Mondelez International, Inc. (MDLZ) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome, everyone. Thank you very much for joining our second annual Snacking Made Right Investor Call. On May 13, we published our Snacking Made Right report, which can be found on our website, mondelezinternational.com. Our purpose to empower people to snack right guides our company and the positive impact we want to have on people and the planet. On today's call, we'll provide an update on the environmental, social and governance topics central to our purpose and most interest to our consumers, customers and investors. Today, we'll share more color on our strong commitment to ESG, our 6-point approach to building a sustainable snacking company and our clear targets and path ahead. I'm joined today by Dirk Van de Put, Chairman and CEO; Chris McGrath, VP and Chief of Global Impact and Sustainability; and Laura Stein, our EVP, Corporate and Legal Affairs and General Counsel. Throughout the presentation, you will hear from other members of our leadership as we deep dive on certain areas of focus within ESG. At the end of the call, we'll have our time for Q&A. With that, I'll turn it over to Dirk.

Thanks, Shep. Before we get started, I'd like to acknowledge that COVID-19 continues to significantly impact many markets around the world. Our focus on protecting our colleagues and supporting our communities continues as we work to provide access to vaccines for our workforce and their families. Last month, we committed a $2 million donation to provide emergency medical infrastructure in India, bringing our total community relief efforts to more than $30 million since the pandemic began. I hope wherever you are in the world, you are safe and well. We appreciate you joining us today for this important discussion. As Shep said, ESG is central to our purpose and mission as a company. Our purpose to empower people to snack right guides our growth strategy. We want to lead the future of snacking. And as a leading company in our sector, we want to deliver more than just financial results. We want to create value for the world at large. Our annual Snacking Made Right ESG report published earlier this month details the breadth and the depth of our overall ESG commitments. Today, we will focus on the 6 core elements of our ambition to build a sustainable snacking company. This starts with our ingredients and our dedication to sustainably source them while empowering farming communities. Next is minimizing our impact on the climate by reducing emissions in our own operations as well as advancing innovative total landscape approaches for the farming of our key ingredients. For any company to be sustainable, it must be diverse, equitable and inclusive. That's why we recently enhanced our global D&I commitments and investments to champion progress for colleagues, culture and communities. Next, consumer snacking needs are evolving. And to sustain and accelerate our growth rate, we are offering more choices, including more well-being options. And once consumers have enjoyed our products, we do not want any of our packaging to end up as waste in the environment. That is why we are committed to creating a circular economy where packaging, including flexible film, is reused or recycled. Finally, strong corporate governance practices, including oversight of our ESG program, promote and protect the long-term interest of our shareholders. These are the pillars on which we are building a sustainable snacking company. Now I will turn it over to Chris McGrath, our Chief of Global Impact and Sustainability, to share more about our approach.

Thanks, Dirk. We have a clear and distinctive approach to sustainability, one that is aligned to our business strategy and informed by our understanding of the issues that are most material to us as a business. First, we prioritize where we can have the largest impact in the world. This is cocoa, packaging and science-based carbon reduction targets, all of which we will discuss today. Second, we focus on innovative lasting solutions. This means going beyond certification and tackling root causes, measuring our impact and investing in scalable solutions. And third, we work in close collaboration with partners, suppliers, our external advisers, regulators, and importantly, farmers and communities because the challenges we are tackling and the transformation we are seeking cannot be achieved alone. Our recently published annual ESG report details our progress against key 2020 targets. We are pleased to share that last year, we met or exceeded our goals on measures across environmental impact, sustainable ingredients and social sustainability. In 2020, we exceeded our reduction targets for CO2 emissions in manufacturing. We made great strides in advancing waste reduction, and we increased our sustainable sourcing for cocoa via Cocoa Life. Our approach is focused on delivering results. We achieved or exceeded all but one of our 2020 goals and achieved a number of them ahead of schedule. You can read more about this in our annual Snacking Made Right report. Building on this progress, in 2020, we set new goals for 2025 with important developments like adding Scope 3 emissions to our emissions reduction target and having our plans validated by the Science Based Target Initiative, who are the authority on greenhouse gas protocols. Our 2025 commitments give us a clear road map of prioritized areas of focus. To put this in context, we have made meaningful progress since the birth of Mondelez International. But our focus and commitments have accelerated since the launch of our new purpose-led growth strategy in 2018. Last year, we evolved disclosure and aligned to industry frameworks and expanded our diversity, equity and inclusion commitments. As we look ahead, we know a truly sustainable snacking company is one on a path to net 0 carbon emissions and offering even more choice to consumers. Against these goals, we are committed to transparently reporting our progress. In 2020, we mapped our disclosures to the SASB and TCFD frameworks for the first time. And this year, we are disclosing against additional SASB and TCFD metrics. In addition, we are disclosing our Scope 3 carbon emissions, completing the CDP forest questionnaire and publishing consolidated EEO-1 U.S. workforce demographic information, all for the first time. We will reflect stakeholder feedback as we continue to expand disclosures and align our ESG reporting with evolving standards. Now we will walk through the 6 components of a sustainable snacking company and dive deep on a few specific areas where we are working hard to drive change. First, a resilient supply of key raw materials is essential to our business. We take a distinctive approach to sustainable ingredient sourcing. We focus where we can have the greatest impact. Our approach is transformational because it is holistic and collaborative. Our programs are rooted in advancing sector-wide lasting change. And we address systemic issues like climate change and human rights. And to do that, we innovate, collaborate and advocate for public-private partnerships. Informed by our environmental footprint, we know the sourcing of 4 ingredients makes up the biggest contribution to our end-to-end carbon emissions. These ingredients are cocoa, wheat, dairy and palm oil. So we focus our efforts where we can drive change at scale like cocoa. As one of the world's largest chocolate manufacturers, we'll now spend some time on our signature sustainable sourcing program, Cocoa Life. I'll turn it over to Cathy Pieters, Senior Director of Sustainable Ingredients, to share more about our transformational and differentiated approach to an ingredient that is essential to our business.

