We are seriously concerned about its ongoing lack of transparency. Mondelēz has only participated once in the Chocolate Scorecard in the past three years, leaving critical questions unanswered.
An expert analyst on Mondelez’ latest Cocoa Life and CFI report stated,
“Mondelez uses significant amounts of jargon and corporate language to bulk out their sustainability reporting. Generally, there are many standalone data points that do not provide reference to their relativity across Mondelēz’s sourcing.”
Forced labour and the worst forms of child labour continue to plague the cocoa industry in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, where 60% of the world’s cocoa is grown. Despite public commitments, many major chocolate companies—including Mondelez, makers of Cadbury, Oreo, Milka, Toblerone, and Green & Black’s—have not gone far enough to address these abuses.1
Together with our partners at Freedom United, we are committed to eliminating forced and child labour from the cocoa industry. As promotion partners in the Chocolate Scorecard and signatories of the Global Call to Action for a Just Cocoa Industry, we are calling on the world’s top chocolate companies, including Mondelez, to take concrete steps to address the gaps in protection and the underlying drivers of exploitation and forced child labour in the cocoa sector.
Here’s what an ethical and transparent cocoa supply chain looks like—and the critical gaps Mondelez must address:
Pay cocoa farmers a living income so they aren’t pushed to rely on child labour, suffer, or perpetuate exploitation.
How many farmers in Mondelez’s supply chain are earning a living income?
How many are not earning a living income, and for how many is this unknown?
What plans does Mondelez have (if any) to ensure the average farmer they are sourcing from in West Africa is receiving enough to earn a living income?
Ensure full traceability of cocoa to farmers in the Cocoa Life program.
Mondelez uses a mass balance system, which means they can claim to support certain farmers while actually sourcing cocoa from elsewhere that is cheaper—so the cocoa in their products may not come from the farmers they say they support.
How is their mass balance system structured—site, national, or global level?
Are they matching origins or supporting farmers in one country while buying cocoa from another?
What are their plans to move toward physically sourcing from Cocoa Life-supported farmers?
Which farmer groups are supported by Cocoa Life? Please disclose all tier 1 suppliers and tier 2 suppliers (farmer groups) globally.
End deforestation across all supply chains and report on progress by 2025. The economic pressures on cocoa farmers have forced them to push deeper into forests, contributing to environmental harm and the continued use of forced child labor to clear land.
What is Mondelez’ current and anticipated progress by 2025 for cocoa sourced globally to be deforestation-free?
Prevent child labour and child trafficking across all cocoa-growing communities they source from by scaling child labour monitoring and remediation systems and addressing root causes.
What percentage of farmers supplying to Mondelēz are part of the Cocoa Life program?
What volume of cocoa sourced is covered under Cocoa Life as a percentage of total volume?
What is the target date for 100% of farmers and cocoa sourced to be from Cocoa Life?
What percentage of cocoa farmers supplying to Mondelēz globally are covered by child protection and education programs?
How does Mondelez measure coverage by a child labour monitoring and remediation program? Specifically, what is the minimum engagement required to be measured as being included in the program? How many households in a community must be engaged for a community to be determined as ‘engaged’? How frequently does the engagement with the system happen?
Drastically reduce pesticide use that is poisoning communities, especially children in forced labour. Pesticides harm child labourers, surrounding communities, and critical resources like water and soil. The continued use of pesticides is poisoning children and their environments, stealing their futures and livelihoods.
What is Mondelez’ clear, time-limited plan for addressing pesticide exposure in cocoa-growing communities and farmers supplying to Mondelez?.
If Mondelez is unwilling or unable to answer these question—please tell us why not.
Chocolate should never come at the cost of exploitation.
Sign the petition now to demand Mondelēz step up its cocoa transparency and help end forced labour in the chocolate industry!