Mondelēz 2024 Snacking Made Right Report: Biodiversity & Ecosystems

As a food company, our value chain is highly dependent on nature and the services it provides and is therefore at risk due to nature loss. We believe it is important to help protect the ecosystems where this value originates, including biodiversity, water resources, and the long-term resilience of our ingredient supply chains.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Approximately 100% Wheat volume needed for Europe business biscuits production grown under Harmony charter⁽¹⁰⁾
• Approximately 100% Palm Oil volume Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certified⁽⁷⁾

STRATEGIC APPROACH

A more sustainable supply of key raw materials such as cocoa, wheat, dairy, and palm oil is critical to the continued growth and success of our business, to the resilience and prosperity of the communities producing these raw materials, and to the protection of the landscapes the ingredients are grown in. Protecting biodiversity is key to help ensure resilience of farm ecosystems.

STEPPING UP WITH SUSTAINABLE SOURCING

One key step to support our journey of helping protect biodiversity and ecosystems includes the shift towards deforestation free sourcing across our primary commodities by 2025.

Read more about our deforestation position on our website

Further, building on learnings we gained through our sourcing programs, we are in the process of reviewing our approach to assessing nature related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities along our value chain in alignment with evolving standards and regulations.

We partnered with a third-party expert in 2024 to understand how our value chain depends upon and impacts nature and to identify nature-related risks and opportunities across our global operations and upstream supply chain.

Leveraging guidance of emerging standards and frameworks, such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, our partner is conducting an enterprise nature risk assessment inclusive of our direct operations and upstream supply chain. We anticipate that we can use the findings of this assessment to inform our signature programs and take appropriate actions to help address climate change, biodiversity, and water as part of our enduring ambition to make snacking more sustainable.

COCOA

As part of the Cocoa Life program’s efforts to address cocoarelated deforestation and help reach our carbon goals, we run cocoa agroforestry projects that have the potential to provide a wide range of environmental, social and economic ecosystem services including soil conservation and biodiversity preservation. Integrating varied tree species in cocoa agroforestry can help reduce the effects of monoculture cocoa, which has been seen to deplete biodiversity. Native shade tree species are important for local wildlife conservation by providing habitats and increasing their chances of survival. As planted shade trees are deep rooted, their root systems can help with reducing soil erosion, maintaining soil health and supporting a diverse array of plants and microorganisms.

WHEAT

Across Europe and North America, we are working with wheat farmers and suppliers to provide data, tools and training to help implement advanced agronomy and regenerative agriculture practices in the field.

Through the Harmony Wheat program, we help to mitigate climate change and reversing biodiversity losses, while supporting our partner farmers and evolving our charter to strengthen the focus on regenerative agriculture.

PALM OIL

When produced and sourced responsibly, we believe palm oil has the potential to benefit people and nature, thanks to its high efficiency and contribution to socioeconomic progress in the rural locations where it is grown. Our POAP sets out our broad approach to realizing this potential, working with our suppliers and through industry-wide transformation. Since publishing the plan in 2014, we have worked within our supply chain, with our suppliers’ supply chains and across industry to help accelerate improvements.

ACTION PLANS AND PROGRESS

HARMONY WHEAT EUROPE

EXPANDING OUR IMPACT IN 2024 

Biodiversity & Ecosystems Since protecting local biodiversity, especially pollinators, is key to helping ensure the resilience of farm ecosystems and our food security, as part of our Harmony program we have quadrupled the surface of melliferous fallows – those planted with bee-friendly plants – over the past decade. As of 2024, this land now exceeds 59,000 hectares across Europe and is home to an estimated 24 million bees and 30 butterfly species.

ACCELERATING OUR PROGRESS WITH HARMONY AMBITION 2030 FIRST ACHIEVEMENTS

Harmony Ambition 2030 aims to accelerate the Harmony program’s progress focusing on making a lasting impact in three key areas:

1. Environment 
We are implementing a strengthened charter of farming practices that aims to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Harmony wheat fields. We also expect to take a more ambitious approach to biodiversity protection in European wheat farming by extending action from Harmony plots to whole farms, and from pollinators to overall wildlife. Harmony farmers will aim to eliminate use of the most damaging pesticides.