Thank you, Chris, and hello, everyone. As Chris mentioned, cocoa is the essence of our chocolates. And safeguarding a sustainable supply means building resilient cocoa-growing communities. To create lasting change requires an outcome-based approach that goes beyond complying to certification standards and tackles root issues, mainly poverty. Cocoa Life is our $400 million commitment to lead a thriving future for cocoa. It is transformational, holistic and designed for on-the-ground action, agility and partnership. Through Cocoa Life, we work with nearly 200,000 farmers to sustainably source cocoa with interventions, innovation and collaboration to address the root issues cocoa-farming communities face. And our measurable impact data assure us that Cocoa Life is driving lasting change. We are improving farmer productivity and incomes while conserving forests. And we are empowering communities and professionalizing farmer practices. As of 2020, we sourced more than 68% of the cocoa volume needed for chocolate brands through Cocoa Life. And we are well on track to source 100% by 2025. We believe it is critical to measure the impacts Cocoa Life has on cocoa-farming communities in 3 key areas. Measuring cocoa yields and farmer income allow us to understand how we are improving the economics of cocoa farming. Our data indicate that farmers in the Cocoa Life program are more productive and earn a higher household income than those not in the program. In 2019, in Ghana, the average Cocoa Life household income was 22% higher than comparable households. And in Cote d'Ivoire, yields were 42% greater. The long-term future of sustainable cocoa farming depends on thriving cocoa communities. Empowered, inclusive communities create access to finance and education. Community empowerment is central to addressing the root causes of child labor. And empowering women and training communities on child protection issues is central to our holistic approach. Conserving cocoa-growing land is imperative to a future where cocoa farming has a neutral impact on climate change. In 2020, we advanced landscape partnerships with long-standing suppliers, NGO partners, peers and local authorities, connecting forest conservation to farmers' livelihoods. And we are seeing the benefits as we create more climate change-resilient communities. We estimate our program could have achieved an 8% reduction in CO2 per kilo of cocoa, both between 2018 and 2020. And we are currently working on validating those metrics. As I mentioned, our holistic approach to sustainable ingredient sourcing focuses on empowering growing communities. And this includes respecting and promoting human rights across our value chain. In line with the UN guiding principles, we are strengthening human rights due diligence in our own operations and supply chains. We address root causes in the highest risk areas. In cocoa, that means increasing incomes, empowering women, providing access to education and training communities to monitor for those at risk. Our goal is 100% child labor monitoring and remediation coverage in West Africa by 2025. Today, 28% of our communities in West Africa are covered. Encouraged by the progress we are making and our 2025 commitments, we believe it is the right time to increase consumers' understanding and awareness of Cocoa Life. More and more consumers care about how the brands they love are made and where and how their ingredients are sourced. From Cadbury to Cote d'Or, which I know is Dirk's favorite, from Milka to Marabou, we are strengthening brand equity with on-pack communications and sharing the Cocoa Life journey with our consumers. With that, I will hand back to Chris.

Thanks, Cathy. Moving to our next pillar of climate and landscapes. Climate change is a rapidly growing threat to society and the planet, and we know we need to be part of the solution. That's why we take an end-to-end approach to reducing our carbon footprint, both within our own operations and throughout our value chain. Since 2013, we have reduced manufacturing carbon emissions by 24%. Last year, we made a commitment to further reduce our environmental impact by joining the Science Based Targets Initiative, setting greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets consistent with the requirements to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius. This will result in a 10% emissions reduction across our value chain from farm to shelf over and above the impact of our business growth, all by 2025. Our approach to deliver against this commitment is twofold. It starts by continuing to build on the excellent progress we are making to use less energy and decrease emissions from our own operations. And it extends to reducing the environmental impact of growing the commodities essential to our business, where we have an opportunity to advance forest-positive, biodiverse and best for the land and farmer agricultural practices. We are making strong progress by working in collaboration with our suppliers and our customers and using our leadership in coalitions like the Consumer Goods Forum, Forest Positive Coalition of Action to advance sector-wide alignment and collective action in partnership with industry, governments and other key stakeholders. We are currently evaluating a long-term road map that would enable us to commit to net 0 carbon emissions. And we hope to have more to be able to share in the back half of the year. We are committed to focusing where we can make the biggest difference and deliver the greatest long-term positive impact. That's why we concentrate on our raw materials and manufacturing operations. Raw materials equate to over 70% of our overall carbon footprint, which is why we prioritize net carbon-positive farming through Cocoa Life, working with suppliers to evolve cattle feed and our dairy supply to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cows, signature wheat sustainability programs in the U.S. and Europe and enhanced traceability and forest monitoring in palm oil. Manufacturing is our secondary area of focus, where we are improving our energy management systems in our facilities and investing in energy-efficient technologies and increasing the use of renewable energy sources. Environmental sustainability is essential to our business. So is social sustainability and creating a culture that champions diversity, equity and inclusion in all its forms. Now I will pass it back to Dirk to share more about the important work we are doing in the space of DE&I. Over to you, Dirk.

