Country for PR: Hong Kong
Contributor: PR Newswire Asia (Hong Kong)
Friday, December 06 2019 - 12:00
AsiaNet
Barry Callebaut publishes Forever Chocolate Progress Report 2018/19
ZURICH, Dec. 6, 2019 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

Barry Callebaut sources more than 50% of its ingredients sustainably 

-- 51% sustainably sourced ingredients 

-- Over 176,000 cocoa farms mapped on location and socio-economic data 

-- 26% of the farmer groups have systems in place to prevent, monitor and 
remediate child labor 

-- Carbon footprint reduced -6.7% despite increased production 

-- Over 2.5 million shade trees and cocoa seedlings distributed

Barry Callebaut, the world's leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and 
cocoa products, announced today that in fiscal year 2018/19 it sourced 47% of 
the cocoa and 54% of the other ingredients it uses sustainably. This sourcing 
achievement is highlighted in Barry Callebaut's Forever Chocolate Progress 
Report 2018/19, its third progress report since the launch of its Forever 
Chocolate plan in 2016, tracking the Group's progress towards making 
sustainable chocolate the norm.

Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20191204/2660718-1 
Logo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20190306/2394910-1LOGO

Antoine de Saint-Affrique, CEO of the Barry Callebaut Group, said: "With over 
half of our ingredients coming from sustainable sources, we are well on track 
to have 100% sustainable chocolate by 2025. This is a great achievement and it 
demonstrates that sustainability is at the heart of our business strategy."

Pablo Perversi, Chief Innovation, Sustainability and Quality Officer, Global 
Head of Gourmet, of Barry Callebaut: "In the past fiscal year, we focused on 
big innovative projects that we know will create the tipping point for a 
sustainable chocolate supply chain. Our progress report shows that this focus 
is working, creating tangible impact on the ground for cocoa farmers, cocoa 
farming communities and all the other players in our supply chain."

Forever Chocolate is based on four ambitious targets, to be achieved by 2025, 
that address the largest sustainability challenges in the chocolate supply 
chain:

1. More than 500,000 cocoa farmers will have been lifted out of poverty[1]  
2. Eradicate child labor[2] from the supply chain 
3. Become carbon and forest positive 
4. Have 100% sustainable ingredients in all products

Milestones achieved in 2018/19

100% sustainable chocolate by 2025

Of all the agricultural raw materials Barry Callebaut sourced, 51% were 
sustainably sourced in 2018/19. The Group sourced 47% (2017/18: 44%) of its 
cocoa beans through sustainability programs. This percentage includes the 
Group's Cocoa Horizons program as well as its customers' own programs and 
external certification organizations such as UTZ Certified, Rainforest 
Alliance, Fairtrade and Organic. Furthermore, Barry Callebaut sourced 54% 
(2017/18: 44%) of its non-cocoa agricultural raw materials sustainably. This 
includes the use of sustainability certification schemes for the respective 
ingredients.

More than 500,000 cocoa farmers have been lifted out of poverty by 2025

In order to have more than 500,000 cocoa farmers lifted out of poverty by 2025, 
the Group is mapping the cocoa farms in its supply chain. As of end 2018/19, 
the Group had full data on 176,984 farms and their farmers entered into its 
Katchile database. This database provides key insights into the location, farm 
size, socio-economic and household data of cocoa farms and their farmers. This 
data allows Barry Callebaut to offer tailor-made advice at individual farm 
level on how to improve productivity via Farm Business Plans and Farm Services.

Over 16,000 farmers have adopted Farm Business Plans and 49,909 (+303%) farmers 
in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon, Brazil and Indonesia have access to farm 
services, including coaching as well as other inputs such as tools, seedlings 
and finance. The premiums from the purchase of HORIZONS products generated CHF 
15 million in funds (+40%). These premiums allowed more than 135,000 farmers to 
take part in programs focusing on improving their productivity and income. 
These premiums also financed child labor sensitization programs, training 
27,448 farmers. Measured against the World Bank's threshold of USD 1.90/day, 
Barry Callebaut estimates that 184,623 cocoa farmers in its supply chain have 
been lifted out of poverty.

