Business Success Must Be in Line with Social Progress: Danone
Jakarta. Fast-moving consumer goods giant Danone on Tuesday celebrated its 50 years of a dual commitment that business success must be in line with social and community progress.
Back in 1972, Antoine Riboud, the then-chief executive officer of Danone, said that corporate responsibility does not end at the factory gates or office doors. This speech marked the birth of Danone’s dual commitment: business success with social progress.
According to Vera Galuh Sujianto, the VP General Secretary at Danone Indonesia, the local arm is also embracing this dual commitment by giving back to the community and environment.
“With this 50-year momentum, we will strengthen our commitment to continue to contribute to public health and environmental balance in accordance with Danone’s vision: One Planet One Health,” Vera said in a recent press release.
In community health, Danone has launched a stunting prevention program, namely the “Bersama Cegah Stunting”, in partnership with other stakeholders.
Some of the program’s approaches include improving sanitation and clean water access, balanced nutrition campaign Generasi Sehat Indonesia, a public service ad and a book series on stunting prevention, as well as research in collaboration with universities.
The company has set a goal to power its operations on 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. It also seeks to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, according to Vera.
To date, Danone Indonesia has installed 6.9-megawatt rooftop solar power systems in five factories. This use of solar power can slash carbon emissions by up to 7,342 tons of CO2.
A biomass boiler, with a capacity of 6 tons of steam, is now operating at Danone Indonesia’s Prambanan plant. The boiler is expected to reduce 8,300 tons of CO2.
There are also efforts to protect water resources through hydrogeological research, conservation programs, and water stakeholder forums.
“We have also planted 2.5 million trees and built 19 biodiversity parks covering an area of 160 hectares, as well as promoting an environmentally friendly agriculture program that has reached 1,154 farmers in 18 locations,” Vera said.
Danone Indonesia revealed that it had improved clean water and sanitation access for 438,000 beneficiaries across 44 districts. “Our target is to return more water to nature and society than we used to achieve a positive water impact by 2030,” she said.
In 1993, mineral water producer AQUA launched its flagship recycling program, AQUA Peduli. In 2018, AQUA introduced the #BijakBerplastik movement, which embraced three pillars: collection, public education, and innovation.
AQUA managed to collect 15,000 tons of plastic packaging waste per year by involving more than 10,000 scavengers, among others. It has also increased its recycled material content by up to 50 percent, issued 100-percent-recycled-and-recyclable packaging innovations, and educated more than 420,411,315 consumers, and 22,008 schoolchildren.
An LPEM UI research reported that the #BijakBerplastik program helped increase the amount of recycled waste to more than 17 percent. This has cut the waste remaining in landfills by 14 percent and reduced the amount of waste that ended up in marine ecosystems.
The company’s environment-related efforts have received many prestigious awards from the Environment Ministry.
The Mambal plant has received four Gold PROPER awards. Danone-AQUA is also a certified B-Corp corporation for using its business as a force for good.
Under the #KitaSalingJaga (‘We Look Out For One Another’) campaign, the company has vaccinated 100 percent of its employees and family members and supported 160 vaccination centers which served more than 2 million people. It has donated laptops, distance-learning modules, as well as scholarships for underprivileged students.
Danone Indonesia has also received recognition for its workplace policies. HR Asia has named it the best company to work for in Asia thrice for prioritizing work-life balance, self-development, and becoming a family-friendly company.
Danone Indonesia grants its female employees six months of maternity leave and an education program on the first 1,000 days of life for parents. Comfortable lactation rooms are available in the workplace. Danone also provides an inter-employee system to support breastfeeding mothers.
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