2. Farmers 
To support participating farmers in their transition to regenerative agriculture, we are working to provide them with a holistic package of digital and on-the-ground training through our Harmony Academy platform. We will also aim to equip farmers with digital tools to record farming practices, calculate environmental impact KPIs and improve reporting efficiency.

3. Consumers 
To help consumers engage in sustainability and biodiversity protection, in 2023 we launched our first consumer initiative to help preserve the population of wild bees and drive positive business impact for our local biscuit brands. A separate pioneering program, run by Mondelēz International’s expert research team, will also aim to show the benefits of more sustainable practices on wheat quality.

Biodiversity protection has been at the heart of Harmony since its creation. Our increased ambition under the Harmony 2030 charter means we are widening our action from individual Harmony plots to whole farms; and from pollinators to overall wildlife, for a more holistic preservation of landscape and habitat with the following goals.

Our objectives include :

• Dedicating a minimum of 3% of Harmony wheat fields to honey fallows flowers, or implementing or extending hedges, with clear guidelines in terms of length depending on the Harmony wheat surface.
• Promoting the responsible use of pesticides on wheat fields by encouraging practices that prevent crop diseases.
• Supporting the diagnosis of Ecological Focus Areas (an area of land upon which you carry out agricultural practices that are beneficial for the climate and environment) on farms and building adequate action plans to optimize biodiversity enhancement.
• Increasing awareness of our partner farmers on the criticality and benefits of High Diversity Landscape Features (HDLF) (such as hedgerows, water ponds, and biodiversity strips, that support nature and biodiversity) to their farms.

SUPPORTING FARMERS TOWARD TRANSITION TO REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE⁽³²⁾

• Harmony Academy Tours
  In 2023 and 2024, we organized four Harmony tours in France and one in Belgium. Each tour consisted of a full-day workshop, with on-field training on soil health, including soil biodiversity. The Harmony tour is part of our Harmony Academy roadmap: a key pillar of our Ambition 2030 to create a center of excellence for wheat that supports participating farmers in their transition to regenerative agriculture through resources and opportunities to foster community.
• Harmony Academy App
  In France, we launched a new mobile app in November 2023 - called Harmony Academy - to empower farmers to learn and share progresses on climate and biodiversity initiatives. We aim to support future sustainable decision making and foster community within the wheat chain. The app has been rolled out in Belgium, and will be in Central European countries in 2025.
• Harmony Data Platform
  In 2024, we initiated the development of a new tool to digitalize our reporting data system. The new Harmony data Platform propels Mondelēz towards the 2030 sustainability commitments by digitizing farmer reporting, enhancing data transparency across the value chain and strengthening supply chain resilience through targeted farmer support. With the detailed farm-level data in the Harmony Platform, we can more effectively track the overall progress of the program and focus on systematically reducing greenhouse gas emissions and advancing biodiversity and soil health.
  
  To track biodiversity efforts, the Harmony Data Platform monitors as example the amount of flower zones and hedgerow areas on farms with farmer-validated data.

INVESTING IN A PIONEERING PILOT PROJECT TO EXPAND OUR IMPACT

To keep progressing toward our Ambition 2030, and reinforce our focus to protect surrounding ecosystems, we are investing in a pioneering pilot project: in 2022, we initiated a collaboration with a start-up that developed a new technology based on Artificial Intelligence and digital technologies to precisely locate and identify weeds in every cm² of the field by drone, and then transfer that information to an application map. The aim is to significantly reduce herbicide use, by applying them only exactly where they are needed.

This technology allows us to reach several objectives:

• Increased local biodiversity.
• Reduction of the pollution of groundwater and surface waters with plant protection products.
• Cost reduction in plant protection and grain cleaning.
• Enhanced agricultural harvest quality.

