Hershey’s deforestation policy cracks down on cocoa suppliers while honing in on chocolate’s carbon emissions

02 Mar 2021 --- The Hershey Company’s new commitment to ending deforestation includes a crackdown on any cocoa supplier who breaches the policy, which may lead to suspension or complete removal from the company’s supply chain.

The No Deforestation program was announced in line with the chocolate giant’s targets to reduce its global emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C.

“The most challenging area for reduction of emissions is Scope 3 [indirect emissions along the value chain] and more specifically, emissions that relate to on-farm production of agricultural products,” Jeff Beckman, director of corporate communications at Hershey, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“Scope 3 is a very large category and on-farm is the most challenging as we do not own the farms and have limited control over the activities on those farms,” he notes.

“Additionally, we need to work with the smallholder farmer versus excluding them from our supply chain for the expediency of delivering larger targets. That is neither the most productive nor equitable solution.”

Hershey has distributed more than 7.4 million cocoa trees and 921,000 shade trees to promote biodiversity, food security and income diversification.Ending deforestation by 2030
Deforestation and forest degradation are key contributors to climate change and global warming. Action on land-use is highlighted as a critical part of Hershey’s plan to reduce its Scope 3 emissions.

Hershey’s commitment to end deforestation applies to all suppliers across its raw material supply chains. 

However, the company will prioritize the independent verification of policy compliance for the commodities in its supply chain that present the greatest risk of contributing to deforestation: cocoa, palm oil, pulp paper for packaging and soy. 

As part of its work to prevent deforestation, Hershey uses GPS devices to collect information about farm boundaries and create polygon maps of the farms from which it sources cocoa. Geospatial analysis is commonly leveraged by industry’s largest players, including Unilever and Nestlé.

These maps are combined with satellite images to identify places where forests and other sensitive ecosystems may have been degraded or where intact forests remain in proximity to cocoa farms.

Reforesting communities
Hershey also remains committed to reforestation efforts in these impacted communities. Between 2013 and 2019, the company distributed more than 7.4 million cocoa trees and 921,000 shade trees to promote biodiversity, food security and income diversification.

“These environmental commitments are critical to the long-term sustainability of our business,” says Jeff King, senior director of global sustainability and social impact. 

“The work is interconnected across our business and requires us to bring together all efforts across the company, from manufacturing, energy buying and packaging to make it work seamlessly to reach our goals.”

Hershey is a founding member of the Cocoa and Forests Initiatives in partnership with the governments of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, alongside other prominent chocolate producers.

Between 2013 and 2019, the company distributed more than 7.4 million cocoa trees and 921,000 shade trees.Investing in energy efficiency
Hershey has recently signed two power purchase agreements that will enable the construction of two new utility-scale solar farms. 

These efforts, along with others, are expected to reduce Hershey’s Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by more than 40 percent by 2024.

To drive this commitment forward, each Hershey location around the world has designated an “Energy Champion,” responsible for implementing carbon savings, meeting energy conservation goals, promoting employee engagement and identifying opportunities for energy reduction.

Advancing sustainable packaging solutions
In 2015, Hershey committed to reduce its packaging weight by 25 million pounds by 2025 and has successfully delivered on that promise five years ahead of schedule.

Building on this progress, the company has set a new goal to reduce packaging weight an additional 25 million pounds by 2030. Hershey is also targeting 100 percent of its plastic packaging to be recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2030.

These commitments not only reduce waste, which contributes to a more circular economy, but also will help reduce emissions, contributing to the company’s new GHG reduction target. 

By Benjamin Ferrer