The chocolate industry and supply chain actors recognize buying certified cocoa alone is not enough to make the supply chain sustainable. But what more needs to be done?
NGO Mighty Earth is calling on chocolate makers to expand deforestation-free commitments after finding widespread forest destruction driven by cocoa in Indonesia, Peru, Ecuador and Cameroon.
Nestlé USA faces a fresh class action lawsuit in the US for allegedly failing to disclose its chocolate brands may use cocoa from unlawful child or slave labor.
The chocolate industry must look beyond cocoa alone to avert another big drop in cocoa prices, says the organizer of chocolate festival and cocoa conference Chocoa.
Nine major cocoa and chocolate companies have committed $8.5m to an initiative aiming to prove a business case to improve the quality of education in Ivorian cocoa communities.
Fairtrade auditing body FLOCERT has decertified Peruvian cocoa cooperative COPASA, which was accused of being a ghost organization of major trader Ecom.
Sourcing to fair trade standards, such as UTZ, Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade, is an important first step for chocolate makers towards cocoa sustainability, but will not necessarily bring farmers out of extreme poverty, say supply chain actors.
Becoming the first country to certify the sustainability of its palm oil will boost exports and undermine 'unfair' labelling practices, a leading industry official has told us in an exclusive interview.
Major cocoa trader Ecom says a Peruvian cocoa cooperative it financially supports is not a ghost organization of Ecom after the co-op was suspended by Fairtrade.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and United Nations Environment Project have joined forces to help promote sustainable practices among smallholders producing palm oil as the environmental group sharpens its focus on smallholder farmers.
Cocoa producer organizations fear there is a growing number of so-called ‘fake cooperatives’, which are beholden to chocolate companies and cocoa traders that provide financial assistance.
Competition law can actually hinder industry efforts to boost food security by limiting collaboration, according to a new report from the UK’s Fairtrade Foundation.
Mars Wrigley Confectionery says it has achieved income and yield increases for Indian mint farmers in the first year of a five-year sustainability program.
Cocoa & Forests Initiative members have disclosed plans for ending cocoa-driven deforestation, in pledges made at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP23).
Chocolate companies should rethink cocoa sustainability programs to reverse low adoption rates for training and technology, says The Scientific Committee of the International Symposium on Cocoa Research.
The UK government is launching a fund to help boost the productivity of the UK’s agri-food sector and support the adoption of innovative production technologies.
Chocolate and cocoa companies should report more on the impact than the reach of their cocoa sustainability programs, according to a consultation paper by a group of NGOs.
‘Clear business case’ to invest in women in cocoa: WINCC
Female cocoa farmers are key to accelerating cocoa sustainability, but lack the access to finance and land rights that men have, says a new network for women in the cocoa supply chain, which includes Hershey's CEO.
Cocoa trader Touton has partnered with Ghanaian government agency Cocobod to curb deforestation in Ghana, where cocoa is the main driver of 3.2% of protected forest loss each year.
Significant progress is being made to combat unlawful child labor, but Indonesia’s declining crop and the falling cocoa price remain major challenges, says Mars' head of procurement.
Nestlé’s child labor prevention system in its Cocoa Plan will cover around half of the company’s supply by 2020, but full scale up may never be possible, says its public affairs director.
World food prices rose slightly last month driven by higher vegetable oils prices, and palm oil in particular, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Global palm oil production is expected to grow by 6m tonnes this year, after output was hit hard in 2016 due to the strong effects of the lingering El Niño weather system from the previous year.
Traceability from farm to first purchase, common definitions of protected areas and paying farmers a living income are three ways stakeholders say can help end cocoa-driven deforestation in West Africa, which is threatening endangered species.
Nigeria is the world’s sixth largest cocoa producer, but has scope to significantly boost its output and processing capacity, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Ferrero says it is on course to trace its entire cocoa supply to farm gate by next year, which it says will support its commitment to zero deforestation.
Agricultural commodities core to Europe’s confectionery industry such as sugarcane, hazelnuts and almonds are vulnerable to water scarcity in the near term, according to an EU-funded report.
Cocoa production is thriving in the Democratic Republic of Congo, presenting an opportunity for the chocolate industry, say stakeholders working in the country.
Confectionery companies should collectively push suppliers to make traceability the norm rather than a premium service, as it is the only way to guarantee sustainable cocoa and palm oil, says The Forest Trust.
EU confectionery trade body Caobisco is encouraging its members to set a date by which they will source all cocoa and palm oil from a certified sustainable source.
Motivations for voluntarily implementing food traceability schemes stem not from the need to maximise profits but enhance information, safety and quality management within the supply chain.
