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World Cocoa Foundation

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World Cocoa Foundation
Formation2000
Headquarters1025 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 1205, Washington, DC 20036
Location
  • Washington, D.C. (Headquarters)

    Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (Country Office)

    Accra, Ghana (Country Office)
Region served
Worldwide
Membership
90+ member companies
Christine McGrath
Websitewww.worldcocoafoundation.org

The World Cocoa Foundation is a non-profit membership organization with more than 90 member companies striving to make the cocoa supply chain more sustainable. WCF and its members are criticized for doing too little to end child labor, deforestation and extreme poverty,[1] with their efforts dismissed as greenwashing[2] and “a remarkable failure”.[3] WCF's membership includes chocolate manufacturers such as Mondelez International, Nestlé, The Hershey Company and Mars, Inc. cocoa producers and suppliers such as Barry Callebaut and Cargill, shipping companies and ports and retailers such as Starbucks.[4]

History

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The World Cocoa Foundation had its roots as a 1995 initiative of the Chocolate Manufacturers Association (CMA) called the International Cocoa Research and Education Foundation, which was later renamed the World Cocoa Foundation on August 14, 2000.[5] The CMA itself was later dissolved in 2008 and became part of the National Confectioners Association.

The 2022 Cocoa Barometer[6] noted the lack of diversity in WCF’s board. “Of the sixteen board members of the World Cocoa Foundation, not one is from West Africa. None are black.”[7]

Initiatives

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The WCF's vision[8] “is to be a catalyst for a thriving, healthy and equitable cocoa sector that is collaborating to improve farmer income, reverse deforestation, and combat child labor”.

Investments by the chocolate and cocoa industry into these sustainability initiatives are estimated[9] in one analysis at 0.5% of the turnover of cocoa and chocolate companies. Characterizing this as “not much”, this analysis estimates that the “pay of the CEO and management teams of the major cocoa manufacturing companies is the same (or higher) than the total investments made to support cocoa farmers.”[9] In combatting child labor, one estimate sees chocolate and cocoa companies investing 0.1 percent of one year’s worth of sales.[10]

Combatting child labor

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WCF announced an initiative, called Children First, at its 2019 Partnership Meeting[11] in Berlin, Germany that would “eliminate all forms of child labor by 2025”. The initiative has yet to be launched.

Described by one activist[12] as a “criminal tragedy”, child labor in cocoa production is seen as widespread and has not been reduced significantly over decades.

A 2019 Washington Post investigation[13] noted that “Mars, Nestlé and Hershey pledged nearly two decades ago to stop using cocoa harvested by children. Yet much of the chocolate you buy still starts with child labor.” The piece reported on children from Burkina Faso working in appalling conditions to harvest cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire.[13]

A 2020 report by NORC at the University of Chicago concluded that the prevalence of child labor in cocoa production had increased in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.[14] The Washington Post said the “findings represent a remarkable failure by leading chocolate companies to fulfill a long-standing promise to eradicate the practice from their supply chains.”[15] Commenting on the response to the findings by WCF President Richard Scobey, the Washington Post noted he “identified no industry failures. Instead, he suggested that the goals for reducing child labor may have been too lofty.”[16]

WCF board member companies have pledged their chocolate is free of child labor but media investigations have repeatedly found child labor in their supply chains.

An investigation in 2022 by Britain’s Channel 4 Dispatches found children as young as 10 working on farms in Ghana supplying the Cadbury’s brand of Mondelēz International.[17] The investigation went to an address on Mondelēz’s Cocoa Life website in 2022 and discovered child laborers harvesting cocoa without protective clothing. Last Week Tonight host John Oliver[18] joked: “I don’t know what statement Mondelēz could release in the wake of that other than maybe ‘Honestly, did not think anyone would actually check’”. A CBS television news[19] investigation in 2023 found children as young as five years old working in the Ghana supply chain of Mars to harvest cocoa for brands such as Snickers and M&Ms.

The industry has set and missed deadlines[13] to end child labor in cocoa production in 2005, 2008, 2010 and in 2020. The repeated failures to meet their own deadlines have prompted widespread derision.

On Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver said: “At that point, why bother setting a deadline at all? If your friend agrees to meet you for dinner at 7, then pushes it to 7.30, then 8, and then finally says ‘be there in 20, years not minutes,’ it kinda feels like they never had any intention of getting dinner in the first place.”[18]

Improving farmer income

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From 2001 to 2012, the World Cocoa Foundation administered projects to improve farmer income supported in part by funding from United States Agency for International Development.[20] In 2009 the World Cocoa Foundation was selected to administer a $23 million grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation aimed at increasing farming household incomes through improved farmer crop productivity, better cocoa quality and crop diversification.[21] In 2014, a follow-on grant of $8.9 million by the Gates Foundation was also aimed at improving the livelihoods of West African farmers.[22]

The CocoaAction initiative began in June 2014 and ended in 2019.[23] It was a voluntary cocoa sustainability initiative to improve farmer incomes led by a number of the world's leading cocoa and chocolate companies. The World Cocoa Foundation acted to align the individual sustainability efforts of those companies. By 2019 there were 9 companies participating in CocoaAction: Barry Callebaut, Blommer Chocolate Company, Cargill, Ferrero, The Hershey Company, Mars, Inc., Mondelez International, Nestlé and Olam International.[23] These are the "world's largest cocoa and chocolate companies" working through CocoaAction "to coordinate their cocoa sustainability efforts" starting with Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.[24]

An assessment in 2020 by KPMG said CocoaAction “did not fully reach its targets and realize its vision.”[25][26] It had a goal of getting 300,000 farmers to adopt all components of the Productivity Package by 2020 but only 1,165 farmers ended up doing so, representing less than one percent of the target. The target of 1,200 communities reached with the Community Development Package was surpassed; but this figure only relates to the execution of the needs assessment, and not to actual full implementation. KPMG noted that “the overall strategy and objectives of CocoaAction were designed with minimal input from external stakeholders” and that “the origin country governments were not sufficiently involved and therefore no local ownership was established”. It also noted that CocoaAction suffered because “the strength of facilitation by WCF and level of company participation faded over time”.

In 2018, WCF launched CocoaAction Brasil acting in a capacity similar to its role in West Africa sustainability efforts.[27]

Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, complaining about falling prices and the impact on farmer income, boycotted[28] the 2022 WCF Partnership Meeting. The 2022 Cocoa Barometer[6] said the environmental and social problems in cocoa production would persist until companies paid farmers substantially more for their cocoa beans.[7] "We've got new data that shows you cannot have sustainable cocoa without higher prices for farmers. It's just not going to work," Antonie Fountain, director of the VOICE Network, told Reuters.[29] WCF President Chris Vincent[30] said cocoa prices were outside WCF’s mandate: “Antitrust laws mean companies cannot discuss pricing together. So, we are clear that we are not part of that price debate.”

Reversing deforestation

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In 2018, the World Cocoa Foundation launched the Cocoa & Forests Initiative with support from The Prince of Wales. The Cocoa & Forests Initiative joins the governments of Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Colombia,[31] and thirty-five chocolate and cocoa manufacturers such as founding members The Hershey Company,[32] Nestle[33] and Mondelez International.[34] Two cornerstones of this initiative are farm mapping and tree distribution to increase canopy.

While the World Cocoa Foundation reported progress had been made in the first four years of this initiative,[35] environmentalist Mighty Earth reported room for improvement.[36] Said Glenn Hurowitz,[37] CEO of Mighty Earth: “Chocolate companies like Nestlé, Hershey’s, Mondelez and Mars need to stop making empty promises and start working together with governments in the CFI to establish an open and effective joint deforestation monitoring mechanism this year”.[38]

In a review of the Cocoa & Forests Initiative's first five years, Reuters concluded that it had done too little to stop cocoa from destroying forests. It cited a "lack of sufficient finance, limited traceability, and failure of companies to collaborate at a landscape level" as key issues.[39]