Thanks, Chris. One of the things that makes Mondelez International special is our diverse geographic footprint and strong portfolio of global and local brands. Diversity, equity and inclusion is in our DNA as a company and an important pillar of our purpose. And as a global company, we know that diversity in all its forms is a driver of innovation and growth. Companies who embrace and champion a real culture of DE&I will be attractive employers for talent today and tomorrow. That's why we champion a more diverse, inclusive and equitable world, both socially and economically for our colleagues, our culture and our communities. This means that the diversity of our colleagues at all levels needs to represent the communities, the customers and the consumers we serve. In our culture, we are cultivating an inclusive, bias-free and equitable workplace that enables our colleagues to be themselves and achieve their full potential. And in the communities in which we operate, we will drive economic inclusion for underrepresented groups. In September 2020, we launched significant enhancements to our DE&I agenda and resources. We established a global DE&I platform with strong governance and 2024 commitments. Our 2024 targets include doubling women in executive leadership positions globally versus 2018, and we are well on track to deliver or exceed that. Beyond that, we will double Black management representation in the U.S. and spend $1 billion with women and minority-owned businesses through our new economic inclusion and supplier diversity platform. Our U.S. business unit has rolled out very meaningful plans and programs to help us deliver this ambition. I will now turn it over to Glen Walter, President of North America, to talk about these efforts.

Thanks, Dirk. Diversity and inclusion are core to our purpose and our values as a company and are a key element in our overall growth strategy. In a world that seems increasingly more divided, we have the power to take a stand on issues that matter and bring people together. I'm very proud of the work our U.S. team is doing across our D&I framework of colleagues, culture and communities. A key element of our colleagues' commitment is to ensure that our workplace and our teams reflect our consumers in the markets we serve. We know that if we want to double our Black management representation, we need to build robust talent pipelines. That's why we're investing in early career scholarship programs with historically Black colleges and universities. We're also publishing our EEO-1 talent data to track and share our year-on-year progress. Culturally, the voice of our colleagues matters today more than ever. That's why we're increasing our focus on employee resource groups to help us in developing and shaping our broader D&I strategy. Additionally, we're amplifying our investments in education and cultural competency training. To ensure we hold ourselves and our teams accountable to these important commitments, all people managers have a measurable D&I objective, which is included in their annual performance review. Clearly, a business of our size can make a significant impact across our communities when we focus our efforts. And to that end, we've committed to double our percentage of spend across diverse suppliers. We've established a multiyear partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of America, focusing on developing future leaders. And our iconic brands are purpose-led, taking a clear stand on the issues they believe in and that matter to our consumers. While we're proud of the progress that we've made, we remain constructively discontent, and we're committed to the journey ahead. Back to you, Dirk.

Thanks, Glen, for your passionate inclusive leadership in North America. Next, on to our portfolio. Leading the future of snacking means evolving our portfolio to meet consumers' snacking needs. We do this by offering a broad range of snacks with an increasing focus on well-being, and we aim to grow our well-being range at twice the growth rate of our core business. We are increasing our well-being offerings. First, through brand renovations and extensions, such as the launch of Cadbury Dairy Milk with 30% less sugar in the U.K. and in India. Second, through acquisitions of well-being focused brands. Third, by creating new brands in interesting well-being areas. As an example, our SnackFutures innovation hub has created 5 brands in segments such as plant-based upcycled foods. And last, through consumer education on snacking mindfully. In this area, we are increasing our revenue from portion-controlled products to 20% of our total revenue by 2025. We know consumers have a broad definition of well-being. And that's why we see our well-being approach evolve along 4 key areas of consumer interest: permissible indulgence, better-for-you products, authentic and natural ingredients and functional nutrition. Permissible indulgence is about the snacks you know and love but in smaller portions or by switching to darker chocolate or more permissible inclusions like fruit or nuts. Better-for-you products have a more healthy composition like gluten-free Oreo or reduced sugar candy from The Natural Confectionery Co. in Australia. And in the area of authentic and natural products, we launched Philadelphia with 100% natural ingredients in Europe. And lastly, in functional nutrition, it is about products with ingredients that boost your health like the vitamins and minerals in Bournvita in India. Our revenue aligned to these 4 pillars was approximately 30% of our total company revenue in 2020. On top of core expansion and renovation, we are using M&A to accelerate the growth of our presence in fast-growing and incremental well-being segments. Since the start of this year, we have made 3 acquisitions with strong well-being credentials. There is Grenade, the U.K. energy protein bar leader, that is allowing us to expand our snacking portfolio into active nutrition products. Gourmet Food, a premium and well-being focused cracker portfolio in Australia; and Hu, a premium well-being focused, vegan lifestyle brand that has developed a very dedicated consumer base in the U.S. We will continue to increase our well-being portfolio, both organically and inorganically. I will now hand it over to Chris to talk about packaging.

Thanks, Dirk. We are on a journey to 0 net waste packaging. We are innovating to find new smarter plastic packaging solutions and advocating for harmonized approaches to recycling that include flexible plastics. Both are critical to unlocking a circular economy for plastic. Since 2013, we've eliminated more than 65,000 tons of packaging, and we will spend more than $350 million from 2018 through 2025 to advance our commitments. We've made good progress on our goal of 100% packaging designed to be recyclable by 2025, with 94% of it designed to be recyclable today. We have set an additional goal of a 25% reduction in our virgin plastic use in our rigid plastic packaging and a 5% reduction in virgin plastic overall by 2025 to help drive a circular economy. Tackling the challenge of plastic pollution is something no single company can solve alone. Industry-wide collaboration is needed. That's why we've joined several multi-stakeholder platforms to take steps forward, including the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Global Commitment as well as the U.S., U.K. and Canadian Plastics Pacts. Now let us show you what type of innovation these investments and partnerships can fuel. 12 billion pounds of flexible plastic packaging is used annually in the United States, and flexible plastics have a number of benefits. First, they help keep snacks safe and fresh, which cuts down significantly on food waste. They're also lightweight, so they reduce overall carbon emissions during transportation. But they are difficult to recycle as many markets lack the appropriate systems and infrastructure to collect and recycle them. In the U.S., we partnered with Material Recovery for the Future, who ran a pilot for collection, separation and preparation for recycling of flexible plastic, laying the groundwork for the future of recycling flexible plastics. This was the first pilot of its kind in the U.S., and it successfully demonstrated the positive impact that curbside recycling of flexible plastics can have. In Europe, we have committed to using recycled materials in Philadelphia plastic containers across the content by 2022. This effort will help us advance our goal of using 5% recycled content across all of Mondelez's plastic packaging by 2025. With that, I will turn it over to Jean-Francois van Boxmeer, our Independent Lead Director, to tell us about the final point of our 6-point approach to building a sustainable snacking company, the governance of ESG.

