Sustainability

Mondelēz confirms progress in meeting ESG goals

By Anthony Myers

- Last updated on GMT

Mondelēz  says its on track to use 5% recycled plastic content by 2025. Pic: Mondelēz International
Mondelēz says its on track to use 5% recycled plastic content by 2025. Pic: Mondelēz International

Related tags Mondelez International

The Oreo and Cadbury owner has published its 2021 Snacking Made Right Report, which highlights progress against its short- and long-term ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) goals.

The company said its ESG strategy and goals prioritise delivering lasting change at scale through ‘innovative and holistic approaches, collaboration for sector-wide transformation and adoption of measurable solutions’.

ESG remains a long-term value driver at Mondelēz and is core to the company’s purpose, it said in a statement to the media: ‘The 2021 Snacking Made Right Report demonstrates measurable progress against key areas of focus including more sustainable ingredient sourcing; improved packaging by making our 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 wellbeing’.

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​,” said Dirk Van de Put, Chairman and CEO of Mondelēz International. “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​.”

Mondelēz 2021 progress against its 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 & 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 tonnes of packaging materials eliminated (baseline 2013)

Employee & Community Wellbeing

  1. 39% Women in executive leadership1; exceeding goal to double by 2024 (baseline 2018)
  2. 5% Black Management representation (U.S.)2; a 60 percent increase year-over-year
  3. 61% Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation Systems (CLMRS) in Cocoa Life communities in West Africa (+33 percentage points since 2020)
  4. 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 in the programme to support farmer livelihoods, reaching almost 210,000 cocoa farmers and, more importantly, seeing positive impact at scale​,” said Christine Montenegro McGrath, Senior Vice President and Chief Global Impact and Sustainability Officer at Mondelēz International.

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.​”

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