Ferrero Group has announced it is on track to meet its key sustainability objectives and targets. Ferrero’s progress is documented in the Group’s 14th Sustainability Report, which highlights the steps taken during the 2021/22 financial year on four key pillars: protecting the environment, sustainable sourcing, promoting responsible consumption and empowering people.
“The financial year was particularly challenging - war broke out, supply chains were disrupted, energy costs surged, and inflation grew alongside the cost of raw materials,” said Giovanni Ferrero, Executive Chairman of the Ferrero Group. “In the face of these challenges, Ferrero has not only been able to grow, but to also make strong progress with a number of our sustainability targets – and, in some instances, exceed them,” he added.
As part of Ferrero Farming Values (FFV), a cross-commodity framework, the Group is committed to supporting and improving sustainable sourcing of its ingredients, as well as sharing knowledge across the value chain. In 2021/22, the FFV programme helped deliver one to one coaching to 32 per cent of cocoa farmers on farm and business planning, whilst 155,000 cocoa farmers took part in group training. The sustainability report also details how the Group is now reaching traceability back to farm level across more than 96 per cent of its cocoa supply volume. In addition, 82 per cent of the entire cocoa volume was sourced from dedicated farmer groups Ferrero supports. Across all sourced hazelnuts, the Group can report overall traceability of 79 per cent despite systemic supply-chain complexities.
“Across each of the four key pillars of our sustainability framework, the report shows we have made strong progress towards the objectives we have set ourselves,” said Lapo Civiletti, Chief Executive Officer of the Ferrero Group. “Despite a challenging economic and geopolitical environment, the Group increased investments to continue to ensure high levels of quality, freshness and safety across all our products, while reducing our environmental impact.”
