June 10, 2025
Our 2024 Responsible Business Report captures how Hershey is building resilience for our business and delivering on our commitments—highlighting meaningful progress, complex challenges and the strategic value of building a more efficient, responsible enterprise.
Becoming a more efficient and resilient business is key to long-term success. That journey is built on strong partnerships, sustainable operations and the trust of stakeholders throughout our value chain. Sustainability isn’t just a guiding principle—it’s an imperative. Our success depends on the well-being of farmers, the vitality of natural resources, the people and processes that power our operations and the consumers who choose our brands every day.
The work outlined in this report enables us to adapt, stay competitive and continue delivering the Moments of Goodness that define our brand, even as the world around us evolves.
As our business grows into a Leading Snacking Powerhouse, our sustainability strategy is evolving in parallel—embedding environmental and social priorities into core decisions and everyday actions. This means developing new skills, tools and capabilities that help teams stay focused on what matters most: measurable progress that delivers value for the business, stakeholders and communities.
Cocoa: Our Top Priority
Our cocoa strategy is focused on creating meaningful, long-term improvement in the well-being of farming communities and strengthening the resilience of our supply chain.
We deepened our commitment to cocoa communities through:
- Investments in education infrastructure, including an agreement to fund the construction of 17 primary schools
- The Hershey Income Accelerator Program, which provides supplemental income to farmers, now expanded to nearly 3,500 farming households
- A five-year agreement with farming cooperatives in Côte d'Ivoire—building long-term, resilient partnerships
Environmental Stewardship
We advanced agroforestry and regenerative agriculture projects across cocoa, dairy and sugar to reduce emissions in our supply chains. In our operations:
- 83% of our energy came from renewable sources
- We launched on-site solar at our Malaysia facility
- We expanded our work with Earthworm Foundation and Airbus's Starling satellite tech to fight deforestation
These initiatives are part of a broader commitment to reducing environmental impact and advancing sustainable practices across operations, partnerships and communities.
Building for the Future
Sustainability is rapidly evolving. What was once cutting-edge is now expected—or even regulated. It’s more professional, more data-driven and more central to business strategy than ever before. As expectations around sustainability continue to rise, laying a strong foundation by expanding our capabilities is essential. Our recent efforts have focused on strengthening the systems, tools and processes that will support long-term progress and accountability.
Here are the key actions we have taken:
- Conducted a double materiality assessment to identify where environmental and social impacts—and related risks—are most significant
- Enhanced internal controls and assurance processes to improve transparency, accuracy and accountability
- Launched data automation initiatives to streamline compliance and performance tracking, reducing manual effort and increasing reliability
These foundational steps are positioning us to meet evolving stakeholder expectations and deliver measurable, lasting impact.
Addressing Challenges, Shaping What’s Next
Balancing growth with sustainability isn’t easy—and some goals are tough by design. Progress doesn’t always come quickly, but each challenge offers a chance to learn, adapt and operate more responsibly while still driving value.
As several multi-year commitments approach completion in 2025, our next-generation strategy is already taking shape. It will:
- Integrate sustainability more deeply across the enterprise
- Reflect an expanding portfolio and global footprint
- Be grounded in science, stakeholder insights and best practices
What won’t change? A commitment to creating value for all stakeholders—from cocoa farmers to consumers to the planet we all share.
I am proud of what our team has accomplished, clear about the work ahead and ready to address the challenges head on we need to make progress.