Mondel?z International to invest $1 billion in Cocoa Life programme
Mondel?z International yesterday announced the next phase of its Cocoa Life programme, backed by an additional $600 million through 2030, for a total $1 billion investment since the start of the programme, with the goal to increase cocoa volume at scale and work with about 300,000 farmers in the programme by 2030.
With this investment, Mondel?z International aims to catalyze ground-breaking sector collaboration to help address systemic environmental and human rights challenges and improve cocoa farmer livelihoods.
Mondel?z International introduced Cocoa Life in 2012 to secure supply of more sustainable cocoa and establish an integrated approach striving to tackle the root causes of systemic issues in cocoa including farm productivity, farmer livelihoods, community development, and helping combat child labour and deforestation, together in one programme.
Ten years on, the programme has reached critical scale with over 200,000 farmers in the programme with $400 million invested by the end of 2022.
Key lessons from the past 10 years will allow Mondelez International to accelerate the Cocoa Life programme and go further, faster, as more work remains to be done.
By 2030, Cocoa Life aims to increase the number of farming households reaching a living income, enhance child protection systems and access to quality education in Cocoa Life communities, and seek no deforestation on Cocoa Life farms globally.
Dirk Van de Put, Chairman & CEO of Mondel?z International said “As one of the world 's leading snacking companies, it is a priority to continue making our most important ingredients, such as cocoa, right, and Cocoa Life sits at the heart of this strategy.
“While we are excited about the promise of our investments, we are calling for more sector-wide effort and actions to drive greater impact, including new private-public partnerships, as we aim to catalyze ground-breaking collaboration to help move cocoa forward together. ”
Christine Montenegro McGrath, senior Vice President and chief impact and sustainability officer, said “As we celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Cocoa Life, we are excited to announce the next phase, ” said.
“While progress and impact have been made, cocoa farmers and their communities are still facing big challenges. We are passionate about helping to drive lasting change across the whole cocoa sector and are doubling down on Cocoa Life 's integrated approach because we know only a sector-wide long-term strategy, supported by action by all industry players, producing and consuming governments, and civil society will lead to lasting impact. ”
With sustainability now one of the four pillars of the company 's long-term growth strategy - aiming to create long-term value for the business and its stakeholders along the value chain - this investment builds on key lessons learned through the Cocoa Life 's integrated approach and 10 years of measurable impact results while aiming to accelerate impact at scale in cocoa.