- Achieves ~100% Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation Systems (CLMRS) coverage of Cocoa Life communities in West Africa1
- Achieves ~100% SMETA audit coverage across our owned manufacturing plants over the past 3 years
- Expands Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) coverage of suppliers and audited ~1,200+ suppliers
CHICAGO, June 11, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mondelez International, Inc. (Nasdaq: MDLZ) today, in observance of World Day Against Child Labor June 12, released its 2025 Human Rights Due Diligence and Modern Slavery Report, outlining the company's continued progress to help prevent, identify and address potential human rights and modern slavery risks across its operations and value chain.
"We continue to believe that helping to drive positive change at scale across the communities our business touches is an integral part of value creation. Simply put, we believe that more sustainable business is, and always will be, good business," said Darren O'Brien, Chief Corporate & Government Affairs Officer & Chief Cocoa Officer, Mondelez International. "That's why an enhanced human rights due diligence approach enables us to increase focus and scale, meeting our long-term goals and addressing systemic human rights issues in ingredient supply chains through meaningful partnerships."
Scaling Due Diligence across the Value Chain
Mondelez International continues to scale its human rights due diligence (HRDD) approach across its own operations and value chain:
- ~100% of owned manufacturing sites (vs. ~96% in '24) and ~99% of prioritized tier-1 suppliers (vs. ~98% in '24) have completed third-party SMETA audits in the past 3 years.
- ~1,200+ prioritized tier-1 supplier sites audited in 2025, expanding HRDD coverage of suppliers.
- ~100 strategic suppliers for Mondelez International engaged in joint industry trainings across key sourcing countries Brazil, India, Mexico and the US, to help suppliers implement HRDD leading practices since 2024.
- ~50,000 colleagues trained on human rights issues, including ~7,000 in manufacturing and logistics and ~3,000 in key stewardship roles, since launching its dedicated Human Rights Policy in 2021.
As part of its focus on prioritized ingredients, Mondelez International continued scaling its signature cocoa sustainability program, Cocoa Life, in 2025:
- Reached our 2025 goal of ~100% Child Labor Monitoring & Remediation Systems (CLMRS) coverage of Cocoa Life communities in West Africa - representing approximately 2,300 communities.
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.
Mondelez International believes addressing systemic human rights issues in ingredient supply chains needs collaboration between governments, industry, and civil society. Sector collaboration to accelerate impact across key ingredient supply chain in 2025 included:
- Cocoa: Building on the prevention and monitoring pillars of its strategy to help protect children under its Cocoa Life program, Mondelez International continued its support for sector-wide systemic solutions through its contribution to the International Cocoa Initiative, and investments in public private partnerships to improve access to quality education in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana.
- Palm Oil: Mondelez International requires suppliers to respect human rights, including land rights, Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and the rights of human rights defenders, as laid out in their strengthened 2025 Palm Oil Action Plan (POAP). To help address some of the systemic issues in the palm supply chains, the Company supports collective action through the Consumer Goods Forum's Human Rights Coalition and other initiatives focused on tackling the root causes of land rights issues in Indonesia.
- Sugar Cane: In 2025, Mondelez International became a member of Bonsucro, the leading global sustainability platform and standard for sugarcane. With the goal to collaborate with others to further strengthen the tools, resources, as well as environmental and social standards related to sustainable sugarcane production.
- Hazelnuts: In 2025 the Company joined forces with other companies in the food industry, via a multistakeholder program coordinated by the Association of Chocolate, Biscuit and Confectionery Industries of Europe (CAOBISCO) in partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and continued in the role of co-chair to support this public-private partnership with the ILO to help tackle potential child labor risks in hazelnut harvesting in Turkey.
Our Human Rights Approach
At Mondelez International, we are committed to making our snacks the right way, protecting the planet and respecting the human rights of people in our value chain.
In addition to abiding by applicable law and regulation, Mondelez International strives to respect internationally recognized human rights, as relevant to our operations. This approach is guided by certain international conventions and protocols, which serve as illustrative examples of potential approaches for helping to prevent and mitigate human rights risks.
In connection with these efforts, our Human Rights Policy is mindful of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and other external instruments, which inspire our approach to helping prevent and mitigate human rights risks. Our Code of Conduct and Supplier Code of Conduct are aligned with our Human Rights Policy.
About Mondelez International
Mondelez International, Inc. (Nasdaq: MDLZ) empowers people to snack right in over 150 countries around the world. With 2025 net revenues of approximately $38.5 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. Mondelez 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
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may include, among others, the words, and variations of words, "will," "may," "expect," "would," "could," "might," "intend," "plan," "believe," "likely," "estimate," "anticipate," "objective," "predict," "project," "drive," "seek," "aim," "target," "remain," "potential," "commitment," "outlook," "continue," "strive," "ambition" or other similar words or expressions, including, but not limited to, statements of belief or expectation and statements about Mondelez International's outlook, performance, or leadership position in snacking. Although we believe the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results or outcomes could differ materially from those projected or assumed in these forward-looking statements. Please also see Mondelez International's risk factors, as they may be amended from time to time, set forth in its filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. There may be other factors not presently known to Mondelez International or which it currently considers to be immaterial that could cause Mondelez International's actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements it makes. Mondelez International disclaims and does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement in this press release, except as required by applicable law or regulation.
1 We aim to regularly and transparently report our progress. You can find additional details on Mondelez International's governance and sustainability goals and reported information within the About This Report section of our 2025 Snacking Made Right Report.
| Contacts | Maggie McKerr 1-847-943-5678 news@mdlz.com |
