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On the occasion of the publication of the Lactalis Group’s 2025 CSR Report, Lactalis Ingredients reaffirms its commitment to a sustainable future. Driven by the Group’s new CSR programme “Our Sustainable Way to Go”, our division is accelerating its local initiatives to combine dairy expertise, superior quality and resource preservation.

As a global expert in dairy processing and valorisation, Lactalis Ingredients has set itself the mission of addressing the challenges of healthy, safe and accessible nutrition for all. This ambition is now reflected in concrete actions, aligned with the Lactalis Group’s new CSR strategy, entitled “Our Sustainable Way to Go”.

 

2025: A Renewed Momentum — “Our Sustainable Way to Go”

Our CSR ambition is to act with responsibility to nurture the future. We act to preserve nature and resources, and to strengthen the benefits of dairy products, while empowering our employees, partners and communities. We build our commitment on our international reach and our local roots. Together, in every country where we operate, we work to ensure the long-term sustainability of our activities and the well-being of future generations.

1. Preserve nature and resources
2. Leverage the goodness of dairy products
3. Empower our employees, partners and communities

Our CSR program is conceived as a collective action plan for the benefit of our entire ecosystem. It aims to provide our teams with a safe and stimulating working environment, to support our partners and farmers towards more sustainable practices, and to offer our clients a reliable CSR partnership — enabling consumers to access responsible products that are aligned with their values.

 

Key Group Results in 2025

The 2025 CSR Report highlights significant progress across the Lactalis Group on these three pillars:

• Climate & Resources: The Group is actively pursuing its decarbonisation trajectory (validated by the Science Based Targets initiative — SBTi), recording a -20.5% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (Scopes 1 & 2) compared to 2019, moving closer to its interim target of -25% by 2025. Regarding upstream dairy, 2025 performance remains positive compared to 2021 (-3.3%), but shows a decline versus 2024. This evolution is primarily driven by structural effects, including higher collected milk volumes in certain countries where we operate.
• Circular Economy: The share of recycled materials in our packaging has now reached 32.9% (exceeding the >30% target), while 82.2% of our packaging is now recyclable by design.
• Animal Welfare: Animal welfare assessments have progressed significantly, now covering 89.7% of milk volumes collected across the 11 pilot countries.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: The Group continues to promote professional equity, with 28.3% of women in leadership positions, on track towards the balance targeted by 2033.

 

 

Lactalis Ingredients: Measurable Local CSR Performance

At Lactalis Ingredients, we translate these orientations into concrete results across our industrial sites, driven by the daily commitment of our teams.

1. Climate: A Major Industrial Decarbonisation

Between 2019 and 2025, we have reduced our absolute greenhouse gas emissions (Scopes 1 & 2) by -26.9%. The intensity of our direct emissions has been brought down to 0.36 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne roduced (compared to 0.53 in 2019).

This achievement is built on major energy transition projects:

• The Mayenne biomass boiler: Commissioned at the end of 2024, it uses wood sourced within a local supply radius of less than 100 km around the plant. This major project is expected to nearly halve the site’s carbon intensity, projected at 0.25 t/T in 2025 (compared to 0.41 previously).
• Certifications: 100% of our European plants are certified ISO 14001, ensuring a rigorous environmental management system.

2. Water Stewardship

Sustainable water management is an absolute priority for our drying and processing sites. In 2025, our water consumption intensity stands at 10.6 m³ per tonne produced (down from 11.16 m³ in 2019). To go further, we are deploying a structured roadmap built around three complementary pillars:

• REDUCE (Optimise processes and withdrawals): We systematically map our most water-intensive operations to focus our efforts. This translates into optimising our Cleaning-in-Place (CIP) cycles — for example through conductivity monitoring to reduce unnecessary rinsing phases — and installing next-generation washing technologies that are more water-efficient without compromising hygiene standards.
• RECYCLING (Capture water from milk): Rather than discharging the water extracted from milk during evaporation or membrane concentration, we recover it. This purified “process water” is reused internally for boiler cooling, membrane washing and lactose crystal rinsing, thereby reducing our reliance on public water network or groundwater supplies.
• REUSE (Valorise treated wastewater): In our on-site treatment plants, industrial effluents are processed to strict standards. During periods of high water stress, this reused water supplies the air-cooling towers at certain plants, strengthening our resilience in the face of climate change.

In addition, the efficiency of our wastewater treatment plants has improved, with a Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) load reduced to 0.28 kg per tonne produced (compared to 0.43 in 2019).

 

 

3. Food Quality, Safety & Nutrition

In line with our signature “Adding expertise, delivering quality”, we apply rigorous food safety and quality standards across our entire ingredients portfolio:

• FSSC 22000: In 2025, 100% of our food ingredient plants hold FSSC 22000 international food safety certification.
• Nutrition: We continue the systematic analysis of the nutritional profile of our products. In 2025, 54% of our references were subject to in-depth analyses (four times per year, in both summer and winter conditions), and 90% of our product profiles were analysed at least once.

4. Health & Safety: A Strengthened Culture of Prevention

Protecting and preserving the health of our employees is at the heart of our operational priorities:

• Reduction in accident frequency: The workplace accident frequency rate (FR2) has recorded a consistent decline, standing at 21.0 in 2025 (compared to 35.7 in 2019 and 27.5 in 2024). This positive trend is notably driven by improved results across 8 of our industrial sites and a reduction in slip-and-fall accidents.
• Active prevention: Our on-the-ground safety culture was demonstrated through the completion of 1,770 Safety Observation Visits (SOV) in 2025, representing a ratio of 2.18 SOVs per employee — exceeding our internal target of 2.0.

5. Talent Development & Local Commitment

Because sustainable performance is, above all, a human endeavour, Lactalis Ingredients invests in knowledge transfer and employability:

• Professional integration: In 2025, our conversion rate for apprenticeship and internship contracts into permanent employment stands at 46%, close to our 50% target for 2026.
• Internal trainer community: We rely on a solid network of 60 internal trainers to support the skills development of our employees.

 

Through the deployment of the “Our Sustainable Way to Go” strategy, Lactalis Ingredients demonstrates that technical expertise and the pursuit of superior quality go hand in hand with environmental and social responsibility. By building more sustainable supply chains, we strengthen the reliable and lasting relationship of trust that connects us with our clients around the world.

📥 The Lactalis Group’s 2025 CSR Report is now available for download to discover the full scope of our commitments : clic here

 

 

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