Cocoa and sustainability: a bittersweet edition

A few weeks ago I wrote about coffee and sustainability, and a possible journey towards sustainable coffee supporting improved livelihoods. This commodity isn’t common and yet still is. Cherished and celebrated by all ages alike, chocolate has been a part of sweet memories and sugar rushes for time immemorial, essentially from the Bronze Age. Something that has been so integral to humanity as well as emotion is being lost upon - stuck in between the cycle of ‘the impact of cocoa farming on the planet’ and ‘the impact of rising temperatures on cocoa’.

Cocoa is a very labour intensive crop. It grows all year round and needs to be harvested by hand, and also reacts quickly to changes in weather, and is susceptible to multiple pests and insecticides - now, imagine what climate change can do to cocoa.

When it comes to the harvest and the final product, one cocoa pod consists of 20 to 50 seeds which need to be opened to become cocoa beans, a lot of fermentation from here-on leads to final cocoa and its typical aroma. It takes a whole year’s harvest from one tree to produce half a kilo of cocoa. Lately, because of climate change and multiple other geopolitical factors, cocoa has become unsustainable in many ways, especially for the farmers.

Most of our cocoa is produced in West Africa, with Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana being the two largest cocoa growing countries, accounting for nearly 60% of global cocoa production. Apart from them, major quantities of Cocoa are produced across Indonesia, Nigeria, Ecuador, Cameroon, Brazil, Sierra Leone, Peru and the Dominican Republic.

When we talk about the sustainability of the overall Cocoa industry, there are many things to unravel.

Firstly, similar to coffee beans, the countries that harvest it, do not process these cocoa beans - countries like the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Germany are the ones who produce and then export the finalised chocolate into the market.

The role of geopolitics cannot be overlooked. Looking into the situation in Cameroon, ~60% of the population is directly dependent on the Cocoa production and this 60% also lives in rural areas. Cameroon’s cocoa beans are traded at a discount as is due to possible contamination with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH, a byproduct generated due to the incomplete burning of fossil fuels). But this process poses a threat to the people of Cameroon and any changes in the market means a further degradation and yet the country’s commitment to SDGs 1 and 2, Zero Hunger and No Poverty, seeks for a change.

For the past few years, the change in rainfall patterns and higher temperatures across the globe has reduced cocoa yields by 40% in certain places and this also has a direct impact on the socio-economic conditions of the crop grower.

In Brazil too, there is a similar story. A decade earlier, there was a strong frequency of El Niño Southern Oscillation events, which at the time brought extreme flooding as well as extreme drought through different times of the year - and essentially the wrong time. The farmers lost 62% of their cocoa yield that year, in one region of the country - extrapolating this to the entire nation, creates a huge dent - which with climate change only worsens.

Across Asia also, the picture is no different. Indonesia is the third largest cocoa producer globally, over 30% of Indonesia is dependent on agriculture, but its contribution to the country’s GDP is only 10% or lesser. The Indonesian Cocoa sector has experienced immense growth in the last 25 years and over 15 Million people are directly dependent on the Cocoa production - especially when the cocoa farming is located in places like Sulawesi island, North Sumatra, West Java, Papua and some production areas like Bali and Flores. These names might be familiar to you because they are either highly prone to flash floods or tsunamis (that we have heard of in the last two decades of, and beyond), and some of these places are highly visited. Both of these factors, puts the cocoa production and the ones dependent on this harvest, extremely vulnerable to the after effects of climate change.

These three stories, first of all, tell us that no one is spared and we have to work together towards this climate crisis. While we easily get chocolate or cocoa powder in the smallest grocery near us, how that reaches the companies who source it, is a different story. Climate change is also a huge contributor towards the widening gap between the different social classes and economic divides - but the real question is, what can we do to empower and create better impact.

This is where sustainable cocoa farming and sourcing comes into the picture.

Sustainable cocoa production aims to address environmental, social, and economic aspects of farming. Environmentally, this includes agroforestry, biodiversity conservation, maintaining soil health, and efficient water management. Socially, it ensures fair labour practices, community development, and farmer empowerment. Economically, it involves fair trade, market access, and income diversification. Certification programs like Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, and organic cocoa play crucial roles, with over 1.7 million farmers in Fairtrade and 500,000 under Rainforest Alliance standard. These initiatives help reduce deforestation, improve carbon sequestration, and increase farmer incomes through premium prices and yield improvements.