References

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  1. ^ "Ivorian cocoa farmers earn less than $1 a day, finds Barry Callebaut-backed study". 22 February 2017.
  2. ^ "Miki Mistrati on X". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 2023-11-21 – via Terry Collingsworth on X.
  3. ^ Whoriskey, Peter (2020-10-19). "U.S. report: Much of the world's chocolate supply relies on more than 1 million child workers". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  4. ^ "Our Members".
  5. ^ "History".
  6. ^ a b "Cocoa Barometer 2022".
  7. ^ a b "Cocoa Barometer 2022". Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  8. ^ "Vision & Mission". World Cocoa Foundation. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  9. ^ a b Pollard, Duncan (2022-01-25). "Cocoa and Poverty: Time for a New Framing". Pildacre Hill. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  10. ^ Horton, Adrian (2023-10-30). "John Oliver on child labor in the chocolate industry: 'It is worse than you may realize'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  11. ^ "2019 Partnership Meeting Summary" (PDF).
  12. ^ "Terry Collingsworth on X". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  13. ^ a b c "Hershey, Nestle and Mars won't promise their chocolate is free of child labor". Washington Post. 2019-06-05. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  14. ^ "Assessing Child Labor in West Africa Cocoa Farming | NORC at the University of Chicago". www.norc.org. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  15. ^ "U.S. report: Much of the world's chocolate supply relies on more than 1 million child workers". The Washington Post. 2020-10-19.
  16. ^ Whoriskey, Peter (October 19, 2020). "U.S. report: Much of the world's chocolate supply relies on more than 1 million child workers". www.washingtonpost.com.
  17. ^ Ungoed-Thomas, Jon (2022-04-03). "Cadbury faces fresh accusations of child labour on cocoa farms in Ghana". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  18. ^ a b Chocolate: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), 29 October 2023, retrieved 2023-12-12
  19. ^ "Candy company Mars uses cocoa harvested by kids as young as 5 in Ghana: CBS News investigation – CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. 2023-11-29. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  20. ^ Chocolate Manufacturer Associationusaid.gov Archived 2017-03-25 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ "Foundation, Partners Pledge $90 Million to Boost Incomes of Small Farmers in Africa". Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
  22. ^ "Committed Grants". Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
  23. ^ a b "CocoaAction". Archived from the original on 2021-12-07.
  24. ^ CocoaAction Frequently Asked Questions (PDF) (Report). World Cocoa Foundation. 2014. p. 7. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  25. ^ "Search Results for "cocoaaction kpmg"". World Cocoa Foundation. 2023-11-21. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  26. ^ "CocoaAction Assessment" (PDF). KPMG. December 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-04-11.
  27. ^ "Exclusive: WCF officially launches 'CocoaAction Brasil' to boost sustainability in country's cocoa sector". 25 October 2018.
  28. ^ "Ghana and Ivory Coast Boycott Cocoa Meeting in Brussels". Voice of America. 2022-10-26. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  29. ^ Angel, Maytaal (2022-12-07). "Cocoa sustainability efforts will fail without living wage for farmers – report". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  30. ^ confectionerynews.com (2023-04-05). "WCF President Chris Vincent gives first interview to discuss the organisation's future role in tackling cocoa sustainability and new partnerships with CHOCOA and the NCA". confectionerynews.com. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  31. ^ "Cocoa & Forests Initiative". IDH – the Sustainable Trade Initiative.
  32. ^ "Hershey increases its cocoa deforestation initiatives by investing in supply chain sustainability | Digital Supply Chain". 17 May 2020.
  33. ^ "Cocoa & Forests Initiative: Nestlé's Initial Action Plan to end deforestation and promote forest restoration and protection in the cocoa supply chain" (PDF). nestle.com. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  34. ^ "Mondelēz confirms commitment to eliminate deforestation in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire". 6 March 2019.
  35. ^ "Cocoa & Forests Initiative Reports Progress, Aims to Expand Effort". 19 May 2020.
  36. ^ "Major Chocolate Companies Failed In Pledge to End Deforestation, Comprehensive New Study Shows". Mighty Earth. 14 February 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  37. ^ "Picture of Glenn Hurowitz" (JPG). www.mightyearth.org. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  38. ^ Earth, Mighty (2022-02-14). "Major Chocolate Companies Failed In Pledge to End Deforestation, Comprehensive New Study Shows". Mighty Earth. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  39. ^ Slavin, Terry (2023-01-20). "After five years, recipe to end deforestation from cocoa farming remains elusive". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
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