Royal Friesland Campina N.V.

Royal FrieslandCampina N.V.
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Quick Facts
Type	Cooperation (member-owned)
sector	Dairy
Headquarters (Benelux Organization)	Amersfoort, Netherlands
Year of Origin	2008
Emissions (All Scopes)	17,4 Megatons of CO2 (2020)
Net Income	11,14 billion (2020)
Key People	Hein Schumacher (CEO), Hans Janssen (CFO), Geraldine Fraser (CPO), Roel van Neerbos (Chairman)
Subsidiaries	61 daughter companies, four joint ventures

'Royal FrieslandCampina N.V., better known as FrieslandCampina, was founded in 2008 by merger of Friesland Foods and Campina, but roots of the cooperation going back to 1879. Received royal status in 2009 (Leeuwarder Courant, 2009). Active in diary. Became big through mergers and acquisitions. FrieslandCampina has branch offices in 38 countries and employs 23,877 people. Their products find their way to more than 100 countries. (FrieslandCampina, 2021) The headquarters is in Amersfoort, Netherlands. With 17000 members they are one of the largest diary cooperatives worldwide. (FrieslandCampina, 2021, p. 30) The annual revenu of FrieslandCampina was 11,1 billion euro’s in 2020, of which 79 million was profit. The company result was 268 million, or 2,4% of the net revenu (FrieslandCampina, 2021, p. 8). FrieslandCampina is the world 7th largest diary company and therefore undoubtedly a key player in its industry (Rabobank, 2020) It is the only Dutch player in the list of the largest twenty diary companies in the world, as composed by Rabobank. The balance sheet value of FrieslandCampina was 8716 million in 2020 (FrieslandCampina, 2021, p. 96).

Company Structure

Board of Directors

FrieslandCampina’s chief executive officer (CEO) since 2018 is Hein Schumacher, the chief financial officer (CFO) is Hans Janssen, The chief people officer (CPO) is Geraldine Fraser and the president is Roel van Neerbos (FrieslandCampina, 2021). Before 2020, the executive board existed of two members (CEO Hein Schumacher and Jaska de Bakker, who’s no longer working for FrieslandCampina). Together they earned 1,4 million euro’s (FrieslandCampina, 2021, p. 143). The supervisory board exists of the full board of the Zuivelcoöperatie FrieslandCampina U.A. as well as four external members. Their names are Sybren Attema, Sandra Addink-Berendsen, Heiko Schipper, Angelique Huijben-Pijnenburg, Hans Stöcker, Angelien Kemna, René Hooft Graafland, Elze Jellema, Hans Hettinga, Cor Hoogeveen, Wout Dekker and Nils den Besten (FrieslandCampina, 2021).

Accountant

The external accountant of FrieslandCampina is PriceWaterhouseCoopers (FrieslandCampina, 2021, p. 193).

Operations

FrieslandCampina is 100% owned by Zuivelcoöperatie FrieslandCampina U.A., with 16,995 members, of which 11,100 dairy farmers in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany (FrieslandCampina, 2020). They are one of the world’s largest dairy cooperatives. (FrieslandCampina, 2021) FrieslandCampina employs a two-tier structure, containing an executive board and a council of commissioners (FrieslandCampina, 2021, p. 75).

FrieslandCampina is divided into four business groups, all with their own specific focus and expertise. FrieslandCampina Consumer Diary supplies consumers and professionals directly with all kinds of diary. FrieslandCampina Specialised Nutrition supplies specific groups of consumers, like young children or professional sporters. FrieslandCampina Ingredients supplies ingredients as innovative partner in healthy or functional foodsolutions. FrieslandCampina Dairy Essentials produces and sells cheeses, butter and milk powder for professional and industrial clients (FrieslandCampina, 2021, p. 4).

Paris Agreement to Today

FrieslandCampina has developed a tool to measure emissions per member farm, which can help reduce these emissions. Since 2019, for all member farms emissions are being calculated seperately (FrieslandCampina, 2021). This data has not yet been publicly shared and therefore comparisons on farm level cannot be made.

Current Policies and Emissions

In 2020, FrieslandCampina’s greenhouse gas emissions during production and transport were 720 kton CO2-eq. The greenhouse gas emissions on member diary farms counted up to 12319 kton CO2-eq. (FrieslandCampina, 2021). These numbers exclude the purchase of CO2 emission rights of 1.198 kton (2019), 1.154 kton (2020) (FrieslandCampina, 2021, p. 8). In 2019, total emissions were 11,96 mton CO2-eq (FrieslandCampina, 2021). In an investigation commissioned by Milieudefensie, Houkema Advies Duurzaam Voedsel concluded FrieslandCampina emitted 17,4 mton CO2-eq. in 2019. Due to lack of insight into the calculations of FrieslandCampina, an explanation of the difference is not given (Houkema Advies Duurzaam Voedsel, 2021).

