Mondelez International has joined forces with the Fairtrade Foundation to extend the snack and confectionery giant’s Cocoa Life sustainability program to Cadbury-branded products.

 

Through a phased roll-out beginning in May 2017, Cadbury confections available in Ireland and the United Kingdom will be produced with cocoa sourced through Mondelez’ farmer-focused program. The transition will mark the first time that Cadbury products in those markets are covered by a single sustainability initiative.

 

Mondelez, which purchased Cadbury in 2010 as Kraft Foods for $19.5 billion, officially launched the ten-year Cocoa Life program in 2012.

 

“Cocoa Life builds from Cadbury’s proud heritage of sourcing cocoa sustainably, which dates back to a hundred years ago when the Cadbury family helped establish cocoa farming in Ghana,” says Glenn Caton, president of Mondelez International's Northern Europe division. “Through Cocoa Life, we want to become an accountable partner for our cocoa farmers, not just a buyer.”

 

Originating as the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership in 2008, Cocoa Life has been introduced in nearly 800 farming communities in Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Indonesia, India, Brazil and the Dominican Republic. Through an investment set to reach $400 million by 2022, Cocoa Life aims to help communities set their own action plans for enhancing yields, earning higher incomes, improving business skills and protecting the environment.

 

FLOCERT, which serves as Fairtrade’s independent assurance and certification body, will continue to verify the supply chain of Cocoa Life as the program grows. This involves tracking the quantity of sustainably grown and traded cocoa and loyalty payments made to farmer organizations. In addition, Fairtrade will work with Cocoa Life to develop farmer organizations and enhance the understanding and reporting of the program’s impact of cocoa farmers.

 

Furthermore, Cadbury and Fairtrade will work together on new programs to support farming communities, including those meant to build resilience to climate change, which farmers say is a threat to their livelihoods.

 

“The evolution of our partnership with Cadbury and Cocoa Life is an exciting development as it embeds Fairtrade, our values, principles and unique relationships with farmer networks into the whole program,” says Michael Gidney, chief executive of the Fairtrade Foundation. “In doing so, together we can increase the scale and impact of Cocoa Life toward a common goal — one in which cocoa farmers, their organizations and communities are empowered, can invest in their own future and go from just surviving to thriving.”