As a result of using spot spray maps in 2024, 82 liters of water were saved per hectare, and chemical application was reduced by 41% on the tested fields compared to 2023 results. Following these promising results, we plan to conduct the initiative again next year, and will assess the potential to implement the project on a larger scale.

ENGAGING CONSUMERS IN CHAMPIONING MORE SUSTAINABLE WHEAT

To emphasize the importance of our Harmony program to consumers, we run TV, digital, in-store and PR campaigns that explain how we take care of wheat and help to preserve biodiversity and the environment while supporting farmers.

In order to foster our European biscuit consumer engagement toward sustainability, and more precisely Biodiversity protection, 2 years ago we started a consumer initiative called “In Harmony with bees.”

Insects play an important role in agricultural pollination: three-quarters of global food crops producing fruits or seeds for human use as food depend, at least in part, on pollinators, yet about 40% of their species – especially bees and butterflies – are threatened with extinction, mainly because of dwindling food sources and habitat destruction.⁽³³⁾

The Harmony program already addresses these pollinators’ lack of food sources through its charter and biodiversity efforts. We are now focusing on habitat loss through a consumer initiative to help protect wild bees through our local heritage brands.

We installed 79 bee hotels in 2023 and 2024 near the Harmony melliferous fallows in Spain, Italy, France, Czechia and Hungary. These bee hotels, which were handcrafted in France, have been designed specifically for wild bees, with the support of biodiversity NGO Noé. With thousands of holes made of varied materials, the bee hotels allow many potential insects to nest and reproduce.

Results from these campaigns were very promising, so we plan to produce additional bee hotels in 2025. This initiative is supported by our local heritage brands through digital, in-store and PR campaigns.

NORTH AMERICAN WHEAT

TRISCUIT SUPPORTS MONDELĒZ INTERNATIONAL’S SUSTAINABILITY AMBITIONS

Farmers of the Cooperative Elevator Co., a 120-year-old agricultural cooperative based in Michigan, grow and harvest the primary ingredient in Triscuit crackers: whole grain wheat. Today, these farmers are playing an important role in supporting Triscuit’s efforts to research and encourage the adoption of certain regenerative agricultural practices. For the past eight years, more than 100 growers have shared data about their farming practices with the Mondelēz Michigan Wheat Project. The project’s long-term aim is to improve measurement of certain environmental impacts arising from wheat farming, such as greenhouse gas emissions. In collaboration with Michigan State University and Field to Market, the project analyzes farming practices and the correlation of those practices with wheat yields. This analysis provides insight on agricultural practices which, if implemented, could support wheat yields and minimize inputs, ultimately helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

While some participating farms have already adopted certain practices (i.e. no-till or reduced tilling, cover crops, crop rotation), the project provides each farmer with individualized reports that track year-over-year data. Aggregated data for the season is shared with participating farmers during an annual post-harvest informational meeting. Attendees gain insight from both this data and from their peers as they engage with agronomists and other growers and learn about Mondelēz International’s corporate goals and sustainability agenda.

USING A SCIENCE-BASED TOOL TO TRACK PROGRESS

Since 2020, participating farmers have used Field to Market’s Fieldprint Platform, an agriculture analytical tool, with the goal of identifying opportunities to optimize their agricultural practices. The data collected over multiple years has helped to establish baselines with regards to wheat yields and farming inputs such as fertilizer, as well as environmental metrics of the wheat we source for Triscuit crackers that are captured in the Fieldprint Platform.

This collaboration has allowed us to identify a set of recommended agricultural practices that can promote regenerative agriculture.

CLIF & ORGANIC ACREAGE

Clif’s sustainable ingredient work includes expansion of organic acreage across priority crops. This work to expand organic acreage is supported by Clif’s investments in organic research at leading land grant universities, including Tuskegee University in Alabama. This work brings agricultural resilience services to the U.S. Southeast together with Dr. Kokoasse Kpomblekou Research Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences at Tuskegee University College of Agriculture, Environment & Nutrition Sciences.

