Chocolate just became way more environmentally friendly, so snack on
Chocolate is one of the most delicious things in the world. It’s sweet and delicious. But unfortunately, producing chocolate affects the environment. Luckily, chocolate brands are joining together. Their plan is to make chocolate more environmentally friendly.
The production of cocoa causes deforestation. Which is obviously not great. Because of this, the CEOs of major chocolate companies are working together. Most of all, they want to change how they source cocoa.
Because the last thing we want is to feel guilty about eating chocolate.
Why would we feel guilty? Because a 7-ounce bar of milk chocolate produced from a cleared rainforest has the same carbon dioxide emissions as driving 3.2 miles in a car. Furthermore, a dark chocolate bar of the same size has the same emissions as driving 4.9 miles. Wow!
Hershey, Nestle, Mars, and nine other companies are working together.
They want to work with governments, farmers, civil society organizations, and development partners. Furthermore, they will invest in more sustainable landscape management. Additionally, they will introduce programs to help small farmers.
Hershey CEO Michele Buck said:
“The pre-competitive initiative we are announcing today … is one of the best opportunities to achieve our goal of ending deforestation and counteracting the effects of it in the cocoa supply chain.”
Countries that produce cocoa will benefit.
Marcel Yao, Cote d’Ivoire minister for the environment and sustainable development, said:
“We intend, with the support of the private sector, to undertake efforts to preserve our forests by improving productivity on existing cocoa lands and developing agroforestry approaches to sustainable cocoa production without deforestation.”
Chocolate producers plan to introduce a framework for action before November.
That way, they can present the plan at the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change.
We can’t wait to be able to eat chocolate knowing that sustainable practices are in place!
