As ministers open the second week of negotiations on a global climate agreement in Paris, Faber told a science and policy event on Saturday that Danone would implement its own targets regardless of the official talks’ outcome – and include farmers in the equation.

“In the spirit of the discussions of this COP21, we have decided to reframe our climate policy and make it match the two-degree scientific scenario,” he told the Global Landscape Forum, a gathering of 3,000 researchers, policymakers and campaigners on sustainable land use.

Faber said that the French-based dairy processing giant had brought its own emissions under control, and now intends to put those of its whole supply chain on a downward trend within 10 years.

“Instead of looking at the part of the cycle that we control, we’re now going to be responsible for the carbon emissions of the full cycle of our processes: from the farms, the hundreds and thousands of farmers that we work with, to our billion consumers in the world,” he said.

Transform dairy farming

Company documents show that 51% of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with Danone’s products come from milk supplies. The company intends to “build alliances and co-create solutions with farming communities, customers and suppliers by implementing Danone’s sustainable agriculture principles to help transform dairy farming via more resource-efficient practices”.

Faber said this was needed because of increasing consumer scrutiny, scarcity of resources and volatility of raw material supplies. “It has a cost, but it is an investment for the future because if we do that, if our farmers have more capability, a better soil and feed their cows with plants that ultimately transmit better quality to the milk, we are able to pay that milk at a high price,” he said. “They get better productivity. At the same time, they are sinking carbon in the soil, so it is a win-win situation and we are having a more resilient ecosystem.”

Danone sources more than 1bn litres of milk in Ireland each year and its drier in Macroom, Co Cork, is the largest in the group’s €4.4bn infant nutrition business.

Infant formula sales drive Danone’s growth

Danone sets climate targets all the way to the farmgate

Danone chief executive Emmanuel Faber has said the company would bring its entire supply chain’s greenhouse gas emissions below the targets set by scientists to keep global warming under 2°C.