Thanks, Chris. Firstly, it's a pleasure to serve as Lead Director of Mondelez International. Our Board of Directors is committed to strong corporate governance practices that promote and protect the long-term sustainability of the company and the long-term interest of our shareholders. As a Board, we review and discuss our ESG strategy and progress, including environmental and social sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion commitments at least twice a year. And we review the ESG-related disclosures that are included in our SEC reports. We have strong and focused committees with relevant experience and expertise to help govern the strategic plans of the organization. Our Governance Membership and Public Affairs Committee oversees social responsibility, including well-being and environmental and social sustainability. The Human Resources and Compensation Committee oversees the diversity, equity and inclusion agenda, including hiring practices and pay equity tracking. And our Audit Committee oversees world-class safety agenda and goal of 0 incidents and defects. Moving to the Board composition and diversity. The Board is focused on ensuring it is composed of directors with the skills and experience that reflect the evolving needs of the company. This means we aim to strike a balance in terms of tenure, international experience and gender and ethnic diversity to ensure our Board is able to provide a range of perspectives. We demonstrated this commitment by becoming a signatory of the Board Diversity Action Alliance in 2020. We believe we have found a good balance of age and tenure to bring in fresh ideas while preserving critical institution knowledge. Gender diversity is also important and a priority focus area. We are currently at 25% female directors and are pleased that Jane Hamilton Nielsen, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Ralph Lauren Corporation, has just joined our Board. And in terms of ethnic diversity, we have room to improve. And going forward, we expect to progress in this area as we refresh the board. Moving to incentives. As Dirk said at the beginning of this presentation, great companies deliver more than strong financial results. That's why the company's incentive system is aligned to both financial and social objectives. ESG goals are included in the nonfinancial KPIs that influence the annual incentive pay for both corporate and local business unit leadership teams. Our ESG key performance indicators are well-being revenue growth, sustainability and recycling and finally, diversity and inclusion, both women in leadership and Black management representation in the U.S. To conclude, the Mondelez International Board of Directors is committed to the role promoting and protecting the long-term interest of the company and its shareholders. This includes strong governance and oversight of ESG strategy, incentives and progress. We appreciate your interest in these important topics. And with that, I will hand back to Dirk to close.

Thank you, Jean-Francois, and thank you all for your time and attention today. I hope you now better understand our purpose and how we are building a sustainable snacking company: by delivering on clear and challenging targets, by prioritizing areas of largest impact, by driving transformational change and by increasing transparency and disclosure. Count on us to continue to advance this important work as we look to lead the future of snacking. And with that, we are open for Q&A.

Hello, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. I hope you found the presentation useful. With me for Q&A is Dirk Van de Put; Chris McGrath; and Laura Stein, our EVP, Corporate and Legal Affairs and General Counsel. [Operator Instructions] We'll also field a few questions that we received in advance. So to start with Q&A, Dirk, perhaps we'll start with you. We received a question around well-being. Do you believe you have the right portfolio or enough of a presence in well-being and healthy to tap into changing consumer habits? And do you believe that COVID has changed the landscape in terms of this regard?

Thank you, Shep. I do believe we do have a good portfolio at the moment. We still have to do more. We would say that 30% of our current portfolio is from products that align against 4 key well-being pillars, and that is based on a contemporary view of well-being that we have been developing through conversations with consumers. And then over time, we think we'll see more changes. These areas have always been on the mind of the consumer, but it has been important for us to make sure that we work on these different areas by a number of things we can do. For instance, we can do a number of reformulations and renovations, which then improve the nutritional content of our products. We can launch a number of new products, which are, for instance, low in sugar or are gluten-free. We can make acquisitions like Gourmet Foods or Hu or Perfect Snacks, which are all well-being products. And we work on labeling to make sure that the consumer is aware of how to snack. And we call it mindful snacking, and we have committed to put about 25 -- sorry, by 2025 of 100% of our labels to have these mindful snacking tips. So I think we have a clear view on what is our portfolio. We know what we need to do to evolve our portfolio even further. And we're thinking that we will have a balanced approach going forward in the sense that we need as a company to grow in the indulgent area as well in the health and wellness area because if you look at dollar growth, the indulgent part of the category and of our business is still much bigger than the health and wellness part. And as a consequence, if you look at growth in dollars, that still is a dominant part. On the other hand, the health and wellness part is going to grow faster, i.e., better growth in percentage and over time, will take up a bigger part of our business. So that's why we need to work on both sides, but we need to put sufficient attention to health and wellness. As it relates to COVID, the big thing that has happened with COVID is that the consumers are snacking largely from a comfort or a mood-boosting perspective. And 30% of consumers claim that they are snacking more than pre-COVID, which obviously is good our business. I think consumers are also asking themselves if there are a number of personal changes that they want to bring to the way they live, the way they eat or collective changes. And so we need to adapt our categories to thrive in this new normal. For instance, the new normal is more in-home consumption, more snacking. And so it's a -- based on all these facts and all these tendencies, it's a balancing that we have to do as it relates to our portfolio. We think we are well positioned at the moment. We are planning to improve, of course, our positioning. But we do believe that this holistic view of well-being will continue to evolve as we grow as a business and as we expand throughout the world. Back to you, Shep.

