Danone has been accused of hypocrisy after pushing on with plans to fell a woodland in North Yorkshire, despite pledging to end deforestation in its supply chain after 2020.
The bottled water and dairy giant plans to remove around 1,000 trees from Rotary Wood and the Pinewoods area in Harrogate in order to expand its Harrogate Spring Water bottling plant. The woodland was planted by local schoolchildren around 20 years ago.
Following a long-running dispute, final planning decision is due to be taken by the local council on Friday (17 April). The proposals are expected to be approved by North Yorkshire Council planning officers.
But local residents and environmental activists have decried what they have described as “textbook local deforestation”, arguing Danone’s plan to replace the felled trees with new saplings amounts to greenwashing.
The French-headquartered food & drink business has committed to planting three replacement saplings for every tree felled and providing community access to a two-acre privately owned woodland for 30 years.
However, critics have claimed the planting of new saplings cannot replace the carbon and biodiversity value provided by mature woodland, and that the Danone-owned forest is not a like-for-like replacement for the accessible community woodland being lost.
More than 1,300 formal objections have been submitted by residents, conservation organisations and individuals involved in the original planting. Local MPs and celebrities including Joanna Lumley and Judi Dench have also voiced objections to the proposals.
They argue Danone is in violation of its own Forest Policy, which pledged to ban deforestation after 31 December 2020 and committed the supplier to “deforestation‑ and conversion‑free” supply chains and a “forest‑positive” future.
“You cannot call yourself ‘forest positive’ while cutting down a thriving community woodland planted by children,” environmentalist and author Jonathon Porritt said. “Rotary Wood is precisely the kind of living carbon store and biodiversity refuge we need to protect. If Danone wants credibility on climate and nature, the simplest, most powerful step it can take is to leave these trees standing.”
Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, said: “Over 1,300 local people have objected to this plan. I’ve raised it in Parliament and asked the secretary of state to intervene. Yet Danone presses ahead, dismissing our community’s voice. This isn’t just about trees, it’s about whether a multinational corporation respects the democracy and the environment of the town it calls home.”
Joanna Lumley added: “To cut down so many trees planted by children to develop a bottling plant is dreadful in so many ways. Other locations could, and should, be considered if additional capacity is truly needed: this 20-year-old forest carrying the hopes of the next generation cannot be replaced.
“Only a swift u-turn can save the face of a company whose green credentials are already looking pretty suspect.”
Danone was approached by The Grocer for comment.
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