Confectionery sector graded on sustainability for fifth Chocolate Scorecard

Dozens of leading global confectionery manufacturers have been placed under the spotlight for the fifth annual Chocolate Scorecard, timed for the major Easter retail season, reports Neill Barston.

The initiative, from the Be Slavery Free non-profit organisation, released its latest results via a new website, examining core areas of sustainability across manufacturing operations, and named five winners across the industry, which included Tony’s Chocolonely gaining an achievement award for its overall approach to business.

Notably, the Dutch-based impact business has continued its mission to move the industry towards taking a strong line on transparency within its supply chains, which it will discuss at the next edition of our World Confectionery Conference on 12 September in Brussels.

This was the fifth time the company has gained honours in the Chocolate Scorecard, though as the business has previously acknowledged, notable challenges remain within supply chains, with its own segregated bean sourcing from Barry Callebaut supplies in Ivory Coast coming under close scrutiny in recent years.

Among the other notable winners within the scorecard was Germany’s Ritter Sport, which also participated in our World Confectionery Conference last year. The business was named as the best performing large chocolate company.

Meanwhile, Original Beans, and Beyond Good tied for best overall practices for a small chocolate company, and independent business Chocolate Makers gained an innovation award for its approach to reducing carbon footprint.

Furthermore, Lidl and Pladis were declared as being winners for the Gender Award for innovation in supporting females in cocoa growing.

Major brand ratingsIn terms of other major brand performance, Mars Wrigley was judged to have been making progress with its policies, including on tackling child labour, with Hershey, Ferrero, Nestle and Cemoi all bracketed in a similar, mid-performing position.

Conversely, some of the worst rated business were also named, and included a ‘Bad Egg’ category, which named manufacturer Krueger for allegedly making sustainability claims that were not publicly verifiable, with Tesco also being cited with the same situation.

In total, 63 brands were assessed, measured against stated records on traceability and transparency, Living income for the faming families, Child and forced labor, Deforestation and climate change, as well as other considerations such as agroforestry practices, Chemical and pesticide management.

As the awarding organisation noted, each assessment category was then the aggregated score places the areas and the company overall rating in four colours; Green – leading in policy and practice, Yellow – progressing in policy and practice, Orange – needs improvement in policy and practice, Red – Trailing in policy and practice.

Be Slavery Free issued a statement on the awards, which said: “Chocolate is a sweet treat that we often share with people we love to celebrate a special occasion, or just to indulge a sweet moment. But often the conditions that it’s made in are far from sweet.

“When cocoa farmers and their communities are living in poverty, they deforest to clear more land to grow more cocoa. They rely on family and unpaid labor (child labor and forced labor) to make ends meets. As a result, our environment is harmed, and children’s future opportunities are squandered, just to survive.”

Confectionery Production has approached the organisation for further comment on its methodology, and approach to grading companies within the sector.

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