Barry Callebaut strengthens sustainability pledge by joining sugarcane platform

08 Aug 2017 --- The world’s largest cocoa producer and grinder Barry Callebaut has joined Bonsucro, the global change platform for sugarcane as part of its strategy to achieve 100 percent sustainability across all its products.

Bonsucro is a global network that provides support across the entire industry to help develop professionalism and resilience in the businesses who work with sugarcane and its associated products. 

Christiaan Prins, Head of External Affairs for Barry Callebaut, says that as a key ingredient in chocolate, sugar plays an important role in the company’s “Forever Chocolate” sustainability journey.

He says how sugarcane is grown in more than 100 countries around the world, presenting a diverse set of sustainability challenges. These include concerns around human and labor rights, environmental challenges such as soil erosion and water scarcity, as well as developing ways to include smallholders in the conversation.

“Becoming a member in Bonsucro will help us to drive sustainable solutions for cane-growing communities and ecosystems, expand our understanding of the challenges within the sugarcane sector, and will bring us to the forefront of promoting positive change,” Prins says. 

“This is also another important step on our Forever Chocolate journey towards 100 percent sustainable ingredients in our products by 2025.”

Barry Callebaut initially announced it was to make sustainable chocolate the norm late last year as part of its comprehensive sustainability strategy that addresses the key sustainability challenges in the chocolate supply chain.

It introduced four ambitious 2025 sustainability targets to guide its move from sustainable cocoa to sustainable chocolate which includes eradicating child labor from its supply chain; lifting more than 500,000 cocoa farmers out of poverty; becoming carbon and forest positive and achieving 100 percent sustainable ingredients in all of its products.

Speaking at the time, Antoine de Saint-Affrique, CEO of Barry Callebaut, said: “We have been pioneering sustainability in cocoa and chocolate for many years, and we have made great progress. But despite all our efforts, only 23 percent of the cocoa beans we source are from sustainability programs. We are determined to step change this and have 100 percent of our chocolate and its ingredient sustainably sourced by 2025.”