Suzanne Callander takes a look at some of the initiatives that are being put in place in a bid to curb the environmental impact of the cocoa farming, through deforestation. 

Over many years, consumers love for chocolate has, sadly, had destructive consequences in the regions where cocoa is cultivated, with forests being destroyed, biodiversity threatened and climate change accelerated, to make way for cocoa plantations. According to 2019 figures from The World Resources Institute, Ivory Coast and Ghana have lost most of their native forest cover in the past 60 years while Ghana and Ecuador have had the highest increases in deforestation rates in 2022. 

In a bid to curb the environmental impact of agricultural expansion, which is often responsible for deforestation, regulations have been put in place by the European Union, in the form of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). This prohibits products from entering the EU market unless they are deforestation-free and legally produced. The regulation also makes it illegal to export such products from the EU. As it relates to cocoa the regulations will apply to beans, products and chocolate. 

The regulation came into force on 29 June 2023, with an 18-month preparation period that will expire on 30 December 2024.  

EUDR puts a much greater focus on traceability across the cocoa industry, requiring the collection of information, data and documents to prove that the land on which cocoa is grown has not been subject to deforestation after 31 December 2020 and that the product has also been produced in accordance with the relevant legislation of the country of production. 

Not just a compliance issue 
“Adapting to these new regulations should not just be considered a compliance issue; it’s an opportunity for the chocolate industry to lead in sustainable practices,” said Julia Ocampo – Vice President of Sustainability & Cocoa Sourcing at Luker Chocolate. “Chocolate companies need to be reassessing their supply chains, engaging in more sustainable sourcing practices, and collaborating with cocoa farmers to promote agroforestry and other eco-friendly farming methods. We embrace the new regulations as we continue to shape a responsible and sustainable future for chocolate production.” 

Luker Chocolate is undertaking an ambitious traceability project that will allow it to evidence and monitor, through geo-referenced polygons and lot tracking, that the cocoa growing farms from which it sources its cocoa are deforestation-free. 

Luker Chocolate sources its cocoa from Colombia and is believed to have been the first private sector company to sign the Cocoa, Forest, and Peace Initiative (2018) to prevent deforestation in cocoa production there.  

Additionally, Luker Chocolate signed its own commitment to Race to Zero in 2021, vowing to reduce its emissions, achieve carbon neutrality by 2022, and transform the cocoa value chain into a sustainable value chain. “As a producer, we understand our responsibilities through our operations, communities of influence, and the whole planet. This commitment reinforced our core value of striving to become more sustainable and climate-positive,” said Julia.  

Field verification app 

Remote sensing has proven to be a useful tool to monitor deforestation and damage to forests all around the world – using satellite data to create regular maps to be keep track of big areas of land. However, the technology is not foolproof, according to Mars. It has argued that current remote sensing methods have encountered difficulties in accurately spotting deforestation – specifically, when it comes to tree crops like cocoa. For example, when farmers plant new cocoa trees, the technology can mistakenly assume that forests are being cut down. 

This problem led Mars, in collaboration with its suppliers, to take proactive steps to develop field criteria that verify whether suspected deforestation identified with remote sensing is actual deforestation. These criteria, shaped through on-site visits with Blommer, ECOM, ofi, Sucden, and Touton, culminated in the creation of a field verification app. 

Sinan Adama, Supplier Development Program Manager at Mars Cocoa Enterprise, explains further: “After interacting closely with Ivory Coast farmer organisations, it became evident that they didn’t know how to address suspected cases of deforestation based on remote sensing. They are happy to now have a tool to guide them in investigating suspected cases of deforestation in the field. It allows them to meet their legal and voluntary commitments regarding deforestation while being responsible vis-à-vis the farmers they buy from.” 

The app serves two main purposes: It establishes cocoa tree origins through the collection of substantiated evidence that the existing cocoa trees were established prior to the stipulated cutoff date; and it validates land use history – in cases without evidence of cocoa tree establishment, the app supports substantiating past productive land use before the current cocoa trees or confirms the absence of forest tree felling indicative of a prior forest presence at the cutoff date. This supports due diligence and decreases the number of farmers being excluded from farmer organisations without justification and substantiation. 

Commenting on the app, Frederic Dion, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager at Blommer, said: “The field verification app has had a positive impact on our operations. It allows our Field Assurance Officers to corroborate our granular historical forest loss data and alerts and helps ensure that cocoa farmers are not wrongly excluded from the supply chain. This not only benefits our partnering farmers but also helps us maintain the integrity of our business and claims. It’s a proactive step towards achieving our deforestation-free supply chain ambition.” 

Mars has extended an invitation to others to utilise, refine, and contribute to this tool, to enrich the broader community’s efforts towards sustainable cocoa sourcing. 

Cocoa & Forests Initiative 
Launched by World Cocoa Initiative (WCF) in 2017, the Cocoa & Forests Initiative is a public-private partnership dedicated to combating cocoa-related deforestation and degradation. Facilitated by WCF and IDH (the Sustainable Trade Initiative), the partnership was established through the governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana and the world’s leading cocoa and chocolate companies, with agreements to end deforestation and promote forest restoration and protection in the cocoa supply chain.  

The first phase of this initiative involves working with the European Cocoa Association (ECA) and governments to assist companies in complying with the EUDR by the beginning of 2025. The components, as part of this phase, include developing standardised deforestation-free assessments, an industry-wide risk assessment and mitigation protocol, and a template for due diligence documentation and information that satisfies regulators. 

The second phase will support the national traceability systems currently being developed by Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, to be compliant with EU regulations. The third phase will seek to develop a global model for a traceability system that supports compliance with all regulations on a range of cocoa-sector issues, promoting efficiency and cost-effectiveness. 

The EUDR represents a pivotal shift towards sustainable sourcing in the chocolate industry. There is need for chocolate manufacturers to adopt robust due diligence systems to trace the origin of their cocoa. This includes obtaining geo-location data to verify that the cocoa farms comply with deforestation-free criteria. EUDR will result in documentation and transparency becoming essential and this will no doubt encourage further innovation in supply chain management and traceability technologies and collaboration within the industry to support collective efforts to meet EUDR requirements.  

Editorial contact:
Editor: Kiran Grewal kgrewal@kennedys.co.uk