4/8/2021

In the last four years, the chocolate industry has taken on an increasing number of reforms to begin to address deforestation, child labor, and other abuses in the cocoa sector.

Along with other developments for reform, public-private “platforms” for sustainable cocoa commonly referred to as “ISCOs,” have proliferated. ISCOs bring together industry, governmental entities, and civil society organizations in chocolate-consuming countries to promote sustainability in cocoa.

Facilitating these stakeholders to work together, the ISCOs create goals, set targets and monitor progress. ISCOs have tremendous potential to enable industry to transition to sustainable cocoa and we applaud the organizations, companies, and institutions that have joined a cocoa sustainability platform to improve social and environmental performance of the cocoa industry.

However, we fear that despite great intentions, the ISCOs will have difficulty turning commitment into action and that without added pressure from civil society and the public, the ISCOs could become a tool for industry greenwashing. Additionally, if each of the ISCOs develop divergent definitions, ambitions, key performance indicators (KPIs), and cut-off dates, it could lead to chaos in the world of sustainable cocoa, rather than synergistic global pressure for improvement.

Thus, we have created an ISCO scorecard to exert pressure for synergy over divergence, for order over chaos, for high-ambition goals over mediocrity, and to highlight successes. We hope this scorecard can help set the course for ISCOs to meet their potential.

The table below provides an overview of the evaluated platforms:

Table 1: Cocoa Sustainability Platforms Evaluated

The 12 sustainability criteria include the platforms’ structure, commitments, goals, activities, and policy positions on issues such as traceability and transparency, deforestation, agroforestry, use of chemicals, and child labor. Some of these criteria, such as deforestation, are also familiar to anyone who has read any of Mighty Earth’s publications on cocoa. Most notably, many of these criteria are highlighted in our past Easter Scorecards, wherein we have ranked and graded cocoa traders, manufacturers, and supermarkets on their environmental and social performance, allocating “good,” “medium,” and “bad” markers for performance on individual criteria and  scores for overall corporate performance. Just as cocoa traders and chocolate manufacturers must be held accountable and scored, so too must the platforms that are seeking to reform cocoa at a national level.

Most ISCOs performed well on overall ambition of their platforms, accessibility of information and efforts to address child labor categories. GISCO deserves special recognition for leading the pack.  All platforms, however, failed on traceability and transparency of cocoa supply chains and performed poorly on deforestation and climate.  This shows the urgent need to contribute to joint monitoring mechanisms, like our Accountability Map, or those promised in 2017 by the Cocoa and Forests Initiative (CFI).  Platforms should also adopt CFI’s cut off date of 2018, at a minimum, in order to discourage trade of cocoa produced on land cleared after that date.  WIth so much deforestation for cocoa production over the past thirty years, especially in West Africa, platforms need to go further to invest resources in conservation and restoration.  Finally, another area calling for vast improvement is chemical management– growing cocoa should not be synonymous with poisoning farmers, especially children.

For newly established platforms such as DISCO, FRISCO and JAPANISCO, this scorecard can help shape discussions on how the platform will address key issues. For markets that may be considering developing a platform like in the US or UK, this scorecard serves as a place to start.

Action in Japan to create JAPANISCO comes at a fortuitous time, as its creation roughly coincided with the laudable new Japanese government commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. With Japan poised as a global leader that is setting a model for other countries to make similar commitments, it will be crucial for all Japanese industries to take action to meet the official national goals, including in the chocolate industry. Thanks to the nascent JAPANISCO, in coming years, the Japanese chocolate industry now has a ready-made forum and system wherein they can collectively strive for zero imported deforestation and promotion of agroforestry, both of which can reduce atmospheric concentrations of CO₂. Given Japanese industry’s demonstrated ability to innovate quickly, we hope and believe that JAPANISCO will have success in the cocoa industry and can evolve into a vital model for all cross-commodity zero-deforestation platform for the Japanese food and agriculture industry, encompassing other key feedstocks such as palm oil and helping Japan in the race to net zero.

