Thursday, February 09, 2023

• The company’s goal is to grow 100% of the wheat volume needed for its European biscuits production by 2030, under its expanded Harmony Regenerative Charter.

Mondelēz International has today announced the next chapter of Harmony, its pioneering, third-party verified European wheat sustainability program. With Regenerative Agriculture at its heart, this next chapter aims to mitigate climate change and reverse biodiversity losses, support all Harmony farmers in transitioning to regenerative practices, and invest in research looking to demonstrate that more sustainable wheat is also better-quality wheat². The Harmony program is also helping Mondelēz International to deliver on its Snacking Made Right mission, to lead the future of snacking by offering snacks the right way for both people and planet, along with contributing to its global goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions across its whole value chain by 2050.

Created as the first program of its kind in 2008 with just a handful of farmers, the Harmony program now collaborates with 1,360 farmers across 7 European countries, uniquely combining scale with a pioneering local partnership approach. The newly announced Harmony Ambition 2030 will accelerate this progress through an across-the-board embrace of Regenerative Agriculture³ , making a lasting impact across three key areas.

1. Environment: Harmony Ambition 2030 will help mitigate climate change and reverse biodiversity losses by implementing a strengthened charter of farming practices. These practices will aim to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Harmony wheat fields. For example, we will ask our partner farmers to diversify crop rotation by including legumes to help optimize fertilizer use, the main source of greenhouse gas emissions in wheat farming. We will also take the most ambitious approach to biodiversity protection in European wheat farming by widening action from Harmony plot to whole farms, and from pollinators to overall wildlife. Harmony farmers will also aim to eliminate the most damaging pesticides.
2. Farmers: To support Harmony farmers in their transition to Regenerative Agriculture, Mondelēz International will create the Harmony Academy, which will provide farmers with a holistic package of digital and on the ground training. In addition, we will aim to equip farmers with digital tools to help them record farming practices, calculate environmental impact KPIs and improve the efficiency of reporting. These tools will empower farmers to measure their own environmental impact, informing and supporting future sustainable decision making on farms.
3. Consumers: A pioneering program, run by Mondelēz International’s own expert research team, will look to demonstrate that more sustainable wheat is also better-quality wheat².

As Europe’s largest biscuits maker⁴, Mondelēz International’s ambition is to play a key role in helping to tackle the biggest environmental challenges in wheat farming through a robust approach to Regenerative Agriculture. The company has made sustainability one of the four pillars of its long-term growth strategy, helping to drive positive change at scale across a focused set of environmental, social, and governance priorities.

“Harmony Ambition 2030 is a key part of our sustainability strategy,” said Peter Seymour, Senior Vice President Marketing & Strategy, Europe. “We are working with local farmers and partners across Europe to help create a world where the wheat for our well-loved biscuits is grown in thriving and biodiverse environments. All this is part of our long-term business growth ambition and mission to offer consumers the right snack, for the right moment, made the right way.”

The Harmony program is based on more than 15 years of experience. To ensure maximum impact, it has been co-created with farmers, NGOs, agro-ecological experts and technical institutes. To support Harmony Ambition 2030, the program will also be guided by a newly created Harmony Council. The Council will be an independent panel of scientific experts from organisations such as Arvalis (a French technical institute run by farmers), INRAE (a world leading research organisation in agriculture, food and environment) and Noé (a biodiversity NGO), who will provide strategic recommendations designed to support Mondelēz International’s commitment to Regenerative Agriculture.

The Harmony program has developed a strong and unique data reporting system on farming practices, ensuring full traceability from wheat storage to plant. External Harmony audits are conducted among Harmony partners every year by independent and certified organisations such as SGS and Bureau Veritas, to guarantee compliance with the Harmony Charter.

“We kickstarted Harmony Ambition 2030 last year with a Test and Learn model in France, with partner farmers having sown Harmony wheat under our new Regenerative Charter for harvest in 2023,” said Marie Ellul-Karamanian, Harmony Program Lead. “We are excited to take the learnings from this pilot and apply them to a wider European roll-out over the next few years.”

Mondelēz International’s goal is to grow 100% of the wheat volume needed for its European biscuits production1 under the expanded Harmony Regenerative Charter by 2030.

The Harmony program at a glance (2022 figures - Europe)

• 98% of the wheat volume needed for Mondelēz International’s biscuits production in Europe grown under the Harmony Charter¹
• 1,360 farmers and 21 millers in 7 countries across Europe (Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Poland, Italy, Spain)
• 57,000 hectares of Harmony wheat grown
• 397,000 tons of Harmony wheat harvested
• 1,800 hectares of melliferous fallows dedicated to biodiversity
• 17 million bees and 30 butterfly species observed in Harmony fallows
• 80% of Mondelēz International European biscuits brands, such as belVita, Milka, LU in France and Benelux, Oro in Italy or Opavia in Czech Republic already carry the Harmony label on pack

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• ¹European Business Unit; excluding portfolio manufactured in newly acquired plants
• ²Versus conventional wheat
• ³A holistic approach to farming which aims to produce high quality crops while also restoring the natural rhythm of our surrounding ecosystem
• ⁴Euromonitor market share 2022