Oreo maker Mondelēz wants to invest in companies that are helping fight climate change and other pressing challenges to our planet with a new investment platform.
The platform, called Sustainable Futures, will incubate and fund ventures that are tackling climate issues and other "key challenges in the world," the company announced Thursday. Chicago-based Mondelēz plans to co-invest in climate-related projects and make seed investments in social ventures that "improve livelihoods and build healthy communities."
Some initial areas of focus will include protecting forests and reducing carbon emissions, Mondelēz said. Its first investments include an NGO in India that will launch a women-owned social enterprise to up-cycle plastic packaging, and a venture with INMED Aquaponics Social Enterprise in South Africa that supports food entrepreneurs.
“Sustainable Futures is our first foray into impact investing and gives us the opportunity to work with others in supporting environmental and social projects that can help drive meaningful, long-term change," Dirk Van de Put, chief executive and chairman of Mondelēz, said in a statement.
Mondelēz also operates SnackFutures, an innovation hub and venture fund it launched in 2018. SnackFutures is designed to both invent new snack brands in-house and invest in other food startups. Mondelēz said at the time that it expected SnackFutures to contribute $100 million to the company's revenue growth by 2022.
Mondelēz's business has remained healthy during the pandemic, with CFO Luca Zaramella telling Barron’s that the company is “as strong as we’ve ever been." The snack maker has over $3 billion in free cash flow, which is three times as much as it had this time last year.
