastics, biodiversity and agriculture, and water stewardship. Being a B Corp means striving to always achieve more as a genuinely progressive business. It means going beyond just compliance; rather than waiting for legislation, we are committed to innovating and striving to be ahead of the curve.

Earlier this month, for example, we were part of a business coalition that pledged to work with governments to put the environment at the heart of a green recovery.

In the UK, we have introduced the first 100% recyclable packaging for yoghurt, which has helped to inspire the rest of the company – most notably in its ambition to move to zero polystyrenes in Europe within four years.

Purchases with purpose

As well as being the right thing to do, being a B Corp makes clear business sense. Research from 2018 showed that companies with B Corp certification grew 28-times faster than the UK average.

In the UK, for three-quarters of those people who know what B Corp means, the label has a positive impact on their intent to purchase.

It is something we have experienced first-hand through our B Corp shop on Waitrose’s online store, where consumers know they are making a purchase with a purpose.

We currently have an activation with Activia yoghurts through that online shop, and our sales through Waitrose have jumped 80% during the year to date as a result – and are growing at twice the rate of the average yoghurt category.

B Corps are setting themselves up to thrive while helping to create a better world. In 1972, Antoine Riboud, the first Danone chair and chief executive said: “There is only one earth, we only live once.” Those words kick-started a vision to bring health to our planet and its people, and they feel even more important right now than ever before.

It’s up to all of us to grasp the opportunity for positive change. Being good is not good enough as we face up to the challenges ahead – we need collective business action and we need it now.