The global market for organic cocoa is growing, with production in regions like Latin America and Africa across Ghana and Brazil. These certifications

have helped reduce deforestation rates in cocoa-producing regions by promoting agroforestry and sustainable land use practices, also contributing to carbon sequestration as well as a higher income for the cocoa bean growers . For example, Fairtrade cocoa typically earns farmers an additional premium of about $200 per metric ton apart from lesser child labour and a social investment initiative towards education, healthcare and better infrastructure. Sustainable farming practices have also shown improvements of 30-50% due to better soil health and pest management.

In Ghana, programs like the Cocoa Forest REDD+ Program aim to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation while promoting sustainable cocoa production.

There are multiple global organisations that are working towards this as well - I can only cover a handful here but requesting you to read more on the same.

• International Cocoa Initiative (ICI): Based out of Côte D’Ivoire, Ghana and Switzerland, ICI aims to create a sustainable and responsibly managed cocoa supply chain with a thriving cocoa-growing community where children's rights and human rights are protected and respected, and where child labour and forced labour have been eliminated. The organisation has been working with the cocoa and chocolate industry, civil society, farming communities, governments, international organisations and donors towards its vision and commitment and has been working with cocoa-growing communities in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana since 2007.
• Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa (Swissco): The Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa (SWISSCO) fosters collaboration between the cocoa and chocolate industry, the public sector, non-governmental organisations, and research institutes. Together, the members of the Cocoa Platform actively engage to improve the living conditions of cocoa farmers, to protect natural resources, and to promote biodiversity in cocoa producing countries. Participation, partnership, and transparency contribute to a sustainable cocoa value chain, for both present and future generations. It has also been a partner of ICI since 2019. The organisation actively works towards multiple pillars like network and knowledge exchange, socio-economic projects, international collaboration and reporting and information.
• Fairtrade:  Fairtrade is one of the most recognised and trusted sustainability labels in the world. It is a global organisation co-owned by more than 2 million farmers and aims to create an environment where workers can earn fairer prices, build stronger communities, and have control over their futures.
• International Cocoa Organization (ICCO): The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) is an inter-governmental organiSation established in 1973 under the auspices of the United Nations and operating within the framework of successive International Cocoa Agreements. Located in Abidjan – Ivory Coast, ICCO was established in 1973 to put into effect the first International Cocoa Agreement which was negotiated in Geneva at a United Nations International Cocoa Conference.
• World Cocoa Foundation: A stakeholder-led organisation as well, the World Cocoa Foundation is an international membership organisation across six continents, representing the global cocoa and chocolate sector. The membership includes farmer cooperatives, cocoa processors, cocoa traders, chocolate manufacturers, supply chain companies and other companies worldwide.

WIth these organisations and more, assessing and understanding the issues the sector faces and coming up with possible solutions towards the same - there is still hope. Chocolate and cocoa is undoubtedly routine for most of us now, but we cannot take it casually anymore. For every rupee we pay towards a chocolate we buy, the impact of that rupee needs to be considered.

While this edition focused more on general storytelling and a global approach, in the next edition I am focusing on individual action, cocoa production in India and just thoughtfulness and gratitude.

Thanks for reading, you can find some really interesting resources, here:

Cocoa Farming System in Indonesia and Its Sustainability Under Climate Change (researchgate.net)

T4.152.-GLOBAL-CLIMATE-CHANGE-IMPACTS-ON-COCOA.pdf (icco.org)

Climate change alters impacts of extreme climate events on a tropical perennial tree crop | Scientific Reports (nature.com)

Frontiers | Assessment of the impact of climate and non-climatic parameters on cocoa production: a contextual analysis for Cameroon (frontiersin.org)

Largest cocoa producing countries worldwide 2023/2024 | Statista

The World's Top Cocoa Producing Countries (visualcapitalist.com)

For Sustainability in Cocoa Production, Both Countries and Companies Need to Commit | World Resources Institute (wri.org)

This article is also published on the author's blog. illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.