Continued to scale human rights due diligence across global operations and supply chains, with ~96% of owned plants and ~98% of prioritized supplier sites audited in the last three years.1
Trained more than 50,000 colleagues since launching Human Rights Policy in 2021.
Advanced efforts to help prevent child labor and support community resilience, expanding Child Labor Monitoring & Remediation Systems to cover ~89% of Cocoa Life communities in West Africa by the end of 2024.
CHICAGO, June 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mondelēz International, Inc. (Nasdaq: MDLZ) today released its 2024 Human Rights Due Diligence and Modern Slavery Report, outlining the company’s progress in helping to prevent, identify, and address potential human rights and modern slavery risks across its operations and value chain.
“Doing what’s right is ingrained in our Snacking Made Right mission. We strive to embed human rights due diligence into how we do business every day,” said Chris McGrath, Chief Impact & Sustainability Officer, Mondelēz International. “The scale of challenges needs increased focus and meaningful partnerships – and we continue to evolve and make progress on both fronts. We have strong execution plans that we believe will continue to support our growth around the world, underpinned by our focus on promoting a culture where everyone is treated with care and integrity.”
Scaling and Enhancing Due Diligence across the Value Chain Beyond information included in the 2024 Report released today, Mondelēz International continues to strengthen its human rights due diligence (HRDD) across both its own operations and supplier network:
~96% of owned manufacturing sites and ~98% of prioritized suppliers have completed third-party SMETA audits in the past 3 years.
HRDD coverage has been expanded to increase coverage of suppliers’ manufacturing and logistic sites handling the company’s finished products.
Since launching its dedicated Human Rights Policy in 2021, the company has trained more than ~50,000 colleagues on human rights issues, including ~7,000 in manufacturing and logistics, and ~3,000 in key stewardship roles.
As part of its focus on prioritized ingredients, Mondelēz International continued scaling its signature cocoa sustainability program Cocoa Life in 2024:
Partnering with around 208,000 farmers and backed by a $1 billion investment from 2012 through 2030.
As of year-end 2024, approximately 89% of Cocoa Life communities in West Africa – representing approximately 2,480 communities – are covered by Child Labor Monitoring & Remediation System (CLMRS).
The company aims to cover all West African Cocoa Life communities with a CLMRS by the end of 2025 and has conducted more than 240,000 interviews to help prevent child labor.
Cocoa Life’s integrated approach focused on developing ways to help make cocoa farming more profitable, help protect and restore forests and help lift local cocoa communities. This includes efforts focused on women’s empowerment, income diversification, and entrepreneurship through Village Savings and Loan Associations and partnerships with CARE International.
Sector Collaboration to Accelerate Impact Mondelēz International believes addressing systemic human rights issues in ingredient supply chains needs collaboration between governments, industry, and civil society. To help address child labor in the West African Cocoa supply chain, in 2024, the company deepened its support for sector-wide systemic solutions, through its continued support and investment of ~$3million from 2022 to 2026 in the Child Learning and Education Facility (CLEF), which aims to reach over 4 million children by transforming rural education in Cote d’Ivoire.
Building on the success of the CLEF initiative, Mondelēz International is supporting the development of a new public-private partnership, the System Change Architecture for Learning Excellence (SCALE) initiative to help improve the quality of education in Ghana with an investment of ~$1million over the next four years.
SCALE is innovating how national-level financing can be unlocked.
To date, three philanthropic partners and 10 cocoa and chocolate companies have joined forces to support SCALE — a collaborative co-funding mechanism that will inject further funds into the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP), a five-year governmental initiative seeking to improve the quality of education in low-performing basic education (ages 4-15) schools and strengthen the education sector across Ghana. It focuses on strengthening teaching capacity, accountability and leadership systems, access to high-quality school resources, and better operational management.
It is the first time that private and philanthropic organizations have raised enough finance to trigger the Global Partnership for Education’s (GPE) Multiplier Grant in Ghana.
By pooling US$40 million, SCALE partners were able to unlock an additional US$40 million from GPE to support GALOP.
Beyond cocoa, the company’s multiple collaborations with industry coalitions help support the company’s progress and human rights efforts. These include:
Co-chairing the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Human Rights Coalition, to help shape industry leading practices. This year, Mondelēz supported the development of the Best Practice Note on Human Rights Defenders which aims to inspire businesses in helping to better protect human rights defenders.
Supporting World Cocoa Foundation’s (WCF) vision to catalyze a thriving and equitable cocoa sector.
Serving as a member of the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) Board of Directors to support sector-wide progress in addressing child labor in West African cocoa.
Joining the Coalition for Responsible Sugarcane India (CRSI) to help strengthen human rights practices in India’s sugarcane sector.
Co-chairing the CAOBISCO’s partnership with the International Labor Organization to help combat child labor in seasonal harvesting of hazelnuts in Turkey.
Partnering with WageMap, a new initiative to drive alignment across living wage methodologies and frameworks.
Our Human Rights Approach At Mondelēz International, we are committed to making our snacks the right way, including respecting the human rights of people in our value chain. As part of our business practices, we use the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) as a guide to prevent and mitigate associated risks, supporting our commitment to fostering a safe, healthy and sustainable working environment, as detailed in our Human Rights Policy.
About Mondelēz International Mondelēz International, Inc. (Nasdaq: MDLZ) empowers people to snack right in over 150 countries around the world. With 2024 net revenues of approximately $36.4 billion, MDLZ is leading the future of snacking with iconic global and local brands such as Oreo, Ritz, LU, Clif Bar and Tate's Bake Shop biscuits and baked snacks, as well as Cadbury Dairy Milk, Milka and Toblerone chocolate. Mondelēz International is a proud member of the Dow Jones Best-in-Class North America and World Indices, formerly Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. Visit www.mondelezinternational.com or follow the company on X at x.com/MDLZ.
1We aim to regularly and transparently report our progress. You can find additional details on Mondelēz International’s ESG goals and reported information within the About This Report section of our2024 Snacking Made Right Report.