We embarked on this ranking project to encourage a race to the top and incentivize platforms to learn from each other and help each other do better.  It is in this spirit that we encourage all platforms to urgently address all of the critiques in this paper and thus help push the cocoa industry further along the path to true sustainability.

See the full report here.

2021 Easter Scorecard: “Rotten Egg Award” Goes to Storck, While Alter Eco, Tony’s Chocolonely and Whittaker’s Get “Good Egg” Awards; Godiva Improves From 2020 Last Place Showing.

Washington, D.C. – Ahead of Easter, many of the world’s biggest cocoa traders, chocolate manufacturers and retailers are still failing to address social and environmental concerns, according to the 2021 joint Easter Scorecard published by Be Slavery Free, Green America, INKOTA, Mighty Earth, and National Wildlife Federation. 

Storck, a confectioner with production facilities in Germany and 21 international subsidiaries, received the lowest marks – the “Rotten Egg Award” – for its lack of responsiveness and transparency. Their brands include Werther’s Original, Riesen, Toffifee, Merci, Colourful World, and Bendicks.  

The “Good Egg” was awarded to three highest-ranking companies:   

• Alter Eco, a US-based company with distribution in the US and Europe, received its first Good Egg. The NGOs also acknowledged its partner Chocolats Halba / Sunray for Halba’s role in helping Alter Eco achieve sustainability goals. 
• Tony’s Chocolonely, a Netherlands–based multinational company, received the Good Egg for the second time in a row. 
• Whittaker’s, from New Zealand with products available primarily in Australia and New Zealand, also received the Good Egg for the second year in a row. 

Previous Rotten Egg “winners” have since substantially improved their performance on sustainability across the board. 2020 Rotten Egg recipient Godiva made major progress on living income policies and its environmental work, and 2019 Rotten Egg recipient Sucden made progress on all categories of sustainability. 

“With this scorecard, consumers in the US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and beyond can buy Easter chocolates from the heart. They now have clear guidance on which companies are shining and which companies’ treats are likely tainted by deforestation and human rights abuses,” said National Wildlife Federation Senior Advisor Etelle Higonnet. “Consumers can now buy chocolate with their eyes wide open and use their purchasing power to push laggards like Storck and reward industry leaders Alter Eco, Tony’s Chocolonely, and Whittaker’s.” 

The groups surveyed 31 chocolate companies and cocoa suppliers, estimated to be supplying over 80 percent of the world’s chocolate confectionery. The companies were scored on the six most pressing sustainability issues facing the chocolate industry: human rights due diligence; transparency and traceability; deforestation and climate change; agroforestry; living income policies; and child labor. Brands were then placed into one of four categories, with those awarded a green bunny leading the industry on policy, or a red bunny for needing to catch up with the industry. Those companies who chose not to participate in the scorecard also received a red bunny.  

Cocoa companies, particularly those in the Cocoa & Forests Initiative, have taken an important step to increase traceability in their supply chains by mapping over one million farms since 2018, and most major chocolate companies have disclosed at least some of their Ivorian cocoa supply chains in Mighty Earth’s Cocoa Accountability map.  

“We have seen the most positive progress in the traceability category in recent years,” said Charlotte Tate, Labor Campaigns Director at Green America. “Companies are getting better quickly on this issue, but most still aren’t crossing the finish line. In order to address all other issues in the scorecard, companies must first know where the cocoa is coming from. Without that information, there is little hope of ending child labor, farmer poverty, or deforestation. Companies must have fully traceable supply chains, paired with transparent reporting.” 

Besides the traceability trend, the scorecard provides a snapshot on farmer income. “A staggering 180 million wrapped or boxed eggs are purchased for Easter every year. That doesn’t include mini or creme eggs which are huge sellers. Not enough of the chocolate industry’s money goes to countries where cocoa is grown, or to cocoa farmers themselves,” said Fuzz Kitto, Co-National Director of Be Slavery Free in Australia. “Most cocoa farmers earn under $1 per day, with women farmers making as little as $0.30 daily – they are especially hard hit by economic disruption in this pandemic.”  

