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Agriculture

Trends in the Implementation of Ethical Supply Chains: A 2020 Snapshot of the Cocoa Sector

By Philip Rothrock, Laura Weatherer, Kate Ellis, Leah Samberg, Stephen Donofrio, Ciro Calderon
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Over the past few decades, cocoa production has emerged as a driver of land use change, particularly in West Africa. In addition to its significant contributions to deforestation, cocoa production has also faced intense public scrutiny due to human rights violations, especially the use of child labor.

In Trends in the Implementation of Ethical Supply Chains: A 2020 Snapshot of the Cocoa Sector, Forest Trends’ Supply Change Initiative joined the Accountability Framework Initiative (AFi) to shed light on current trends in implementing best practice for achieving ethical supply chains across the cocoa sector. For this analysis, Supply Change researched and analyzed company sustainability commitments, production and procurement policies, and progress reporting against the common approaches for pursuing ethical supply chains outlined in the Accountability Framework.

This report features:

  • Supply Change’s analysis of more than 69 companies which are operating across the supply chain and sourcing cocoa from major cocoa growing regions including Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
  • Although none of the cocoa companies tracked by Supply Change are following the Framework completely, a little more than half (38/69) had at least one commitment or policy to source sustainably produced cocoa.
  • A deeper look at corporate no-deforestation commitments and their alignment with guidance in the AFi, specifically on the companies’ use of risk assessments, supply chain mapping and traceability, management of non-compliant suppliers, and monitoring practices.
  • Discussion around trends in corporate alignment of ethical supply chains and areas of lacking transparency.

Webinar: Sifting the Assortment of Chocolate Sustainability this Valentine’s Day

11 February 2021 | Webinar Recording

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, experts from Rainforest Alliance, Forest Trends’ Supply Change initiative, and Nestlé discussed trends and lessons learned among companies in the process of setting, implementing, monitoring, and reporting on their commitments. This session introduced high-level research findings by Supply Change and the Accountability Framework initiative from their report, comparing corporate alignment with the Framework to serve as a basis for discussing emerging risks and opportunities for companies active in the cocoa sector.

Download the Report