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Mondelz International announced that it will invest an additional $600 million by 2030 in its global cocoa sustainability program, Cocoa Life, bringing its total investment in the initiative to $1 billion, with the goal of addressing systemic environmental and human rights challenges and enhancing cocoa farmers' livelihoods.
Mondelz, which owns chocolate brands such as Cadbury and Toblerone, obtains cocoa from Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Indonesia, Dominican Republic, India, and Brazil, with farmers in many of these regions facing issues such as climate change, gender inequality, poverty, and child labor.
Cocoa Life was founded in 2012 to address these systemic issues and work with farmers to improve agricultural production, farmer livelihoods, community development, and the fight against child labor and deforestation.
In 2021, 75% of Mondelz's cocoa was sourced from Cocoa Life, and the initiative reached 209,000 growers. By 2025, the company aims to obtain all of its cocoa through the program.
The Executive Vice President and Chief Impact and Sustainability Officer for Mondelz, Christine Montenegro McGrath, said:
"As we commemorate the 10-year anniversary of Cocoa Life, we are thrilled to reveal the next phase. Despite progress and impact, cocoa producers and their communities continue to face significant obstacles.
With the increased investment, Mondelz plans to work with around 300,000 farmers in the program by 2030 to help agricultural households achieve a sustainable income, improve child protection systems and access to excellent education, and eliminate deforestation on Cocoa Life fields worldwide.
Initiatives outlined by the company under the program included creating a mechanism that supports a fair price for farmers, collaborating with women's groups to develop additional business opportunities, expanding Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation Systems, engaging in public-private partnerships aimed at enhancing the quality of education, as well as enhancing deforestation monitoring systems, promoting agroforestry, and making forest conservation more attractive.
Dirk Van de Put, chairman and chief executive officer of Mondelz
"As one of the world's leading snacking brands, it is imperative that we continue to produce our most vital ingredients, such as cocoa, correctly, and Cocoa Life is at the center of this approach. While we are pleased about the potential of our investments, we are advocating for additional sector-wide efforts and initiatives to create a more significant impact, including new private-public collaborations. Our goal is to ignite ground-breaking partnerships to help cocoa advance collectively.
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