6. Sustainability, Traceability, Certification & Geographical Indications
The cocoa and chocolate industry are working closely with their partners in the cocoa supply chain, including origin country governments and local authorities, to improve the sustainability of cocoa sector and ensure that deforestation due to cocoa growing is halted, the human rights of those involved in the supply chain are respected and the livelihoods of cocoa farmers are improved.
The ability to trace cocoa beans and cocoa products through all stages of production, processing and distribution is essential in ensuring food safety, quality, authenticity and accountability. Traceability is a key component of the systems needed to provide proof of compliance with legislation and to ensure that farmers receive fair prices for producing cocoa that meets specific requirements, for example for organic production, geographical indication or sustainability standards.
It also provides a mechanism for feedback loops to ensure that farmers have access to training in good agricultural practices and support in developing their farm business plans. Many value chain actors have been designing and implementing traceability systems, often using new technologies such as Blockchain, GPS, RFID, QR Codes and Barcodes.
Traceability continues to be a rapidly developing area especially with commitments made to prevent deforestation through the Cocoa & Forests Initiative and the new EU Regulation on deforestation-free products which entered into force in June 2023.
The EU is also developing a Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) which sets out to foster sustainable and responsible corporate behaviour and to anchor human rights and environmental considerations throughout global value chains (IDH, 2023).
Deforestation will be covered in the CS3D since it is one of the negative environmental impacts that the companies will need to cover by their due diligence processes, but the Due Diligence Duty will also require companies to identify and, where necessary, prevent, end or mitigate adverse impacts of their activities on human rights, including child labour and exploitation of workers.
EU Regulation on deforestation-free products
EU Regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR) (EU 2023/1115) is part of the EU’s Green Deal strategy to address climate change and environmental degradation.
Under EUDR, any operator or trader who places cocoa beans, or cocoa products, on the EU market, or exports from it, must be able to prove that the products do not originate from land deforested after 31st December 2020 or have contributed to forest degradation.
Products may only be traded to and from the EU when they are covered by a due diligence statement which will provide the geolocation coordinates of all the farm plots where these products were harvested. Geographic information linking products to the plot of land is gathered using remote sensing (e.g. aerial photographs and satellite images) or other methods (e.g. photographs in the field with linked geotags and time stamps taken using mobile phones).
For plots of land of more than 4 hectares, the geolocation is provided using polygons (latitude and longitude points of six decimal digits to describe the perimeter of each plot of land). For plots of land under 4 hectares, operators (and traders which are not SMEs) can use a polygon or a single point of latitude and longitude of six decimal digits to provide the geolocation.
The products must also have been produced in accordance with relevant legislation of the country of production. In addition to each country’s national legislation, for cocoa beans and products from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana this is likely to include compliance with the ARS-1000 African regional standard on sustainable cocoa (‘ARS-1000’) (see pg 40).
The EUDR will be enforced from the 30th of December 2024 though there is still a need for clarification over some definitions and details on how it will be implemented. Readers are advised to check the websites in the Sources of Further Information section for updates.
The European cocoa industry recognizes that certification standards covering social and economic, as well as a wider range of environmental issues, in the cocoa sector play a key role within a ‘smart mix’ of measures to promote greater sustainability of cocoa supply.
Certification schemes vary in their main focus or strategy for improving the sustainability of cocoa production, but they share similar objectives in seeking improvements in farmers’ livelihoods, most often in conjunction with implementing good agricultural practices to improve quality and productivity.
The sustainability requirements will use criteria that aim for:
- Profitable farming based on good agricultural and business practices.
- Improving social conditions that respect human rights, workers’ rights, health and safety, and support the eradication of forced labour and the worst forms of child labour.
- Sound environmental practices.
The traceability criteria require a rigorous record keeping system and supply chain management. The standards also acknowledge the reality of the existing supply chain and offer two separate paths to compliance:
- Physical traceability
- Mass Balance
Sustainability Standards
ISO 34101 Sustainable and traceable cocoa
The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) have published a standard for sustainable and traceable cocoa (ISO 34101 parts 1-4, ) giving a common definition of sustainability and traceability in the cocoa sector.
The standard was developed by stakeholders from all sectors of the cocoa industry, including representatives from both countries where the cocoa is grown and markets where it is consumed. It covers the organizational, economic, social and environmental aspects of cocoa farming.
The stepwise approach, establishing three requirement levels (entry, medium and high) allows an organization that is sustainably producing cocoa beans initial certification to any level and encourages professionalization of cocoa farming so that the higher level can be reached.
The standard has four parts:
- Part 1 Requirements for cocoa sustainability management systems including post-harvest processes and traceability.
- Part 2 Requirements for performance are typically related to economic, social, and environmental aspects to ensure sustainable and responsible practices throughout the supply chain.
- Part 3: Requirements for traceability specifies the basic requirements for the design and implementation of traceability systems and also covers the requirements for a mass balance systems whereby cocoa conforming to the standard can be used together with nonconforming cocoa and which provides the necessary traceability within a manufacturing process.
- Part 4: Requirements for certification schemes provides clarity on the requirements for certification schemes and certification bodies.
Note that only organizations that fulfil both the cocoa sustainability management system requirements of either ISO34101-1:2019 or ISO 34101‑4:2019, Annex A or B, and the performance requirements of ISO 34101‑2 can claim their cocoa beans have been sustainably produced.
ARS:1000 African regional standard for sustainable cocoa
The ARS:1000 standard for sustainable cocoa is being developed withing the framework of the African Regional Standards Organization (ARSO). The objective of ARS 1000 is to establish a common standard for sustainable cocoa production, applicable to all cocoa value chain actors with economic viability for farmers as a precondition for social and environmental sustainability.
The standard will consist of the following three parts:
- Part 1 Management System and Performance
- Part 2 Quality and Traceability
- Part 3 Cocoa Certification Scheme
The National Implementation Guides for the Standard are currently being developed by Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire together with the National traceability systems and frameworks for data collection, storage and security, and farmer support in the implementation of the standard.
A study of the ARS standard and its implementation guides, and a comparison of the requirements of the ARS, and the obligations of the forthcoming EU legislation has been published by the German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa (GISCO) (Brack, 2023).
Geographic Indications
Geographic Indications (GI) can be linked to traceability and quality certification to highlight the unique characteristics of cocoa produced in specific regions where flavour quality and other unique attributes are associated with “terroir” effects (see Part I 1. Flavour).
GIs have recently been registered for a limited number of cocoa sources including Cacao Arriba (Ecuador), Montserrat Hills Cocoa (Trinidad) and Cacao de Caripito (Venezuela). It's important to note that the recognition and registration of GIs are often subject to national regulations and international agreements and there is still a need for better integration of instrumental and sensory attribute measurement, with rapid, affordable and non-destructive analytical approaches and modern traceability methods to fully realise the niche marketing potential for GI in cocoa (Fanning et al, 2023; Hernandez and Granados, 2021).