PALM OIL & DEFORESTATION

DRIVING SUSTAINABILITY IN OUR SUPPLY CHAIN

~100% of Palm Oil volumes sourced by Mondelēz International have been RSPO certified since 2013. In line with our deforestation position we are in the stage of transitioning from largely RSPO credits to RSPO physical certifications.

We require our direct suppliers to report on traceability to mill and plantation. Traders and suppliers are assessed via annual supplier questionnaires. In partnership with the Control Union (CU), we have also added a layer of third-party verification of supplier-reported mill list data. We partner with a third-party expert to assess the suppliers via the POTC survey.

We are also asking suppliers to share information that monitors adoption and implementation of No-Deforestation, No-Peat and No-Exploitation (NDPE) commitments. Starting 2025, we are adopting the NDPE’s Implementation Reporting Framework (IRF) and require our suppliers to submit NDPE IRF profiles annually, which will be verified by our partner PCU moving forward unless already verified by a third-party.

When issues of potential deforestation, conversion of natural ecosystems or exploitation are raised, our robust third-party supported grievance process helps to confirm they are investigated and actioned. For significant breaches, we adopt the “suspend and engage” principle. We are collaborating with our Tier 1 suppliers to ensure action plans are met in a timely manner. Only suppliers that demonstrate alignment with our expectations are re-entered after a third-party supported process.

For further transparency, we require suppliers to share the list of mill crushers active in our shared supply chains and publish this data, following verification, in an annually updated mill list.

Our grievance tracker is linked to a satellite monitoring platform that enables us to connect received grievance cases to other deforestation activity.

DRIVING SUSTAINABILITY IN OUR SUPPLIERS’ SUPPLY CHAINS

In our initial POAP, we called on our suppliers to make efforts to end deforestation in their supply chains, beyond what they sell to us. The same principle is part of the CGF FPC’s theory of change and we continue to report on progress toward this goal through the coalition.

MORE FOREST POSITIVE LANDSCAPES

We continue to invest in transformation toward forest positive production landscapes and are finalizing work on calculating our Malaysian and Indonesian production footprint through our partnerships with Satelligence and CU and are expanding the approach to our Latin America sourcing countries following Rainforest Alliance Network (RAN) methodology. These production footprints can help inform future production landscape investments.

Land Rights

We firmly believe in Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) for expansion of industrial agriculture. We also believe in the resolution of disputes through peaceful means that promote dignity and respect the rights of Indigenous people and local communities. As laid out in our POAP, we expect our suppliers to share this commitment.

When suppliers or civil society organizations raise issues related to land rights, we follow our grievance procedure to process, manage and respond to them. We investigate and address each situation, which may include engagement with direct suppliers, time-bound action plans, suspension and engagement, or monitoring and engagement. We work on this issue with peers and retailers through the CGF Task Force on Indigenous People & Local Community, and with the broader sector through the Palm Oil Collaboration Group Social Issues Working Group.

ACCELERATING TRANSFORMATION

Looking ahead, we are focused on compliance with upcoming regulations, including the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation, enhancing third-party verification of traceability to mill, deepening our understanding of our production footprint, championing NDPE IRF as the preferred industry approach, and continuing to pursue collective action to help address systemic challenges.

Our sights are also set on collaborating with a third-party on addressing prominent grievances and accelerating resolutions in collaboration with peers and suppliers. We plan to extend Mondelēz International’s forest footprint and scale up our landscape initiatives in important palm areas based on the outcome of our forest footprint analysis.

SECTOR-WIDE COLLABORATION

Since we account for only about 0.5% of global demand for palm oil, we recognize that we alone cannot advance a more sustainable supply. We therefore participate in a number of global organizations focused on supply chain improvements, including the POCG and the RSPO. As a member of the CGF, we are part of the Palm Oil Working Group (POWG) of the FPC and we also cochair the Human Rights Coalition (HRC).

Forest Positive Coalition

As part of the FPC, we set an ambitious roadmap for more sustainable palm oil, which includes the implementation of common supplier standards and a consistent approach to deforestation monitoring and response. Through our role within the coalition’s POWG, we have worked toward aligning industry reporting methodologies, published guidance and collaborated with external stakeholders.

