Danone has announced it’s buying Earth Island, US maker of the vegan mayonnaise and cheese brand Follow Your Heart.
Danone’s goal is to increase global plant-based sales from more than €2 billion in 2020 to €5 billion by 2025. It says cheese is the fastest growing segment in plant-based category.
The news comes against a backdrop of growth in sales of Danone’s plant-based products, while other product lines, such as water, struggle.
The move will see Earth Island sales scaled globally. It was founded in 1988.
Co-founder and CEO Bob Goldberg said, “We’re very pleased to be joining the Danone family of plant-based companies to bring positive change in the world through the creation of sustainably and responsibly-made foods.”
Announcing full-year results for 2020, Danone said plant-based product sales grew at more than 15 per cent, reaching €2.2bn of sales, up from €1.9bn in 2019.
But lockdowns in response to the Covid pandemic, particularly across France, Germany and the UK led less consumers to purchase water while on the move, outside the home. As a result, sales in that category declined by 16.8 per cent.
The High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices estimated companies need internal carbon pricing set at $40 to $80 per metric ton in 2020
The company also reported “an exceptional loss” from the sale of Earthbound Farm.
Danone’s North American business is the world’s largest Certified B Corporation. In July last year, the company progressed its global ambition to be certified as a B Corp.
By the end of last year, 32 entities had ben certified B Corp and around 50 per cent of sales have B Corp certification.
Danone also reported that its carbon emissions had been reduced by one million tons of C02 equivalent – and 50 per cent of this was thanks to regenerative agriculture.
It is one of Europe’s minority of companies that has adopted internal carbon pricing. This relatively new approach has been developed in the expectation that a universal price on carbon will be introduced – severely disrupting share prices if companies haven’t planned for it.
A McKinsey article this month says Danone publicly reports its carbon-adjusted earnings per share (EPS) using pricing of €35 per metric ton of carbon emitted.
But the High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices has estimated that companies need to set internal carbon pricing between $40 and $80 per metric ton in 2020 and between $50 and $100 per metric ton by 2030 to reduce emissions so they are in line with standards set in the Paris Agreement.
