Amidst increasing pressure and scrutiny from investors and consumer watchdog organizations, Mondelēz International has quietly issued revisions to its statement on deforestation on the company’s website. When it was first issued in 2023, the statement was criticized for falling short of industry best practices for corporate sustainability policies, weakening past commitments for its palm oil supply chain, and for failing to recognize the fundamental point that rooting out deforestation is inextricably linked to upholding the land rights of Indigenous and forest-dependent communities.
RAN has examined the new statement and says that, while Mondelēz now recognizes the impact of deforestation on Indigenous communities and promotes practices to respect land rights, significant concerns remain about Mondelēz’s commitment to addressing environmental destruction and human rights violations driven by the company’s sourcing practices. RAN’s annual scorecard evaluation of brands’ deforestation and human rights policies found Mondelēz to be a laggard among its peers, with the company receiving an “F” grade.
The international NGO Global Witness reports each year on killings of land and environmental defenders around the world and has documented a concerning rise, with agribusiness as one of the top sectors responsible. Yet the new statement from Mondelēz does not address the increasing intimidation, criminalization and violence facing environment, land and Human Rights Defenders.
Despite RAN’s groundbreaking report on the risks of deforestation due to the exclusion of embedded palm oil in cattle feed from Mondelez’s policies, Mondelēz has chosen not to address this risk and instead states that embedded palm oil may not be included in its deforestation-free goal. This is despite a commitment made in 2022 to work towards deforestation-free cattle feed in the dairy sector.
RAN maintains that Mondelez’s deforestation claims simply can’t be trusted as it is committing to using controversial tools like the No Deforestation, No Peatland, No Exploitation Implementation Reporting Framework (NDPE IRF) that was recently called out by RAN for enabling deforestation.
Pressure will continue to build on Mondelēz to strengthen its policies and actions taken to address its role in driving deforestation and human rights violations in forest-risk commodity sectors as it prepares for its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders which will be held on May 21, 2025.
RAN’s Senior Forest Campaigner Maggie Martin issued the following statement:
“The growing violence against forest defenders and Indigenous leaders is a direct result of companies failing to take responsibility for their supply chains. Unfortunately, Mondelēz’s new statement on deforestation continues to fall short of its peers and does not constitute a credible No Deforestation, No Peatland, No Exploitation (NDPE) policy that aligns with best practices in its industry.
“If Mondelēz is serious about ending its role as a driver of deforestation and human rights abuses, the company must shift from issuing statements to publishing and implementing a robust NDPE policy that includes all of its suppliers at a corporate group level and covers all the commodities it buys.”
