Cocoa
We now source our cocoa through two long-standing certification schemes, Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade. But we also go further: we are working to trace and map all the cocoa farms in our supply chain to ensure our purchases really are free from deforestation.
Our mapping and tracing is in line with our commitments under the Cocoa & Forests Initiative, of which we are a member. We collect polygon data for farms in addition to the GPS points required by certification schemes, allowing for a greater degree of certainty that farms are not encroaching into protected areas. Our supply chain is also verified by a third party using our independent verification protocol, which we designed in partnership with Peterson Global. The auditor checks the polygon data, supply chain locations and certification.
We are closely linked to 37 cooperatives, and we support these smallholder farmers with training to increase their yields. We also implement further programmes to support communities and smallholders, who produce the majority of cocoa globally. In Côte D'Ivoire, our programmes include agroforestry schemes, forest restoration, projects to empower women and initiatives to formalise land rights.
Unfortunately, due to unexpected stockpiles and geopolitical issues that impacted our ability to transition our supply chain of cocoa to deforestation-free, we only achieved a result of 91.1% by the end of 2023. We expect this to improve as we replenish stocks in 2024.