A great start
A great start
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) published on March 9, 2017 its Swiss Food Industry Rating report. The purpose of the report is to take stock of how well the 15 biggest Swiss food companies are integrating environmental sustainability into their business strategy. Barry Callebaut is very proud to be among the highest rated food companies in this survey, scoring “ambitious”, though we acknowledge that there is more work to be done. Through our new sustainability strategy Forever Chocolate, we are taking on the challenge to make sustainable chocolate the norm by 2025.
Making sustainable chocolate the norm - by 2025
If all 7.5 billion people currently living on this planet would adopt the same lifestyle as the Swiss, you would actually require 3.3 planets to satisfy consumption. Food accounts for 28% of this equation according to WWF. Moving to a more sustainable food system that can guarantee food security and respect the planet’s ecological boundaries is therefore the challenge for the coming years. The Swiss Federal office for the Environment shows that the environmental impact of the food system can be almost halved. So, no excuses! It is time to act.
Making sustainable chocolate the norm - by 2025
Barry Callebaut launched in 2016 its plan to make sustainable chocolate the norm, Forever Chocolate. By setting four ambitious, time-bound targets on
- eradicating child labor,
- prospering farmers,
- thriving nature and
- sustainable chocolate,
we intend to tackle the challenges in the chocolate supply chain head on. Taking part in the WWF rating was a useful exercise to take stock of where we currently stand as Barry Callebaut vis a vis food industry in terms of managing our environmental impact in Switzerland. To have been rated as ambitious is a great start, but there are still plenty of builds. We did not achieve the highest rating (yet), but we have the ambition to do so in the coming years. And for that, we need your help! We do not yet have all the answers how to make sustainable chocolate the norm. This is why we want to start a movement including farmers, civil society, industry governments and chocolate lovers around the world.
