CHICAGO — Mondelez International, Inc. is empowering people to snack right by using its scale to create meaningful, lasting change through the development of resilient and sustainable ingredient supply chains, reducing environmental impact and packaging innovation, said Dirk Van de Put, chairman and chief executive officer.

Mr. Van de Put discussed Mondelez’s progress on a wide range of initiatives as part of a May 8 conference call in connection with the release of the company’s “2019 Snacking Made Right Report.” The report highlights the company’s significant progress toward achieving its 2025 sustainable and mindful snacking goals.

“Successful companies do more than focus on financial results,” Mr. Van de Put said. “They create value for the world at large and positively impact the lives of those around them. So our approach is clear. We believe that our scale is a strength that we can use to create meaningful lasting change for the better. And we are focused. We tackle the risks and opportunities that really matter to our business. By combining scale and focus like we do in cocoa, for instance, we’ve made great progress. Now more than ever, it is time for companies to do what’s right.”

Specific milestones Mondelez achieved in 2019 included:

• 63% cocoa volume for chocolate brands sourced through the company’s signature sustainable sourcing program Cocoa Life (up 20 percentage points vs 2018). The company hopes to scale Cocoa Life to source 100% cocoa volume for chocolate by 2025.
• 65% wheat for biscuit brands in Europe sustainably sourced through the company’s Harmony Wheat program. The company’s goal is to scale Harmony Wheat to source 100% wheat for biscuits in Europe by 2022.
• Maintained 100% RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil Goal) palm oil goal.
• 15% reduction in CO₂ emissions across manufacturing operations.
• 27% reduction in priority water usage in areas where water is most scarce.
• 93% of total packaging (both plastic and non-plastic) designed to be recyclable. The company hopes to have 100% of packaging designed to be recyclable and labeled with recycling information by 2025.

In addition, in 2019, Mondelez said it made progress to both align the company’s portfolio to contemporary well-being needs as well as encouraging mindful snacking habits through portion control and labeling. The company said 16% of global snacks net revenue came from portion control snacks in 2019, and it implemented global standardization of front-of-pack portion amount labeling.

The target, Mondelez said, is to have 20% of net revenue from snacks from portion control snacks by 2025 and 100% Snack Mindfully labeling across packaging globally by 2025.

“Our mission is to lead the future of snacking by offering the right snack, for the right moment, made the right way,” Mr. Van de Put said. “We call this ‘Snacking Made Right.’ And ‘Snacking Made Right’ is the lens through which we view ESG (Environment, Social Impact and Governance) and a framework for our sustainability and well-being agendas. Offering the right snack means having a broad portfolio ranging from wholesome to indulgent that meets consumers snacking and well-being needs. The right moment means meeting consumers where they are, both physically and emotionally. That means easy access to our products and helping people to consume our products more mindfully. And made the right way means managing our supply chain sustainably in ways that minimize our impact on the planet as well as taking a stand to respect the rights and well-being of all people our business touches.”

Mr. Van de Put said the categories Mondelez is focused on are expected to represent 50% of the growth in packaged snacks in the next three years.

“Overall, packaged snacks are around a $700 billion market, and our core snacking categories and close-in adjacencies represent $400 billion of that $700 billion and are expected to grow another $50 billion by 2022,” he said.

Mondelez has aligned its portfolio to four key areas of contemporary well-being needs, Mr. Van de Put said. Those areas are: permissible indulgence; better-for-you; authentic, natural and simple; and functional nutrition. Mr. Van de Put said approximately 30% of Mondelez’s 2019 snacks revenue maps to these four well-being pillars, with the largest dedicated to portion control.

“So we have an opportunity to align more of our portfolio to these pillars over time,” he said.

For the full report, click here.