When did our Danone case start?

In January 2023, alongside our partners, we took Danone to court over failing to comply with its duty of vigilance around plastics. 

Danone is a French-headquartered company behind well-known international brands such as Evian, Activia and Volvic. We alleged that the company's plastic use goes against a key French law that demands companies acknowledge and address the impacts their operations have on the environment, health and human rights.  

In September 2022, we issued legal warnings to Danone and a number of other companies including Nestlé France and McDonald's France, for inadequately addressing the risks related to the plastic pollution they produce. Danone responded, but we didn’t think it was good enough. So we filed a court action.   

Months later, Danone issued a fresh document that was supposed to detail its approach to dealing with pollution and rights issues – a new ‘vigilance plan’. We still didn’t think it was  good enough. Shortly after this, we headed to our first court hearing.  

In September 2023, the judge ordered that the next stage in our case against Danone was to enter into mediation with the company – giving us the chance to discuss our demands in detail, guided by an independent mediator.  A year on, we have reached an agreement with Danone. 

What has been agreed?

This agreement resulted in four commitments from Danone:  

1. An update of the various risks related to the use of plastic, in its vigilance plan (the vigilance plan is a key requirement in French law for companies over a certain size). 

2. The strengthening of a policy for mitigating and preventing the risks associated with the use of plastic, in particular the implementation by Danone of reuse solutions. 

3. The publication of its plastic footprint. 

4. The holding of an annual meeting from 2025 to 2027 between ClientEarth and our partners, and Danone.  

As part of the mediation, Danone has updated its vigilance plan. It’s also now indicating that the use of plastic, particularly in its packaging, is likely to generate a salient risk "for water, air, soil, climate, human rights and health", the risks associated with the presence of sensitive substances in plastics in particular. In addition, Danone says it is monitoring the evolution of science about the potential impacts of microplastics. 

What are the impacts of plastic pollution?  

We’re in a plastics crisis. Global plastic waste nearly doubled between 2000 and 2019 and could triple by 2060.  

This is a problem because:  

• Single-use plastics create huge amounts of waste. For example, in 2024 the volume of plastic waste overshot the volume that waste systems can manage on September 5th. Plastic pollution is now the biggest killer  of marine life. And 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.  

• Plastic packaging can also contain chemicals that are known to be harmful to our health, including endocrine disruptors, which can have serious consequences for fertility. Of the 10,500 chemical substances that can be found in plastics, almost a quarter are of potential concern for human health and have been linked to diabetes, obesity, certain types of cancer and other illnesses.  

• Throughout its lifecycle, plastic poses a threat to human rights. The production process is toxic, and in many countries, the waste management system depends on informal workers, subjected to dangerous conditions and lacking basic labour rights.  

To protect people and nature, there is a need to reduce plastic use at all levels of society, and businesses have a major role to play in this. 

What is the 'duty of vigilance'? 

The French Duty of Vigilance law is a groundbreaking new law that was adopted in response to the Rana Plaza tragedy – the collapse of a textile factory in Bangladesh in 2013 which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,000 people. The discovery of labels from famous clothing brands in the rubble moved public opinion. Until the law was adopted, companies were not held responsible for what happens in their value chain.  

But now, under this law, large companies with more than 5,000 employees in France, or 10,000 employees in France and their foreign subsidiaries, must publish an annual ‘vigilance plan’ identifying the environmental and social risks stemming from their activities and those of their subsidiaries, suppliers and subcontractors, all around the world. These plans must include mitigation and prevention measures adapted to the severity of these risks, as well as a report on the implementation of these measures.   

Logically, given the scale of the plastics crisis, we believe this law should oblige companies to provide satisfactory responses on the subject.