Great. Thanks, Dirk. The next question for you, Chris. What do you believe really differentiates Mondelez from other companies in terms of sustainability?

So at Mondelez, we have a very clear purpose. You've Dirk talk about it, and we talked about it in our -- in the video of empowering people to snack right. And that guides everything that we do in the company, and it certainly is a key cornerstone of our work in ESG. Our overall ambition is to build a sustainable snacking company. As we outlined in the video, we have 6 pillars from sourcing our key ingredients to important work to tackle things like climate change and address packaging pollution. And as Dirk just mentioned, there's a lot of work we're doing on well-being. And then the whole social agenda is increasingly important, the work that we're doing in diversity, equity and inclusion as well as strong governance as outlined in our video by our Lead Director. But what makes us distinctive, I think, is that we have been very, very focused. We understand what's material to us, where we can make the biggest impact in the world, areas like cocoa, where we've got our signature program, Cocoa Life, because we are -- can really drive significant change based on our size in the cocoa sector. And we work on creating innovative lasting solutions. So we get at understanding what the issues are and develop new programs and new approaches that really get into tackling the root causes. We think that's essential to driving really lasting change. And we measure our impact. We take a very disciplined business approach, measure the impact, know what's working and what's not, so we can course correct and make sure that we are seeing the results that we expect. And these issues that we're addressing, like many other companies, are not something that any one company can solve on their own, things like deforestation or packaging pollution. So we very much partner and collaborate with others, both other industries, partners, other companies as well as regulators. And we get great advice from outside expert advisers. So all in all, I think it's those -- that combination of elements that makes us very distinctive in this space.

Great. Thanks. The next question, Laura, I think, maybe for you. In terms of the Board, you have great balance in terms of tenure and experience in Mondelez. Can you talk a little bit more about your thoughts and the process to make additional strides in terms of gender and racial diversity?

Thanks, Shep. As our Lead Director, Jean-Francois Van Boxmeer said the Board is really focused on its composition because it reflects our overall values as a company, and it makes the company stronger. And so the Board believes that our composition of our Board should bring in new experiences and fresh perspectives relevant to the work that our Board does. And so we have a tenure limit of 15 years, and we don't renominate nonemployee directors to the Board after they reach the age of 75 with a focus on just continuing to refresh the Board to reflect our diversity, equity, inclusion commitments. And as a company, we view diversity, equity, inclusion as a driver of innovation and growth. And so that's why we champion a more diverse, inclusive and equitable world, both socially and economically for our colleagues, our culture and our communities. And one thing that makes Mondelez International so special is our diverse geographic footprint and our strong portfolio of global and local brands. So DE&I is in our DNA as a company, and it's really an important pillar of our purpose and who we are. We're stepping up our commitments in DE&I. And so we've seen in 2020 some great achievements include some commitments we've committed to over the long term, including planning to spend $1 billion annually with minority and women-owned businesses by 2024 and doubling our Black management representation percentage in the U.S. As our Lead Director said, we're promoting diverse leadership at all levels by joining the Board Diversity Action Alliance. And we've joined organizations to help us be more inclusive in our marketing efforts and in all we do, including the Unstereotype Alliance and FREE THE WORK initiative. And we're committed to enhancing our disclosure and being accountable for our progress. And so we just issued our Snacking Made Right report last week. In it, we published our consolidated EEO-1 data for the first time, and we plan to share regular updates with you on our progress. So there's a lot more to come as we advance on these long-term goals and living our purpose.

Thanks, Laura. The next question comes through from Andrew Lazar at Barclays. And Dirk, maybe this is for you. Are sustainability investments expected to be earnings neutral? In other words, will they be funded through structural cost efficiencies and growth leverage such that Mondelez does not expect shareholders to pay for increased investment behind sustainability?

Thank you, Andrew. And yes, basically, I would say what you say is correct. We don't think that this should be an additional investment against the algorithm -- our long-term algorithm that we have. We do consider ESG as foundational, and we are making significant commitments in terms of people and funding. But we do believe it can be funded out of our normal algorithm. And so we make room in our P&L to fund these ESG initiatives and the agenda. And in fact, there's 3 areas that we need to make investments in on top of building our brands and every year increasing our A&C investments. One is digital, as you can imagine. The second one is sustainability. And the third one is health and wellness. And those are 3 major buckets of investments in the year going forward. And we are planning to fund all 3 out of our existing algorithm. It is important to take into account that these initiatives are not only cost. A lot of them pay for themselves and are cost savings in nature, as you can imagine. Reducing water usage or energy usage or removing packaging as an example or reducing logistics costs, those are all a benefit to the business. So they go hand-in-hand with making our business more healthy. We do have, as you know, a very comprehensive cost savings program in the business. And we are very disciplined in that approach, and that is not going to change. And at the moment, we are in a virtuous cycle. Some of the things that you've seen in the presentation, we are not -- sorry, all of the things you've seen in the presentation, we are currently funding, and we are planning to do so going forward. I would say as a consequence of what I just explained, balance is going to be critical. We are not going to go at the pace that we have to make additional investments that would bring us off our algorithm. That's not something that we are contemplating. But we do feel that the targets that we have set are ambitious, and they are a good stretch. And we believe if we deliver against them that we will be in a position where we are amongst the companies that do the most in this area. It is, of course, clear that we have to keep on making other investments as I explained. And as a consequence, we have to constantly think about the balancing act in making this happen. The last thing I would mention in this area is that as we said in the presentation, we are open to collaborative approaches. And that also could make it possible for us to find innovative funding options that could be, for instance, as a collaborative investment or we could invest in self-sustaining solutions where they just need the start-up money and after that, the solution exists by itself or we could think about other financial tools like green bonds. All to be evaluated going forward, but that's certainly an area that we want to explore further.

