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At Mondelēz International, we are committed to making our snacks the right way, helping to protect the planet and respecting the human rights of people in our value chain, including our palm oil supply chain, in line with our Palm Oil Action Plan and using the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), as a framework for helping to prevent and address associated risks. We expect our palm oil suppliers to carry-out human rights due diligence, in line with the framework of the UNGPs, in their own operations and their upstream supply chains. We firmly believe in Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and in the need to ensure FPIC for the expansion of industrial agriculture and in the resolution of disputes through non-violent and peaceful means that promote the dignity of people and respect the rights of all. As laid out in our Palm Oil Action Plan, we expect our suppliers to share this commitment.

We are concerned by the situation described in the Keep Forest Standing report and the potential violation of the community of Long Isun’s customary rights. After becoming aware of this case in February of 2023 we have logged this case in our grievance tracker. Since then, we have launched our internal palm oil grievance mechanism process to confirm our relationship to the groups in question outlined in the RAN report and engaged with relevant suppliers to understand their actions to-date.

These steps include:

• We are working with our Tier 1 suppliers to confirm supply links and investigate the claims made
• Once all information and evidence is collected we will assess compliance and required remediation actions (if any) with the MDLZ grievance committee
• MDLZ required actions will be communicated to our linked direct suppliers who will be expected to fully deliver on timebound actions plans with relevant upstream suppliers

While Mondelēz International sources only about 0.5 percent of the annual global palm oil production, we have played – and continue to play - a leadership role in global industry advocacy toward sector transformation. For years, we have worked with our suppliers to leverage our influence and help ensure that the palm oil we use in our products is more sustainably sourced. In 2014, we published our Palm Oil Action Plan, a long-term roadmap by which we aim to achieve a more sustainable palm oil supply.

We agree that collaboration is needed to help protect forests and resolve land conflicts with communities. We aim to help address the complex challenge of producing more sustainable palm oil through collaboration with multiple actors in the palm oil supply chain and to date we have partnered and engaged with several of the leading global organizations focused on improving the palm oil supply chain: We are co-chair of the Consumer Goods Forum’s (CGF) Human Rights coalition as well as the Forest Positive Coalition’s Palm Oil Working Group, we have supported the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Government of Indonesia, and others to help develop a National Action Plan for palm oil and we are supporting the development of the Coalition for Sustainable Livelihoods and project supporting the aims of Indonesia’s first-ever National Action Plan (NAP) for sustainable palm oil, which provides a national framework for reform.

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