This Year's Chocolate Scorecard Is Here to Help You Buy Better Candy

The Chocolate Scorecard highlights companies in the chocolate industry making strides in environmental and social issues.

A lot of work goes into making chocolate, from the farms down to the factory. But some of the realities behind that work may not be apparent to the average consumer.

Within the chocolate industry, there are a range of environmental and social issues that come to the fore — such as forced labor, living income, and deforestation — with some manufacturers giving them more attention than others. This compelled the organizers of the annual Chocolate Scorecard to shine a spotlight on both the consumer chocolate world’s biggest wins alongside areas needing improvement.

Last week, the 2023 Chocolate Scorecard released its updated ranking of chocolate companies and retailers around the globe. The chocolatiers are graded by six key metrics: traceability of products, if workers are paid a living income, if the supply chain contains child or forced labor, deforestation, agroforestry, and agrochemical management. The metrics are decided by a team of experts in collaboration with Green America, Mighty Earth, Be Slavery Free, and the universities compiling the stats and scores: Macquarie University, The University of Wollongong, and the Open University.

The scoring methodology ranks the companies in each metric before giving them an overall score. A green egg means a company is ahead of industry standards. Yellow indicates a company is developing good policies, and orange shows that it's made a start but needs more work on implementing procedures. A red egg means it's behind industry standards.

Related:We Tried 10 Popular Milk Chocolate Bars, Here Are Our Favorites

This year's green Good Egg Award went to Original Beans "for their regenerative approach to growing and making chocolate," as mentioned on the Chocolate Scorecard's website, and Tony's Chocolonely for seeking to bring structural change to the entire cocoa division through partnership. On the other hand, the red Rotten Egg Award went to General Mills and Walmart for "their lack of public policies and commitment for their cocoa procurement," according to the Chocolate Scorecard.

Companies within the overall yellow ranking include Ben & Jerry's, Nestle, The Hershey Company, and others. Among those with an overall orange score are Starbucks (product lines include their Classic Hot Chocolate, White Hot Chocolate, Iced Cappuccino, and more) and Godiva Chocolatier. Meanwhile, Kellogg Company and Pocky creator Glico were among the companies to have an overall red score.

View this year's complete Chocolate Scorecard at chocolatescorecard.com.

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