FDBusiness.com

Food group and beverage giant Danone and Veolia, the global resource management group, have announced an innovative strategic partnership focusing on the water cycle, waste management, sustainable agriculture and energy efficiency, to meet the challenge of climate change. Creating economic, social and environmental value, this global alliance is one of a kind. It is part of Danone’s new climate policy, which calls for zero net carbon emissions by 2050 for operations within its direct and shared scope of responsibility.

Danone and Veolia, both large French corporations and leaders in their respective markets, believe it is essential to transform consumption and waste management practices, and transition into a circular economy. The two companies are joining forces to share their expertise and, in so doing, explore the full range of innovative solutions in four major areas: water cycle management, waste management, sustainable agriculture and energy efficiency.

This unique alliance is built on a genuinely collaborative approach in which complementary skills contributed by each partner are harnessed to create shared value. Priorities include securing access to water resources and sustainable management of plastic packaging—issues that are central to Danone’s new climate policy targeting zero net carbon emissions in the long term.

Specific projects have already been identified in France and other countries for the alliance to start rolling out in 2016. Deployment will be gradual, building on lessons learned in a first round of pilot projects.

Among the projects is the development of “zero liquid discharge” plants to ensure optimum recycling of water resources, and the creation of production units for recycled plastic to ensure a secure supply source. Other circular economy projects are also in the pipeline. They include producing biogas by combining factory bio-waste with manure from local farms, and optimizing energy consumption by making expert use of alternative energy sources.

Emmanuel Faber, CEO of Danone.

Emmanuel Faber, chief executive of Danone, says: “With this alliance, Danone continues to innovate in the social and environmental spheres by encouraging the emergence of entirely new forms of cooperation that promote change. By teaming up with Veolia, we are ensuring a secure source of strategic resources and optimizing their utilization, since our climate policy is an integral part of our mission and our business.”

“Both the form and the goals of this alliance make it a truly unique initiative in creating economic, social and environmental value,” says Antoine Frérot, chairman and chief executive of Veolia. “We are working with Danone to help them reach their 2020 goals while benefiting from major scope for business development. Our expertise is being invested to optimize water, waste and energy management across all of their processes.”

Veolia designs and provides water, waste and energy management solutions that contribute to the sustainable development of communities and industries. In 2014, Veolia supplied 96 million people with drinking water and 60 million people with wastewater service, produced 52 million megawatt hours of energy and converted 31 million metric tons of waste into new materials and energy.