Danone S.A. — Ethics Grade B

Danone S.A. receives an overall ethics grade of B (75/100) on CancelCo's corporate accountability database. Sector: Consumer Goods. Market cap: Large Cap.

Category scores

• labor: 85
• privacy: 90
• consumer: 75
• environment: 65
• humanRights: 80

Documented incidents (3)

• Plastic Pollution Duty of Care Lawsuit (medium, 2023) — Three environmental groups sued Danone, alleging the company failed to sufficiently reduce its plastic footprint in violation of French law 'Duty of Vigilance'.
• Mexican Water Depletion Allegations (medium, 2022) — Local communities and NGOs accused Danone subsidiary Bonafont of over-extracting groundwater in Puebla, Mexico, leading to dried-up local wells and a massive sinkhole.
• Milk Formula Bribery Probe (medium, 2013) — Chinese authorities investigated and fined Danone's local unit for bribery of hospital staff and price-fixing practices related to infant formula marketing.

Documented good deeds

• Global B Corp Ambition — Danone became an 'Entreprise à Mission' (purpose-led company) and aims to become one of the first multi-national companies to be B Corp certified globally.

Ethical alternatives

• Oatly Group AB — Plant-based alternative with significantly lower water and land use footprint compared to dairy.