Mondelēz invests additional $600m in Cocoa Life programme

Mondelēz International has entered the next phase of its Cocoa Life programme, backed by an additional $600 million through to 2030. 

A total of $1 billion has been invested in the programme since its inception in 2012. The programme’s main objective is to increase cocoa volume at scale and support around 300,000 farmers by 2030. 

With this investment, Mondelēz hopes to “catalyse ground-breaking sector collaboration” to help address environmental and social challenges, and improve the lives of farmers and their communities.  

Dirk Van de Put, chairman and CEO of Mondelēz, 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”.

He continued: “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 catalyse ground-breaking collaboration to help move cocoa forward together”. 

A decade on, the programme has reached “critical scale” with over 200,000 farmers now signed up and $400 million invested by the end of 2022. Results of the programme so far include: an increase in farmers’ revenue (~15% in Ghana and ~33% in Cote d’Ivoire); high cocoa yields, with double-digit percentage increases in farmers earning a living income; 61% of Cocoa Life communities in West Africa covered with Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation Systems; and more. 

Christine Montenegro McGrath, SVP and chief impact and sustainability officer at Mondelēz, commented: “As we celebrate the ten-year anniversary of Cocoa Life, we are excited to announce the next phase. While progress and impact have been made, cocoa farmers and their communities are still facing big challenges.”

She added: “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”.