Great. Next question comes from Steve Powers of Deutsche Bank. And Dirk, this might be for you as well. You've been quite active in terms of M&A of late, including your announcement earlier today with Chipita. How do ESG considerations factor into your assessment of potential M&A? Do you run prospective acquisitions or an ESG screen? If so, what does that look like? Once you acquire it, how do you integrate new businesses into your broader Snacking Made Right framework? And any examples of recent additions that you might mention?

Yes. Yes, of course, we run an ESG screen. And once the companies are part of the company, they are going to be part of our overall Snacking Made Right strategy. And they are expected to be on the same path forward as the rest of our business. As it relates to the screen, I would say as a first area of interest for us is well-being. And we've been making a number of acquisitions as it relates to very well-being oriented companies because of the balance that I was talking about before. We need to do more in that area. And so the acquisitions are part of our strategy, let's say. And it's, of course, important for us to screen the claims that those companies make, the type of products that they offer, the ingredients that they use, that we go through everything that is required. We do extensive due diligence as it relates to their environmental impact, their management practices. We do their financial practices, if you want. And any acquisition is discussed at length with our Board. We also look at the reputation that they have and how they treat their employees, if you want, or how they are seen as a business partner. So I think the screen is quite extensive. It is important for us to go through that. Our Board asks us specifically about that. Then it must be obvious. Once these newly acquired companies are part of the bigger Mondelez, they're going to go on the same path as the rest of the business. And that means making progress against the 5 areas that we've outlined in the presentation. They fall under the same governance. And so our overall targets include the acquisitions that we've made.

It wasn't part of the question, specifically, Dirk, but maybe we just spend a moment. I know there's a lot of interest since we did announce an acquisition this morning of Chipita. Maybe just spend a moment or 2 speaking a bit about that.

Yes. Yes, I can talk a little bit about that. And well, I think we've explained a few times our acquisition strategy. There's a number of areas. Geographical expansion is very important for us. Getting into adjacencies, the bar segment or the cakes and pastry segment, adjacencies to biscuit and chocolate, or acquiring certain areas of the market that we are underdeveloped. Well-being would be one of those or premium, for instance. Chipita hits a number of those. It's a company that's about a $600 million platform, growing high single-digit. It's part of the $65 billion cakes and pastries market. It's a -- that's a global addressable market. After the Give & Go acquisition last year and now Chipita, we are the #3 player in this space. So it hits that strategic intent that we have. It's also in Eastern and Central Europe, where jointly, we will become a more important company with stronger distribution and sales possibilities as well as a number of cross-branding and innovation possibilities. So it's strengthening our business in those areas of the world. But at the same time, we are planning to bring the Chipita portfolio to the rest of the world. We believe it plays particularly well in emerging markets, and we've seen examples of Chipita developing very well in places like Mexico or India. And so that's another one that is very important for us, as I was talking about, geographical expansion. But also for us, it's very important in acquisitions is that it increases the growth of the company. And this company has been growing very fast. And so we believe that, that is going to be really helpful for us. The other thing that I would like to say about Chipita is that it's a company that has a number of very strong brands, and that obviously is what we do. We build brands, and so 7DAYS is their most famous brand. It also is committed to developing healthier alternatives. And so for instance, they have decided to remove all artificial preservatives from the 7DAYS products as an example. They also have 25% of their portfolio that is in crackers, while 75% is in cakes and pastries. And crackers, as you know, is part of our biscuit category. And so that also reinforces us there. I think one of the other interesting parts about Chipita is that it's going to give us opportunity to cross-brand. You can imagine a 7DAYS product with a Cadbury chocolate in it or a Milka chocolate in it. That's going to be very interesting for consumers. And so it enters in what we call chocobakery. We've talked about that many times that, that is an interesting crossroads between biscuits and chocolate, where we see a lot of potential growth for our products. And maybe a few things about the financial case. It's accretive to our growth algorithm. It's high single-digit in the last 3 years. Small decline during COVID, but that's to be expected. So we expect them to pick up the pace this year, and we have returns on the acquisition that are well in excess of our cost of capital. So we feel pretty good. We welcome, of course, all the people of Chipita to the company, and we're looking forward to a very successful business together.

Great. The next question comes from Jason English at Goldman Sachs. And Chris, maybe this is for you. There's a lot of discussion about ESG as a competitive advantage, but it's not clear that there's a lot of empirical evidence that ESG efforts really impact consumer demand or brand market share. Can you give us some real-life examples? Or how does Mondelez think about this?

Sure. It is interesting. There's a number of frameworks out there, I think, to try to understand how do you measure it. We look at a number of qualitative and quantitative measures, and we talk with consumers a lot just to understand where are they, how is -- and how is this relative to them? And I would say one of the things that we understand is that it's a very holistic definition. Consumers want to understand what's in their food and where is it coming from, how are the people being treated in the supply chain, who's growing the ingredients, et cetera. So that well-being credentials have a very much a sustainability aspect. I think COVID really highlighted that for consumers, just understanding the connection between us as people and the environment. And so we -- particularly for millennials, I think it's important for them to see reflected in brands that they buy that the brands represent the values that are so important to them and in the work that they do and the impact that they're having as well as the stand that they'll take on various issues, particularly social issues. And so we are -- we work -- as we work into designing, sort of refreshing our brands and working on integrating all of this across our business, we very much look at it holistically in terms of the brand, the designing bundles that the brands would look at where they pull in the well-being credentials. They look at what kind of packaging it is, is it in, what's the impact of climate, et cetera. And again, what's the way to communicate all of this to consumers? And so -- and then we have very clear road maps that we're looking to achieve all of our 2025 commitments, and we're looking to then -- we were working on being able to measure how well we're doing against that, as I said, using a number of the frameworks that are out there as well as our own impact measurement. And I think that, that's something else that's a little bit different, really understanding what the impact is of the program and not just who you're reaching, but what kind of difference is it making in some of the key issues that we're addressing? And then using that information, we share it publicly. It's in our report because we, again, want to help to drive bigger change beyond which is what us -- what we're doing as a company, really trying to transform the sector on a couple of key issues. And so I think being transparent with the data is important to investors, of course. It's important, though, I think, to help accomplish the -- our long-term ambitions.

