Danone sued over single-use plastic footprint
ClientEarth has filed a case in a Paris court arguing the consumer giant is in breach of France’s Corporate Duty of Vigilance Law.
Danone is facing potential litigation after non-governmental organisation ClientEarth, with support from activist groups Surfrider Foundation Europe and Zero Waste France, sued the company over its track record on single-use plastic.
According to ClientEarth, Danone does not have an effective plan to reduce its plastic footprint and limits itself to increasing the recyclability of its products. The company strongly rejects this, saying in a written statement that it is “very surprised by this accusation”.
Danone added that an end to plastic pollution cannot come from a single company and that it is in favour of a legally binding international treaty on plastics, currently being negotiated by the UN.
Prior to filing the court case, last September ClientEarth issued legal warnings to Danone, whose response the NGO says “wasn’t good enough”.
However, ClientEarth also issued the same legal warnings to several other French companies, including Auchan, Carrefour, Casino, Lactalis, McDonald’s France, Les Mousquetaires, Picard and Nestlé France.
“So far, Danone has been the first targeted company to be sued, but we don’t know whether the others are at risk of potential litigation as well,” said Joanna Peltzman and Auriane Quilan, partner and associate respectively at law firm Osborne Clarke in Paris.
Last year, an OECD report estimated that only 9 per cent of plastics worldwide is successfully recycled, with the majority being incinerated, dumped in landfill or leaking into the environment causing serious health concerns.
Legal foundation
France’s Corporate Duty of Vigilance Law enacted in 2017 requires large companies (with more than 5,000 employees in France or 10,000 employees worldwide) to establish, publish and effectively implement a vigilance plan every year. This needs to include social and environmental due diligence measures taken across the supply chain.
ClientEarth argues that Danone has a legal obligation to tackle the issue of plastics, as they are present throughout the company’s supply chain, including in its packaging of products such as water bottles and yoghurt pots.
In a public statement, ClientEarth said the next steps in the court case will be determined by a judge in an initial hearing in the next few months.
The judge could decide to ask experts to advise on the case, while Danone will likely have to work with the NGO and demonstrate what it is doing to comply with the law, according to Osborne Clarke’s Peltzman and Quilan. This can take some time but meanwhile, the “naming and shaming” of the company has already happened, they added.
So far, no penalties or fines have been issued under the vigilance law, but a case is pending that involves TotalEnergies and its $10bn oil project across Uganda and Tanzania. Six NGOs have sued the French oil and gas giant over environmental and social concerns.
The vigilance law is considered a pioneer for the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, currently still debated by the bloc’s institutions.