Although products of FrieslandCampina are sold in over 100 countries worlwide (FrieslandCampina, 2021), all of the member diary farms are located in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany (FrieslandCampina, 2021). In the Netherlands, over 75 percent of all dairy farmers are members of FrieslandCampina (FrieslandCampina, 2021). Nearly 95 percent of all emissions by FrieslandCampina occur in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany (12319 mton out of 13039 mton CO2-eq.).

Climate Plans

FrieslandCampina strived to grow its company in a climate-neutral way. This long-term climate-neutral growth objective has been realised according tot heir own rapportations: greenhouse gas emissions in the period 2010-2020 decreased from 13,108 kt to 13,039 kt, while production volume increased by 13.6 percent (FrieslandCampina, 2021, p. 23).

FrieslandCampina has sustainability targets, but there are no targets on emission numbers besides the long-term targets which are set out in law. One of the sustainability targets is maximizing income for member farmers, which coincides with the interest of the company owners, which are the member farmers. Other targets are making processes circular and feeding a growing world population. In other words, increase output and reduce production costs (FrieslandCampina, 2021).

By 2050, FrieslandCampina aims to be producing (net) climate-neutral dairy and, by 2030, it intends to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by more than one-third (compared to 2015) in line with the Paris Climate Agreement and Green Deal climate targets (FrieslandCampina, 2021, p. 7). How these targets will be met in not specified. FrieslandCampina mentions net climate-neutrality, leaving the option open to compensate emissions instead of reducing them. FrieslandCampina takes the emissions of 2015 as basepoint, instead of the 1990 emissions. The 1990 emissions are the basepoint in the climate accord of Paris.

FrieslandCampina claims to have reduced greenhouse gasses emissions with 20% between 1990 and 2020 (FrieslandCampina, 2021). Based on the FrieslandCampina data, below a table with the prognosis of emissions is given. Whether the targets of the climateaccord of Paris are met depends on the progress that’s been made between 1990 and 2015.

Prognosis emission reduction FrieslandCampina based in own targets. 1990: 15,647Mton (100%) 2010: 13,108 Mton (FrieslandCampina, 2021, p. 23) (84%) 2020: 13,039Mton (FrieslandCampina, 2021, p. 23) (80%) 2030: 8,606 Mton (55%) In 2030 FrieslandCampina would emit 55% of the number emitted in 1990, meaning a 45% reduction of CO2-eq. emissions.

Conclusion

FrieslandCampina has set emission reduction targets for 2030 and 2050, as mandated by law. The way in which these targets will be met is not specified. FrieslandCampina wants its production to grow in accordance with the growth of the demand for dairy worldwide (FrieslandCampina, 2021, p. 28). This expected growth is 2 percent per year and is therefore higher than the production growth in the period 2010-2020, which was 13,6 percent (FrieslandCampina, 2021, p. 23). In the period 2010-2020 emissions dropped by less than 1 percent. FrieslandCampina strives to lower emissions from 2015 to 2030 by more than 33 percent (FrieslandCampina, 2021, p. 7).

FrieslandCampina is going through difficult times in terms of profit and member satisfaction. More than 95 percent of the emissions of FrieslandCampina take place in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany while over 70 percent (bron) of the products is exported. The current business model of FrieslandCampina prevents third world countries from properly developing their own markets. Due to its expansion thrift, FrieslandCampina has hardly cut down on emission in previous years. With its expected growth numbers, their emission reduction targets for 2030 are hardly realistic. Especially when comparing the targets to the realised numbers of the last decade.

Bedrijfsspecifieke Passage in 'de brief'

U heeft uw duurzaamheidsbeleid vastgelegd in het jaarverslag over 2020, het beleidsstuk Nourishing a Better Planet en het gedeelte sustainability op uw website.

Wij constateren dat uw ambitie is om klimaatneutraal te groeien, per 2030 uw broeikasgasemmissies met meer dan een derde terug te dringen ten opzichte van 2015 en per 2050 netto-klimaatneutraal te produceren.

In de jaren tussen 2010 en 2020 is uw uitstoot met minder dan 1% gedaald. Tussen 2015 en 2030 claimt u een uitstootreductie te behalen van 33%. Een onderbouwing hoe deze doelstellingen gehaald gaan worden ontbreekt. Wij constateren dat de doelen tekort schieten en missen een geloofwaardig plan om de doelen te halen. Daarmee blijft uw beleid niet binnen het anderhalve graden scenario.

Uw ambities zijn een stap in de goede richting, maar de onderbouwing van uw plannen ontbreekt. Dit is een grote tekortkoming en maakt de ambities niet geloofwaardig.

Door de ontbrekende onderbouwing zijn de plannen gebrekkig en niet haalbaar. Door het onvoldoende terugdringen van broeikasgasemissies draagt uw bedrijf bij aan gevaarlijke klimaatverandering en loopt u het materiële risico om mensenrechtenschendingen te veroorzaken.