Great. Thanks. Chris, we'll stick with you. A question from Alexia Howard at Bernstein. When might you be in a position to commit in terms of a time frame to net 0? It looks like a lot of other packaged food companies are choosing 2050. How do you hold subsequent management teams accountable for these goals? And just overall, what's the Mondelez position in terms of that path?

Alexia, thanks for the question. Glad to have you with us. So on net 0, we have continued climate change, and tackling it is one of our #1 priorities that we're focused on in our work. And we have made really terrific progress since the start of the company, particularly in our manufacturing carbon emissions, where we've reduced them by 24%. Last year, we issued our Science Based Targets, and that's really an end-to-end approach to reduce our carbon emissions, including Scope 3. Scope 3 represents the biggest part of our carbon emissions. It's about 70%, over 70%. And so that work is really critical to us. So our end-to-end targets, it's 10% reduction by 2025. That's in line with what the experts say helps keep the planet to well below 2 degrees global warming, which is really critical. For us, it's a significant step-up just because when we're going end-to-end, it's 13x more of that we'll be delivering in terms of emissions reduction than what we've done over the last 7 years. So it's really quite a significant step-up. And programs, ways that we're getting there are things like expanding our use of renewable energy and also a lot of the work that we're doing in our programs like Cocoa Life and some of our other programs like Harmony on wheat, where we're looking to now be able to measure the carbon saved in those landscape and regenerative agriculture programs. So we're working on all of that. And as -- and we are looking ahead to net 0. So we're understanding very specifically what our footprint looks like from a CO2 perspective globally and then working on what is it that we would need to achieve in terms of programs, investments. And what's the timing of all this to be able to get to net 0 and by when. And we'll be sharing more in the coming months. But I would say that we want to, just like all of the commitments that we put out there, we're not a company that just puts out ambitions without having a clear road map and understanding of how we can achieve it. And so that's why we've been doing this very careful analysis and consideration of our plan before we start to put a commitment out there. But you can expect that there'll be -- we'll have more to share.

Great. I'll stick on another question, follow-up from Alexia and related to Cocoa Life. What motivated Mondelez to go with the Cocoa Life approach versus a certification or third-party approach? Is there anything that's problematic about doing this in-house?

Sure. So Cocoa Life is our signature sustainability program. We launched it back in 2012. And really, cocoa was such an important ingredient to our business. Being one of the world's largest chocolate companies, it's absolutely essential that we have a sustainable supply of cocoa for us. And back at the time, what we were seeing is there's a number of challenges in the cocoa supply chain. And they're interrelated, things that like poverty and lack of good, I would say, farming techniques as well as farming inputs. And then that continues to exacerbate the low output that farmers are seeing. It contributes to deforestation. It contributes to a lot of the community challenges that are there. And so when we were looking around for, okay, so what's the solution, we didn't see anything out there that was addressing all of those challenges in an integrated way. And so with the help of our external advisers, we worked with the certifiers, with -- that we are working with at the time to really to set out and put together an integrated program. And we're really excited about the results that we're seeing. Our program addresses the farming work. It addresses the community, helping to create empowered communities. And importantly, it's about conserving and restoring forests, which is so important to the current productivity as well as the future health of cocoa. We're seeing great results. As I mentioned, we measure impact. So farmer incomes are up, for instance, in Ghana, more than 22% higher than the average. We're mapping our farms, so we know that there's no deforestation going on. And importantly, we're -- this program is achieving about 1/3 of our carbon savings. And so what we're looking at now is taking all these learnings, like I said, and sharing them with the industry and helping to drive sector-wide transformation with partnerships so that we can have even greater impact. And looking to -- we're on a clear road map to get to 100% of our chocolate by 2025. We're at 68% at the end of last year and well on our way to continuing to drive the growth in the program and on the ground for our business and importantly, for our partners, who are the farmers and the communities that grow this essential ingredient.

Next question. Another one here from Jason English over at Goldman Sachs. It seems that ESG resonates more with Europeans, especially in the Nordics than in other parts of the world. As a truly global company, can you please weigh in on this topic and give your view of maybe where it matters more, where it matters less and how that might be changing? And maybe, Chris, you want to start? And if either Laura or Dirk want to follow-on?

