Over the past year, the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) hosted the 5th World Cocoa Conference, at which the Brussels Declaration was adopted—a document that lays the foundation for a more sustainable, transparent, and equitable future in the production and supply of this commodity. The conference was attended by leading chocolate producers, government representatives, and activists to establish a new direction for the global industry. Precisely in the context of this new path that the cocoa industry is taking, a response has recently arrived, as the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) introduced the GHG Accounting Standard Methodology on February 6, 2025. This methodology brings a clearer framework for monitoring, reporting, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions throughout the entire cocoa industry value chain.
Where Cocoa is Grown
Cocoa thrives in areas near the equator, where high temperatures, abundant rainfall, and humid conditions dominate. Although originally from Latin America, today it is mostly cultivated in West Africa. According to ICCO data, the African continent has provided an average of around 70 percent of total global production in recent years. Côte d’Ivoire has contributed the most, accounting for just under 40 percent of the global output, followed by Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon, which together contribute hundreds of thousands of tons. In Latin America — the original home of cocoa — the leading producers are Ecuador, Brazil, and Peru, while in Asia, Indonesia is the leading producer.
Most raw cocoa comes from small family farms, whose work is often hampered by unfavorable climate conditions, natural disasters, and unstable prices. These small producers form the foundation and starting point of a chain that usually culminates in chocolate production. In addition to economic challenges, cocoa production also has environmental consequences, resulting from land management practices, fertilizer use, and the clearing of increasingly large forest areas to create space for new plantations. For this reason, the Brussels Declaration emphasized the need for reforestation and the development of agroforestry practices as a response to sustainability challenges.
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Precise Tools for Measuring and Managing Emissions
Calculating environmental footprint and measuring carbon emissions in the cocoa industry has been inconsistent, unclear, and often unreliable to date, which has significantly hindered the implementation of shared sustainability standards, particularly due to the complex value chain that encompasses small family farms, numerous intermediaries, and ultimately large producers and factories.
The new method brings a range of concrete benefits for the entire industry, from producers to consumers. By introducing a unified standard, companies receive precise tools for measuring and managing carbon dioxide emissions across every segment of production, with a special focus on so-called Scope 3 emissions, which are the most challenging to identify and will be addressed further. The goal is to achieve more transparent reporting, aligned with the requirements of international frameworks, such as the GHG Protocol and the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which is particularly important for alignment with increasingly stringent European Union legislation.
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) is the most widely accepted system for classifying and reporting emissions. It distinguishes three categories of emissions: direct emissions occurring within the company itself (Scope 1), emissions from electricity consumption (Scope 2), and the aforementioned Scope 3 emissions, which include all other indirect emissions, such as those from supply chains, transportation, and agriculture. The latter, Scope 3 emissions, are the most difficult to track but also the most important for the cocoa industry, as a large portion of emissions occurs on farms and in intermediary stages of production.
The standard is also aligned with the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which encourages companies to set emission reduction targets in line with global efforts to limit planetary warming to 1.5°C.
Consumers, at the end of the chain, can potentially expect greater transparency, with chocolate product packaging soon possibly displaying labels on carbon footprint, origin of raw materials, and levels of sustainability. As a result, the development of new products with a lower environmental impact is anticipated, along with potential price adjustments due to the additional costs associated with sustainable production.
As much as cocoa and chocolate are beloved products around the world, global production also carries bitter consequences, which is why it remains on the agenda of international sustainability initiatives.
Prepared by Milica Vučković
The story was published in Energy portal Magazine PURE ENERGY
