Sustainable cocoa: Barry Callebaut-Quantis develop carbon footprinting deforestation assessment

20 Jul 2020 --- Barry Callebaut has revealed its target to become “forest positive” by 2025 as part of its Forever Chocolate commitment. This means that the Swiss chocolate manufacturer has to develop a greater understanding of where deforestation is at risk of occurring in its supply chain. For cocoa, Barry Callebaut works in close partnership with environmental sustainability consultancy, Quantis, to develop a carbon footprinting assessment to evaluate the impacts of land-use change (LUC) and deforestation driven by cocoa farming.

Through the combination of GPS, satellite imagery and farm-level data, this latest assessment enables Barry Callebaut to understand the contribution of each farm or cooperative that its source from to direct LUC emissions.

“At Quantis, we’re proud of developing this cutting-edge carbon footprinting assessment with Barry Callebaut to evaluate the impacts of cocoa farming on land-use change and deforestation. It provides a more realistic snapshot of what is happening on the ground, paving the way for more precise footprints, reduction strategies and action plans to tackle land-use change emissions in the cocoa supply chain effectively. We hope this will inspire the wider industry to action and accelerate sustainable transformation,’ says Michele Zollinger, Natural Capital Solutions Lead at Quantis.

By having a greater understanding of where deforestation is at risk of occurring, Barry Callebaut can also establish a better link between forest protection activities and carbon accounting at the farm level. Importantly, using satellite data also helps the company to analyze deforestation events on the ground in greater detail. This provides it with the opportunity to engage with cocoa farming communities on the adoption of natural resource management and avoid activities such as land-clearing for agriculture, which can result in deforestation.

Importantly, using satellite data also helps the cocoa company analyze deforestation events with even more focus. This depth of detail provides the opportunity to engage with farming communities on the adoption of natural resource management and avoid activities such as land-clearing for agriculture, which can result in deforestation. 

The development of this new assessment also helps customers calculate their carbon impact more accurately and will enable Barry Callebaut to provide carbon-neutral chocolate. Customers can input recipes into their carbon footprint calculator, get a clear view of the impact of their chocolate and learn more about the methodology behind the numbers.

Edited by Elizabeth Green