Resolved clauseRESOLVED: Shareholders request the Board of Directors to commission and publish, by March 31, 2027, at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary information, a report evaluating Mondelez’s plastics packaging policies. The report should assess these policies in light of non-biased, scientifically accurate, and economically rigorous research, and include a quantifiable analysis of potential policy changes versus current practices as they affect the Company’s financial position.
Whereas clauseWHEREAS: In 2018 Mondelez International (“Mondelez” or “Company”) announced that it would “make all packaging recyclable” by 2025, to “help deliver its long-term vision for zero-net waste packaging.”1 In 2021 the Company stated it would “[aim] for an at least 25% reduction in virgin plastic use in its rigid plastic packaging or a 5% reduction in virgin plastic use in its overall plastic packaging portfolio.”2 But by mid-2025 Mondelez “saw its rate of packaging that is recyclable stagnate, and virgin plastic reduction efforts falter.”3 Within months the Company left the U.S. Plastics Pact, under which it had committed to targets like “all plastic packaging is 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable” by 2025.4 Unrealistic initiatives like Mondelez’s are driven by an alleged “plastics pollution crisis.”5 Yet objective evidence shows that plastic packaging in many ways offers net environmental and economic benefits,6 including lighter weight, durability, lower transportation costs, and reduced emissions compared to alternatives.7 Critics argue that to the degree there’s a problem, that it’s not plastic production, but inadequate waste management systems, particularly in developing economies.8 Advocacy campaigns for a “circular economy,” which rely on biased reports such as Breaking the Plastic Wave9 and Plastics: The Costs to Society, the Environment, and the Economy,10 emphasize environmental “costs” while mostly ignoring the benefits of plastics and the trade offs of substitutes. MATERIALITY: Plastics accounted for 21% of Mondelez’s packaging materials in 2024.11 The Company consistently cites packaging as one of its most significant areas of environmental focus, a large share of supply chain costs.12 Packaging is one of the Company’s most visible and material operational issues, shaping brand reputation, investor expectations, and regulatory exposure. These percentages show that packaging costs — and especially plastics — influence a significant share of the Company’s economics. Accordingly, shareholders have a right to request assurance that these policies are based on factual data and outcomes, not activist rhetoric (like “zero net-waste packaging”) and “circular economy” fantasies.
Supporting statementSUPPORTING STATEMENT: Mondelez’s plastics strategy should be grounded in verifiable, scientific, and economic cost-benefit analysis. An objective evaluation would: 2026 PROXY STATEMENT | 109 1. Comprehensively analyze the environmental impact of plastics versus alternatives, including lifecycle emissions, energy usage, and recyclability. 2. Assess the economic costs of replacing single-use plastics with higher-cost or heavier materials with recycled content inputs, and the implications for Mondelez’s supply chain and shareholders. 3. Examine whether corporate policy targets the true pollution culprit — poor waste management — rather than misrepresenting plastics’ positives and negatives as a packaging material