The Environmental Disaster Lurking Inside Your Chocolate Bar
As the cocoa industry boasts increased sustainability, low farmer pay may be accelerating rainforest destruction.
In Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, large swaths of rainforest have been destroyed to grow more cocoa.
Photographer: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/BloombergA visit to the chocolate aisle of any grocery store can yield a bewildering array of certification logos, each seeking to assure buyers that the cocoa used to make it was produced according to some measure of sustainability.
Labels from groups like the Rainforest Alliance pledge the cocoa inside “was produced by farmers, foresters, and/or companies working together to create a world where people and nature thrive in harmony.” Fair Trade Certified says items bearing its label are made using methods that support social, economic and environmental sustainability. Many chocolate brands have their own sustainability logos: Mondelez’s “Cocoa Life” represents the chocolate was “made the right way—protecting the planet and respecting the human rights of people in our value chain.” Nestle’s “Cocoa Plan” echoes that sentiment.