World Cocoa Foundation
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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 Child labour is the exploitation of children through any form of work that interferes with their ability to attend regular school, or is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation w ...
,
deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...
and
extreme poverty Extreme poverty is the most severe type of poverty, defined by the United Nations (UN) as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, ...
, with their efforts dismissed as
greenwashing Greenwashing (a compound word modeled on "whitewash"), also called green sheen, is a form of advertising or marketing spin that deceptively uses green PR and green marketing to persuade the public that an organization's products, goals, or ...
and “a remarkable failure”. WCF's membership includes chocolate manufacturers such as
Mondelez International Mondelēz International, Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, Holding company, holding, drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an annual rev ...
,
Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...
,
The Hershey Company The Hershey Company, often called just Hershey or Hershey's, is an American multinational corporation, multinational confectionery company headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hersheypark and Hershey's Chocolate World. T ...
and Mars, Inc. cocoa producers and suppliers such as Barry Callebaut and
Cargill Cargill, Incorporated is an American multinational food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865 by William Wallace Cargill, it is the largest privately held c ...
, shipping companies and ports and retailers such as
Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...
.


History

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. The CMA itself was later dissolved in 2008 and became part of the
National Confectioners Association The National Confectioners Association is an American trade organization that promotes chocolate, candy, gum and mints, and the companies that make these treats. NCA lobbies the American government in favor of the confectionery industry, evaluate ...
. The 2022 Cocoa Barometer 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.”


Initiatives

The WCF's vision “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 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.” In combatting child labor, one estimate sees chocolate and cocoa companies investing 0.1 percent of one year’s worth of sales.


Combatting child labor

WCF announced an initiative, called Children First, at its 2019 Partnership Meeting in Berlin, Germany that would “eliminate all forms of child labor by 2025”. The initiative has yet to be launched. Described by one activist 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 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 Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...
working in appalling conditions to harvest cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire. 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. 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.” 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.” 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. 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 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 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 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.”


Improving farmer income

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 The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 1961 and reorganized in 1998 ...
. In 2009 the World Cocoa Foundation was selected to administer a $23 million grant by the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be List of wealthiest charitable foundations, the third largest char ...
aimed at increasing farming household incomes through improved farmer crop productivity, better cocoa quality and crop diversification. 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. The CocoaAction initiative began in June 2014 and ended in 2019. 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 Cargill, Incorporated is an American multinational food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865 by William Wallace Cargill, it is the largest privately held c ...
, Ferrero,
The Hershey Company The Hershey Company, often called just Hershey or Hershey's, is an American multinational corporation, multinational confectionery company headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hersheypark and Hershey's Chocolate World. T ...
, Mars, Inc.,
Mondelez International Mondelēz International, Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, Holding company, holding, drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an annual rev ...
,
Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...
and
Olam International Olam International is an agri-business company, operating in 60 countries and supplying food and industrial raw materials to over 20,900 customers worldwide, placing them among the world's largest suppliers of cocoa beans, coffee, cotton a ...
. These are the "world's largest cocoa and chocolate companies" working through CocoaAction "to coordinate their cocoa sustainability efforts" starting with
Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...
and
Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
. An assessment in 2020 by KPMG said CocoaAction “did not fully reach its targets and realize its vision.” 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. Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, complaining about falling prices and the impact on farmer income, boycotted the 2022 WCF Partnership Meeting. The 2022 Cocoa Barometer said the environmental and social problems in cocoa production would persist until companies paid farmers substantially more for their cocoa beans. "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. WCF President Chris Vincent 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

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 Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
,
Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...
and
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
, and thirty-five chocolate and cocoa manufacturers such as founding members
The Hershey Company The Hershey Company, often called just Hershey or Hershey's, is an American multinational corporation, multinational confectionery company headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hersheypark and Hershey's Chocolate World. T ...
, Nestle and
Mondelez International Mondelēz International, Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, Holding company, holding, drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an annual rev ...
. 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, environmentalist Mighty Earth reported room for improvement. Said Glenn Hurowitz, 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”. 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.


References

{{Authority control Agricultural organizations based in the United States Chocolate industry Food industry trade groups Organizations based in Washington, D.C.