Yes. I think what's interesting is that the ESG, it's just been -- I've been leading this area since the start of the company. And before that, at Kraft Foods, I was leading sustainability. And I think it's been interesting sort of the sweeping change that we've seen happening very rapidly in that it used to be the interest in ESG was in certain -- it was a little bit more heightened maybe in Europe and certain countries even within Europe. And then also with -- amongst investors, certain socially responsible investors would be the ones who I would talk with more. And I would say that I think it's really changed in that it's become much more mainstream for a number of reasons. I think just understanding the importance of doing this work to help really create a truly resilient business and to help be relevant to consumers. Certainly, those are, as you've heard, driving reasons for us. And so I think that there's tremendous value that it's able to generate. And there's more and more, I think, the metrics that are out there and the rating systems to be able to measure are companies really making a difference? Are they really making an impact? So we are continuing to evolve both in our engagement with investors. We've expanded our disclosures. Last year, we did SASB and TCFD for the first time. This year, we did even more metrics. We did more, as Laura mentioned, diversity, equity, inclusion disclosures. And so we're continuing to expand our engagement and our disclosures as we go forward. And I think it's absolutely -- I don't think that it will slow down in the near term because I think everyone is increasingly -- it's an interesting area. And I think, as we mentioned, COVID, I think, really has also amplified for folks, I think, the understanding of just how important the environment is to the well-being of ourselves and the planet.

And to add on Chris' great points, yes, certain geographies are more advanced in how they think about sustainable packaging solutions and how far along they are in a circular economy or how much consumers have long been more motivated to buy sustainable products. But we're finding kind of across the board, I think, millennials and future generations really all over the globe care a lot about sustainability and care about companies' ESGs, as we've said earlier, that they really are looking more to products that represent their values and who they are and who are authentic. And a really key stakeholder for us is our employees around the globe. And we find that all over the globe, it really resonates with our employees that we are a company at Mondelez that represents their values, that they care about our ESG. They want us to be better. They're really proactive in giving us feedback. And so it's also really an important secret to our success with our talent and engagement and just being better as a company. So it's -- it might be certain pockets of the world that might be farther along in sustainability, but it really is a common theme among our employees all around the globe.

Great. Thanks, Laura. Another one that we received in advance would be -- and again, I think, Laura, maybe we stay with you on ESG and stakeholder capitalism. How does Mondelez think about balancing the desires to drive the business and traditional shareholders with the broader community and other constituents in terms of just broader stakeholder capitalism?

Great. Thanks, Shep. We care about all of our stakeholders' views, and we value multiple perspectives. And so we try to get as much input as possible and take that stakeholder input into account as we determine our growth strategy, our operations, our culture and our ESG. And there's a variety of perspectives out there, and there's just no single formula that we use to make decisions and make choices. Context matters, but it's important to hear those voices to make the best decisions. So we're led in everything we do by our purpose, and we really focus on doing the best thing for our company and our constituents. So we're building a purpose-led, sustainable snacking company. When we launched our growth strategy in 2018, we were guided and our guiding light is our Snacking Made Right purpose. And so we've just been doing things this way, the right way for many years. So as we make decisions, we carefully evaluate, and we have Board oversight in our determined approach to do the right thing and what's in the best interest of our company. So we don't view shareholder value as different from stakeholder value because when done right, they should both support each other and make Mondelez a better company. So without multi-stakeholder approach, our business results and returns will suffer. And if we don't have strong shareholder returns, we can't invest in our ESG agenda. And so our Board is closely involved in ESG and helping us with Dirk's leadership to make the right decisions, but we need to have the input of all of our stakeholders to do the right thing.

Great. The next question from Alexia Howard over at Bernstein. Good news on making disclosures around Scope 3 emissions. Do you yet -- or is there a plan around science-based goals for emissions from third-party suppliers?

Yes. So I guess I'll take that one, Shep. Yes. So we're -- actually, we are working on being able to, as I was mentioning, to measure what -- how much CO2 we are saving in our work that we're doing out in our programs, our signature programs like Cocoa Life. And we actually in our Cocoa Life report showed we have a new tool that we're actually working on and working with our suppliers to be able to measure the CO2 saved from programs like that we're doing on agroforestry, et cetera. And so that understanding of the measurement, it's a little bit innovative and new for us. And we're working to solidify the approach and then take that to some of the other commodities that we're doing, whether it's wheat or palm, et cetera, be able to measure the CO2 using the same approach, working with our suppliers, getting their information and pulling it in. So more to come on that front, for sure.

Great. Thanks, Chris. And I think we have time for one more question here, and it's just a broader question in terms of with health and wellness. And Chris, I think this is for you. Just the approach to mindful snacking and what Mondelez is doing in that area.

Sure. So mindful snacking is something we've been working on for over 7 years now. And it's really about -- it's the behavioral part of our well-being -- it's the behavioral part of our well-being approach that it's -- we think it's critical from a lot of work that we've done to understand consumer needs related to well-being that they love to snack. And they don't like it when -- if they lose track and they overindulge. So mindful snacking really is something that's based on a lot of science. And it helps consumers focus on why they're eating and be very present in how they're eating to get maximum enjoyment out of the snack. We support what we're doing on mindful snacking with portion control. So our portion control options, we're at 16% of our snacks revenue today is in portion-controlled options. It makes it super easy for consumers to not think about how much they're eating, and then by 2025, we'll get that to 20%. We also have put visual cues. As Dirk mentioned earlier, we have a little portion icon that helps consumers just actually have a visual language to know how much a portion is because sometimes, nutritional labeling isn't -- we've heard from consumers isn't super clear to them. So that's another thing that we're doing to help reinforce. And more and more of our brands are now activating in ways that are in sync with the brand equities around -- we have mindful snacking tips, simple little things like paying attention, putting down your phone and really maybe eating with your opposite hand. Just like really just be able to sort of break the mindless cycle and really just get a little bit more enjoyment out of the snack that you're eating. So more and more of our brands will be activating in the next -- this year and as we go forward.

Great. Well, Dirk, Chris, Laura, I want to thank you for your time. I want to thank everybody who's joined us today for your time as well. I want to remind you that we do have our Snacking Made Right report out on our website. I would certainly encourage you to check that out and read more detail. And as always, we're available from an Investor Relations standpoint if you have follow-up questions. Thanks again for joining us, and have a great day.