Mondelēz International progresses with ESG goals

Mondelēz International Inc. published its 2021 Snacking Made Right Report, demonstrating progress against its short- and long-term ESG goals.

• Confirms progress in improving community livelihoods by scaling signature sourcing programs, reducing use of virgin plastics in packaging and reducing climate impact in owned operations.
• Advances against diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) goals: exceeding women in executive leadership goal by >2X and improving U.S. Black management representation by 60% year-over-year.
• Continues to help create long-term value for business through ongoing investments in ESG and supply chain resiliency.

The 2021 Snacking Made Right Report demonstrates measurable progress against key areas of focus including more sustainable ingredient sourcing; improved packaging by making packaging designed for recyclability and removing challenging materials; increased actions to help address climate change; initiatives to advance DE&I; and support for consumer and community well-being.

“A sustainability mindset has long been integrated into our business growth strategy as we continue to create value, make our business more resilient and accelerate our ambition of building a more sustainable snacking company,” Dirk Van de Put, chairman and CEO of Mondelēz International, said in the announcement. “I am proud of the strong progress our company has made against our ambitious ESG goals, which are integral to the long-term success of our business and help us address some of the key issues facing the world at large.”

2021 progress against the company’s ESG goals include:

Sustainable ingredients

• Reaching 209,954 Cocoa Life registered farmers (exceeding the 2022 goal of 200,000 program-registered cocoa farmers).
• 75% of cocoa volume for chocolate brands sourced through Cocoa Life (+7 percentage points since 2020).
• 91% wheat volume needed for Europe business unit biscuits production grown under Harmony charter (+15 percentage points since 2020).
• 100% palm oil volume RSPO certified (since 2014) with 99% traceable to mill and 87% forest monitored.

Climate and environment

• 21% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 CO₂e emissions (baseline 2018).
• 32% total electricity used in owned operations from renewable energy (+9 percentage points since 2020).
• 100% use of electricity from renewable sources in Brazil, Peru and UK manufacturing facilities.

Packaging

• 95% packaging designed to be recyclable (+1 percentage point since 2020).
• On track to use 5% recycled plastic content by 2025 with 0.5% used in 2021 (baseline 2020).
• 72,100 metric tons of packaging materials eliminated (baseline 2013).

Employee and community well-being

• 39% women in executive leadership; exceeding goal to double by 2024 (baseline 2018).
• 5% Black management representation (U.S.); a 60% increase year-over-year.
• 61% Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation Systems (CLMRS) in Cocoa Life communities in West Africa (+33 percentage points since 2020).
• Over $50 million in cash and in-kind donations made in 2021.

Snacking mindfully

• 18% of packs feature Snack Mindfully portion icons (+4 percentage points since 2020).
• 17% snacks net revenue from portion control snacks (+1 percentage point since 2020).

“This year’s report documents important milestones marking 10 years on our sustainability journey, in which we’ve achieved scale in our signature ingredient sourcing programs Cocoa Life and Harmony Wheat. With Cocoa Life, we have built the largest cocoa sustainability program and have achieved the goal we set in 2012, investing more than $400 million USD in the program to support farmer livelihoods, reaching almost 210,000 cocoa farmers and, more importantly, seeing positive impact at scale,” Christine Montenegro McGrath, senior vice president and chief global impact and sustainability officer at Mondelēz International, said in the announcement. “The issues we are tackling are systemic, requiring supply chain and business transformation. That’s why our integrated approach is not only designed to tackle root causes, but also embedded into our business growth strategy. We are committed to measuring our impact and investing in scalable solutions and innovation so we can drive lasting change.”

Beyond progress against 2025 goals, the company continued to demonstrate an ongoing commitment to advancing its ESG agenda with more ambitious goals, investments and financing to tackle issues like climate change and packaging waste, including:

• Setting a long-term goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
• Investing in Circulate Capital Ocean Fund to support the collection of more plastic waste than the company currently produces in India and South East Asia.
• Issuing the company’s first green bond in September 2021 – at the time the largest issuance in the packaged foods and consumer goods industry.