How sustainable is Belgian chocolate? Beyond Chocolate presents first report – Culinary
A year and a half after establishing a comprehensive partnership to make chocolate more sustainable in our country, Beyond Chocolate is proposing its first annual report.
As citizens of a true chocolate country, we regard chocolate as an indispensable basic product. If we want to continue to give it this status, something needs to be done quickly in this sector. After all, the vast majority of the 140,000 families who grow cocoa for our country still do not earn income or have to work in catastrophic conditions. Out of poverty, many cocoa farmers throw in the towel or resort to harmful agricultural practices.
Beyond Chocolate aims to counteract these negative effects on people and the environment. The organisation – a partnership between several companies in the chocolate and retail sectors – set up a year and a half ago to ensure that all chocolate produced and consumed in Belgium comes from sustainable (re)cultivation by 2025. This first step means that from this year all chocolates must be independently certified or part of a sustainability program that the company has developed itself. By 2030 at the latest, all cocoa farmers who supply them to the Belgian market must earn a living wage, and deforestation should no longer be caused by cocoa production for the Belgian market.
Transparency
Beyond Chocolate is committed to communicating clearly about the current state of affairs. How sustainable our chocolate is today and what Beyond Chocolate will do to improve it can be Beyond Chocolate 2019 Annual Report. It is said that half of the chocolate offerings in our country are now certified. “This is a good start and gives hope for an even better future for the Belgian chocolate sector,” it sounds.
However, there is still a long way to go before Beyond Chocolate achieves its ambitious final goals. To boost the sustainability process, the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), the organisation that runs Beyond Chocolate, will use money from Belgian development cooperation. seven sustainability projects in Ghana and Ivory Coast Cofinancing.
Good start, but not done
The conservation organisation WWF welcomes the efforts, but warns that much remains to be done. In 2019, for example, the organisation has shown that the Belgian chocolate sector is one million hectares of cocoa plantations in countries at high risk of deforestation, this is more than the area used for often targeted sectors such as livestock or palm oil. The biggest pain point in Beyond Chocolate remains the spread of certifications for the WWF. After all, some labels are much stricter than others.
About 80% of the original West African rainforests have been replaced by agriculture, mainly for cocoa. The disappearance of these forests is not only catastrophic for biodiversity, but is also changing local weather patterns, which will no longer benefit many areas for cocoa cultivation. In order to secure the future of cocoa cultivation, the restoration of the degraded nature reserve is just as important as the protection of the trees that still exist today.
As citizens of a true chocolate country, we regard chocolate as an indispensable basic product. If we want to continue to give it this status, something needs to be done quickly in this sector. After all, the vast majority of the 140,000 families who grow cocoa for our country still do not earn income or have to work in catastrophic conditions. Out of poverty, many cocoa farmers throw in the towel or resort to harmful agricultural practices. Beyond Chocolate aims to counteract these negative effects on people and the environment. The organisation – a partnership between several companies in the chocolate and retail sectors – set up a year and a half ago to ensure that all chocolate produced and consumed in Belgium comes from sustainable (re)cultivation by 2025. This first step means that from this year all chocolates must be independently certified or part of a sustainability program that the company has developed itself. By 2030 at the latest, all cocoa farmers who supply them to the Belgian market must earn a living wage, and deforestation should no longer be caused by cocoa production for the Belgian market. Beyond Chocolate is committed to communicating clearly about the current state of affairs. The Beyond Chocolate 2019 Annual Report shows how sustainable our chocolate is today and what Beyond Chocolate will do to improve it. It is said that half of the chocolate offerings in our country are now certified. “This is a good start and gives hope for an even better future for the Belgian chocolate sector,” it sounds. However, there is still a long way to go before Beyond Chocolate achieves its ambitious final goals. To boost the sustainability process, the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), the organisation that runs Beyond Chocolate, will co-finance seven sustainability projects in Ghana and Ivory Coast with funding from Belgian development cooperation. The conservation organisation WWF welcomes the efforts, but warns that much remains to be done. In 2019, for example, the organisation has shown that the Belgian chocolate sector is responsible for one million hectares of cocoa plantations in countries at high risk of deforestation, which is more than the area used for frequently affected sectors such as livestock or palm oil. The biggest pain point in Beyond Chocolate remains the spread of certifications for the WWF. After all, some labels are much stricter than others. About 80% of the original West African rainforests have been replaced by agriculture, mainly for cocoa. The disappearance of these forests is not only catastrophic for biodiversity, but is also changing local weather patterns, which will no longer benefit many areas for cocoa cultivation. In order to secure the future of cocoa cultivation, the restoration of the degraded nature reserve is just as important as the protection of the trees that still exist today.