Mondelēz International to invest $600m to scale cocoa sustainability program
Introduced in 2012, the Cocoa Life program was created to secure a more sustainable cocoa supply and establish an integrated approach to tackle the root causes of systemic challenges in the cocoa industry around farm productivity, farmer livelihoods, community development, and deforestation.
Ten years later, the program has reached a critical scale, working with over 200,000 farmers who have seen their net income increase by roughly 15% in Ghana and 33% in Cote d'Ivoire.
Cocoa yields are also higher growing by double digits over the past 10 years, according to Mondelēz.
The new $600m funding will be used to continue to increase the scale of the program and to increase the number of farming households the company works with to 300,000 by 2030 while providing farmers with a living income, enhancing child protection systems, and providing access to quality education in Cocoa Life communities.
“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,” said Dirk Van de Put, Chairman & CEO, Mondelēz International.
Chocolate sales accounted for approximately 32% of total company revenue with $9.27bn in sales for the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2021.
“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.”
