Tribune. Danone’s board of directors has just thanked its CEO Emmanuel Faber under pressure from activist investors unhappy with the company’s financial performance. For the detractors of Emmanuel Faber, his dismissal proves that the question of the social and environmental impact of a company is a secondary subject incompatible with the increase in value for the shareholders.
Advocates of a greater role for companies in society as a means of ensuring their future financial success, meanwhile, believe that Faber has been unfairly dismissed because some investors have failed to understand his mission. was fixed, nor realized the crucial role that the ex-CEO played in improving the impact of the company.
While the decision was taken after careful consideration of the company’s financial performance, Danone’s board of directors and shareholders did not have the data that would have enabled them to judge the impact of the company’s products and activities. the company on humans and the environment.
Lagging behind
Data on the impact of Danone and thousands of other companies is being compiled at Impact-Weighted Accounts Initiative (IWAI) from Harvard Business School. Taking into account factors such as the total amount of its greenhouse gas emissions, Danone’s activities in 2019 had a negative impact on the environment of approximately 236 million dollars (approximately 198.20 billion dollars). euros), i.e. 5.5% of its gross operating surplus (EBITDA). Its environmental performance was lower than that of Nestlé or General Mills, which, with a ratio of 3.9%, are reaping the benefits of improvements made in recent years.
Measuring impacts and expressing them in financial terms is now necessary for understanding the profits, value and success of companies – and the performance of the executives who run them.
Danone also has a much worse record when it comes to the impact of its products on the health of consumers. In 2018, for example, the latest year for which data is available, its customers absorbed 245 billion grams (245,000 tonnes) of added sugar by consuming its yogurts and other products. This sugar has generated more than $ 8 billion in medical costs linked to the impact of cardiovascular disease and the health costs it entails.
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