COLLABORATING ACROSS LANDSCAPES

As a member of the CGF FPC and Co-Chair of the Landscape Working Group, Mondelēz International continues to be committed to helping bring about large-scale change through investments in landscape programs in Indonesia and Malaysia that are centered on the production of sustainably sourced palm oil.

Mondelēz International is proud to be a long-standing member of multistakeholder platform Coalition Sustainable Livelihood (CSL) where we are actively collaborating and contributing to its mission in advancing shared goals for more sustainable production, improved livelihood, and conservation of critical natural resource in North Sumatra and Aceh, Indonesia. Since joining the CSL as a Founder and Steering Committee member in 2018, we have been involved in shaping the platform’s strategic direction, focusing on key initiatives, and sharing valuable learnings. In 2023, Mondelēz International shared best practices and learnings from our sustainability initiative with CSL members and others stakeholders in CSL knowledge sharing, local dialogue events and workshops.

Our efforts to help protect the Leuser Ecosystem in North Sumatra and investing in the landscape initiative Langkat North Sumatra in partnership with IDH (Sustainable Trade Initiative) and PT Smart Tbk (a subsidiary of Golden Agri Resources, or GAR) continued in 2024.

The landscape initiative has made significant progress on the ground. The project has effectively mapped and assessed the conservation value of multiple mills and their supply chains, encompassing smallholder farms. Extensive training has been provided to smallholders on best practices, governance, and sustainability standards. These efforts have resulted in a significant number of smallholders becoming ready for RSPO ISH certification audits, with some already achieving certification. Furthermore, the initiative has facilitated the submission of numerous applications for local smallholder cultivation registration certificates (called Surat Tanda Daftar Budidaya, or STDB) and engaged with mills on NDPE plan establishment. Investments in training have also been made, demonstrating a strong commitment to fostering sustainability throughout the supply chain.

Building on the experience from the ongoing implementation in Langkat District, we are currently planning to expand the landscape initiative to other districts in Aceh Province, such as Langkat, Aceh Utara, Aceh Singkil and Subulussalam. The project will aim to support the strengthening of sustainable palm oil governance in the respective areas, which are part of the palm oil sourcing landscape that also host the biodiversity rich Leuser Ecosystem.

Beyond the initiative, as the study highlighted the potential of cocoa agroforestry as one sustainable solution for smallholder palm in Aceh, Mondelēz International is bringing the Cocoa Life program into Aceh Tenggara. The approach offers a more diverse and resilient model for land use, generating environmental benefit through landscape restoration and providing stable additional income source for farmers.

GOALS AND METRICS

HARMONY WHEAT GOAL 
100% wheat volume needed for Europe business biscuits production grown under the Harmony charter by 2022.

~24 BEES POPULATION (MM)

~30 BUTTERFLY SPECIES OBSERVED (#)

(Biodiversity Observed in Harmony Fallows estimated at Harvest 2024.)

PALM OIL GOAL 
MAINTAIN 100% Palm Oil volume Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certified

View the full 2024 Snacking Made Right Report. 

^{(7) This data is based on supplier provided information and utilizes estimation. It excludes palm oil purchased in the form of a component of other material and palm oil procured by third-party external manufacturers and co-packers for use in manufacturing Mondelēz International finished goods.} 

^{(10) Goal and reported information for wheat volume sourced under Harmony is based on a controlled blending approach, which means that we aim to have a minimum of 70% of Harmony wheat in our products under our biscuit brands in Europe. For the remaining 30%, equivalent volumes for that portion are grown under the Harmony program but may not be purchased by Mondelēz International.}

^{(32) Regenerative Agriculture is a holistic approach to farming which aims to produce high-quality crops while also restoring the natural rhythm of our surrounding ecosystem.}

^{(33) Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Why bees matter, May 2018.}

^{(34) This data is based on supplier provided information. It excludes palm oil purchased in the form of a component of other material and palm oil procured by third-party external manufacturers & co-packers for use in manufacturing Mondelēz International finished goods.}