CocoaRadar has not established that a decision has been taken, and neither source provided details of the scale, timing or structure of any potential changes. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the deliberations publicly.
Mondelēz International has neither confirmed nor denied the reports at the time of writing.
Asked directly by CocoaRadar whether the company was ‘either scaling back its Cocoa Life Program, or scrapping it altogether’, the Chicago-headquartered multinational instead issued a statement emphasising the programme’s achievements and the need for continued investment.
The uncertainty comes at a particularly sensitive moment. Cocoa Life now covers approximately 100% of the cocoa volume sourced for Mondelēz’s chocolate business, according to the company, and operates across a supply chain involving more than 257,000 registered farmers.
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Meanwhile, in the US, an ABC Four Corners investigation reported hazardous child labour in a Ghanaian community identified as participating in Cocoa Life, while stating that it could not establish that the farm filmed supplied cocoa to Mondelēz.
Anthony Myers
The questions surrounding Cocoa Life also coincide with the emergence of TogetherCocoa, a new foundation created by five major chocolate companies, including Mondelēz (Nestlé, Mars Incorporated, Lindt & Sprüngli, The Hershey Company).
That initiative could potentially reshape how some of the sector’s biggest buyers organise their sustainability spending – although its founders have so far released few details on exactly how it will operate.