Another trend in the Easter scorecard is the slow but steady improvement of Japanese companies on certain sustainability metrics over the past four years. However, Japanese chocolate companies still need stronger policies with monitoring and enforcement to end child labor, poverty and deforestation in their cocoa supply chains. The Japanese sector must evolve quickly to avoid underperforming relative to its global peers. The creation of a new “cocoa platform” launched by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2020 could be the key to address sustainability problems industry-wide by bringing together government, industry, and non-profits. 

“The scorecard also shows that the pace for adopting agroforestry and more climate friendly farming practices is much slower than required,” said Samuel Mawutor, Senior Advisor at Mighty Earth. Transforming the cocoa sector from the problematic monocultures cannot be possible without a stronger focus on forest and farm restoration through agroforestry. He notes that “companies need to transition from tree seedling distribution and invest many more resources into growing and nurturing planted trees on cocoa farms and tree tenure security to ensure the uptake of agroforestry at scale across West Africa.”

“This scorecard sets the record straight on greenwashing versus real action,” said Johannes Schorling, Campaign Coordinator at INKOTA. “Despite decades of voluntary industry commitments, poverty, hazardous child labor, and deforestation are still widespread in the cocoa sector. Most companies have only started to carry out due diligence, and many gaps remain. This corporate underperformance shows that we need robust due diligence legislation.

For more about the methodology of the Scorecard, see here.

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About Mighty Earth 

Mighty Earth is a global environmental campaign organization that works to protect forests, conserve oceans, and address climate change. Mighty Earth works to drive large-scale action towards environmentally responsible agriculture that protects native ecosystems, wildlife, and water, and respects local community rights – including in the cocoa sector. Mighty Earth’s team has played a decisive role in persuading some of the world’s largest food and agriculture companies to dramatically improve their environmental and social policies and practices. More information on Mighty Earth can be found at https://www.mightyearth.org/chocolate/.  

About Be Slavery Free 

Be Slavery Free is a coalition of civil society, community and other organisations working together to prevent, abolish and disrupt modern slavery in Australia, the Netherlands  and around the world. Be Slavery Free has on the ground experience in preventing, disrupting and remediating modern slavery, with a particular focus on shining a light on slavery in supply chains. Be Slavery Free helped build momentum to pass Australia’s Modern Slavery Act. Since 2007 they have been working with the chocolate industry, advocating for addressing child labour and slavery in cocoa. More information on Be Slavery Free can be found at https://beslaveryfree.com.  

About Green America 

Green America is America’s leading green economy organization, whose mission is to harness US economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society. Founded in 1982, Green America provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses and individuals to solve today’s social and environmental problems. More information on Green America can be found at http://www.GreenAmerica.org.  

About Inkota 

INKOTA has spent the last 50 years campaigning to end hunger and poverty and make globalization work for all. With targeted campaigns, INKOTA aims to raise public awareness in Germany for the darker sides of globalization and the importance of human rights. INKOTA coordinates the “Make Chocolate Fair!” campaign, which advocates for better living conditions for cocoa farmers in West Africa. Furthermore, INKOTA cooperates with civil society partner organizations in the global South, helping them to campaign for justice and equality in their home countries. More information on Inkota can be found at  https://www.inkota.de/english/.  

About the National Wildlife Federation 

The National Wildlife Federation, America’s largest conservation organization with over 6 million members, works to unite Americans from all walks of life in giving wildlife a voice. NWF has been on the front lines for wildlife since 1936, fighting for the conservation values that are woven into the fabric of America’s collective heritage. NWF’s international program combines expertise in natural resource economics, remote sensing and GIS, international law, and tropical ecology to advance market-based solutions and public policy to eliminate tropical forest loss. NWF promotes “zero deforestation” agriculture, focusing on commodities with the greatest impacts on forests and wildlife. More information on NWF can be found at https://international.nwf.org/about/.