Sustainability is at the heart of Barry Callebaut, representing one of our four strategic pillars. In 2016, we launched Forever Chocolate, the next chapter in our long-standing commitment to building a sustainable cocoa and chocolate supply chain.

Every year, we report on the progress of these time-bound, measurable targets, which are assured by a third-party independent assurance provider. This Progress Report, covers Fiscal Year 2021/22, ending 30 August 2022.

As the future requirements for a sustainable chocolate supply chain are constantly evolving and transforming, we have assessed where our targets need sharpening. Our conclusion? We want to add fresh ambition to our Forever Chocolate Plan. In fiscal year 2022/23, we will present a set of sharpened targets, using our ongoing Forever Chocolate targets for 2025 as a springboard.

By 2025, more than 500,000 cocoa farmers in our supply chain will have been lifted out of poverty.

Cocoa cultivation, unlike many other food crops, is still largely dependent on manual labor in many cocoa-growing regions. Almost two-thirds of global cocoa is produced in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. It is predominantly grown by independent smallholder farmers supplying a range of companies, sometimes via several cooperatives. Cocoa accounts for a significant part of smallholder farmers' income. Cocoa farmers and their families usually live in villages and are required to travel a few kilometers to work on their farms, with most of the work and labor on the farm undertaken by the farmer and their families themselves.

To have more than 500,000 farmers in our supply chain lifted out of poverty, our focus is to continue supporting farmers to modernize agriculture and cultivation methods, increase yields, diversify income and professionalize farming practices. We are focusing on three main components to improve a cocoa farmer’s quality yield per hectare: improved planting material, productivity packages and financial support for third-party labor services.

By 2025, we will eradicate child labor from our supply chain.

Barry Callebaut sources cocoa from regions where child labor, defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to their physical and mental development, occurs, mostly on family owned farms.
In line with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the solution lies not in terminating sourcing activities from these regions, but in assessing, monitoring and remediating on the ground the risk of children becoming involved in child labor. This means understanding which farming communities are most at risk, and providing these farming communities with the necessary support through a combination of poverty alleviation, access to quality education and adequate social infrastructure, and awareness raising. Abandoning a region because of the challenges it faces would only worsen its economic and human rights situation.

Barry Callebaut’s approach to fighting child labor is based on child-centered systems, strengthening and applying data-driven risk analysis capabilities under an overarching human rights due diligence framework. We continue to monitor and identify and remediate cases of child labor in our cocoa supply chain in West Africa. At the same time we implement a wider community-based approach, developing community action plans, building the capacity of local authorities and funding VSLAs.

By 2025, we will be carbon and forest positive

Deforestation and forest degradation are important drivers of climate change and biodiversity loss - the two major environmental challenges of our time. Their main driver is the expansion of agricultural land linked to commodities such as soy, palm oil and cocoa, all three ingredients found in chocolate products. In addition, when looking at cocoa, climate change, poor soil quality, the suboptimal use of agrochemicals, and a lack of natural inputs, such as shade cover and pollinators, are putting even more pressure on cocoa farmers, who are already struggling with declining cocoa yields.
To ensure the stability of ecosystems, the entire chocolate industry must be committed to reducing its carbon footprint and achieving a deforestation-free supply chain. In 2019, we released our science-based targets. These carbon reduction targets have been externally assessed and support the global carbon reduction trajectory required to limit global warming to +1.5°C.
Throughreducing our carbon footprint,agroforestry and reforestation, we aim to mitigate the impact of climate change and restore natural biodiversity while helping farmers to prosper and increase their long-term productivity.

By 2025, we will have 100% sustainable ingredients in all our products.

At Barry Callebaut, approximately half of the ingredient volume we source consists of cocoa products and the other half consists of other ingredients – sugar, dairy, palm oil, coconut oil, sweeteners, nuts and vanilla, among others. Each ingredient we use has its own unique sustainability challenges. To reach our target of 100% sustainable ingredients by 2025, we collaborate closely with our suppliers, engage in industry-level working groups and strive to increase customer demand for sustainable products while implementing our sustainable sourcing programs across all ingredients.
We work with, and implement, various sustainable cocoa programs to improve cocoa farmer livelihoods and farming practices. Among them is Cocoa Horizons, our preferred vehicle to drive impact and deliver on our Forever Chocolate ambition while addressing customer needs.