The 2023 Chocolate Scorecard survey says sustainability claims of chocolate companies cannot necessarily be trusted.
The survey found out that sustainability claims made by companies were defined narrowly to refer only to their programmes, which may foster sustainable practices but do not refer to the actual status of their cocoa or necessarily improve the actual living conditions of cocoa farmers.
Mr Samuel Mawutor, Senior Advisor, Mighty Earth Ghana, speaking at the launch of the fourth edition of the Chocolate Scorecard, said farmers taking part in sustainability programmes were often not well compensated for their efforts and remained extremely poor.
The survey was to explore contemporary developments in policy and practices that companies in the chocolate supply chain were undertaking towards improving their sustainability performance.
It was also an opportunity for positive competition and collective improvement in industry practices, while informing consumers and investors interested in the sustainability of chocolate.
The Chocolate Scorecard surveyed the world’s biggest chocolate companies to find out how they are addressing key challenges in the Cocoa-chocolate value chain!
This year’s scorecard ranks 83 of the largest chocolate companies (brands), retailers, and processes their performance in six sustainability categories.
These categories include traceability transparency, Child Labor, living income, deforestation and climate, agroforestry, and chemical management.
The Survey found that some companies were rising to the challenge, but others continued to ignore consumer demand for chocolate that was free of Child labour, poverty, and deforestation and chocolate that was good for people and the planet.
The 2023 Chocolate Scorecard was led by three research institutions – Macquire University Sydney, The Open University, UK, and the University of Wollongong.
It was also coordinated by Be Slavery Free (Australia) and supported by a global coalition of NGOs, including Green America, INKOTA, Mighty Earth, EcoCare Ghana, and the National Wildlife Federation.
Mr Mawutor said it was found out that “only 11 per cent of chocolate companies surveyed can fully trace where their cocoa comes from.”
Mr Mawutor said on average 40 per cent of cocoa was purchased indirectly, meaning the buyer did not know who they bought from or where it came from.
“Without knowing where cocoa comes from you could not possibly claim it was sustainable,” he added.
He said farmers needed to be paid more for their cocoa to ensure a sustainable life.
He said the account of poverty in cocoa-growing communities, especially in West Africa, had been articulated extensively.
The Senior Advisor said its connection to Child labour, forced labour and human trafficking as well as the deforestation of national forests was indisputable.
A recent report by Oxfam claims that the “net income of farmers decreased by an estimated 16.38 per cent between the 2019/20 and 2021/22 harvesting season.”
He said when the price of cocoa increased everything else a farmer purchased increased in price, leaving them worse off in reality.
Mr Mawutor said, however, this did not affect chocolate companies in the same way but rather led to increases in their profits.
The global chocolate market was valued at US$131.9 million in 2021 and projected to grow at 4.50 per cent annually.
Mr Obed Owusu-Addai, the Executive Director of EcoCare Ghana, said the latest report on Child labour indicated about 1.5 million Children work on cocoa farms in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire and 95 per cent of them were exposed to the worst forms of Child labour.
He said the findings from the survey indicated that significant progress was being made by companies in their effort to address Child labour but it also indicated that only 6 per cent of Children in the worst forms of child labour had been identified.
On deforestation, Mr Owusu-Addai said Cocoa was a major global driver of forest destruction, where Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana produced three-quarters of the world’s cocoa, but had lost about 94 per cent and 80 per cent respectively, of their forests to Cocoa production in the last 60 years.
He said out of the 53 companies that responded, 48 of them have a ‘no-deforestation’ policy in place.
This policy required their suppliers to source cocoa from areas where there had been no destruction of the forest canopy.
Dr Julian Oram, Senior Director, Africa at Mighty Earth, said consumers and investors needed to know where their chocolate was coming from and what they invested in, making this scorecard an important tool to reform practices in the sector.
He said they also needed companies and Licensing Buying Companies (LBCs) sourcing the Cocoa in Ghana to pay greater attention to the problems outlined in these categories and advise corporate plans and strategies to combat deforestation.
He said as frontline agents in addressing deforestation and improving income, much more was expected of LBCs to escape poverty, reduce deforestation, and end all forms of Child labour.
The 2023 Chocolate Scorecard ranked Original Beans as the most sustainable chocolate company, followed by Tony’s ChocoLonely and Beyond Good.