Eradicate child labor[3] in the Barry Callebaut supply chain by 2025

Barry Callebaut rolled out child labor monitoring and remediation systems in 
its direct cocoa supply chain that now cover 42 farmer groups, including 16,710 
farmers, in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana. Including the farmer groups that have 
monitoring and remediation systems in place administered by third parties (i.e. 
UTZ Certified), in total 26% of the farmer groups the Group directly sourced 
from in 2018/19 had systems in place to prevent, monitor and remediate child 
labor, an increase of +116%. 37% of the cocoa and non-cocoa volume Barry 
Callebaut sourced from third-party suppliers had equivalent child labor 
monitoring systems in place.

Barry Callebaut identified in the fiscal year under review 3,867 cases of child 
labor (-9%) in its cocoa supply chain. All cases involved children helping on 
the family farm that fell under the International Labour Organization's (ILO) 
definition of the worst forms of child labor. For all identified cases 
remediation is being prepared and for 2,333 of the reported cases 
remediation[4] has been activated.

Become carbon and forest positive by 2025

In pursuit of its target to store more carbon emissions than it produces by 
2025, Barry Callebaut reduced in 2018/19 its corporate CO2 equivalent (CO2e) 
footprint from 9.10 million tonnes to 8.49 million tonnes in fiscal year 
2018/19 (-6.7%), whilst achieving +5.1% volume growth. 

The main drivers of this achievement were reduced CO2e emissions from land use 
change, reduced CO2e intensity in factories and reduced CO2e intensity in dairy 
products. The CO2e intensity per tonne of product also decreased from 4.45 to 
3.92, and additional contributions from scope 3 insetting projects lowered this 
even further to 3.88 (-13%). Of the Group's factories, 17 out of 62 are now 
running on 100% renewable energy.

In Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, the Group has mapped cocoa farms within 25 km from 
protected forest areas in its direct supply chain, in total 47,182. In 
addition, Barry Callebaut distributed over 1.8 million young cocoa seedlings in 
Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana. Furthermore, the Company distributed almost 750,000 
shade trees for replanting in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana. Through its support for 
the "Initiative For Sustainable Landscapes" (ISLA) project in Cote d'Ivoire, 
Barry Callebaut helped to protect 6,280 hectares of primary forest and restored 
3,800 hectares of forest by removing illegal cocoa operations and allowing 
natural forest regeneration. The percentage of raw materials sourced by the 
Group demonstrated not to be contributing to deforestation is 37.6%

Third party assurance

Barry Callebaut's Forever Chocolate progress report 2018/19 and the GRI REPORT 
2018/19, prepared in accordance with the GRI standards, Core option, were 
subject to independent assurance by PwC. 

For a full overview of the 2018/19 Forever Chocolate progress results, please 
visit:  http://bit.ly/Forever-Chocolate-18-19 


[1] Number of cocoa farmers lifted out of poverty measured against the World 
Bank's USD 1.90/day threshold for extreme poverty.

[2] According to the International Labour Organization, not all work done by 
children should be classified as child labor that is to be targeted for 
elimination. The term 'child labor' is often defined as work that deprives 
children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, interferes with 
their schooling and is harmful to their physical and mental development. 
Activities such as carrying heavy loads or using chemicals are considered as 
'unacceptable forms of child labor' because they are physically dangerous for 
children.

[3] According to the International Labour Organization, not all work done by 
children should be classified as child labor that is to be targeted for 
elimination. The term 'child labor' is often defined as work that deprives 
children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, interferes with 
their schooling and is harmful to their physical and mental development. 
Activities such as carrying heavy loads or using chemicals are considered as 
'unacceptable forms of child labor' because they are physically dangerous for 
children.

[4] 
https://cocoainitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ICI-CLMS-Effectiveness_15_May.pdf. 



Please refer to page 33 for an overview of remediation activities including i) 
individual remediation targeting the child ii) household remediation targeting 
the family of the identified child and iii) community level remediation.

About Barry Callebaut Group (www.barry-callebaut.com):

With annual sales of about CHF 7.3 billion (EUR 6.5 billion / USD 7.4 billion) 
in fiscal year 2018/19, the Zurich-based Barry Callebaut Group is the world's 
leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products -- from 
sourcing and processing cocoa beans to producing the finest chocolates, 
including chocolate fillings, decorations and compounds. The Group runs about 
62 production facilities worldwide and employs a diverse and dedicated global 
workforce of more than 12,000 people.

The Barry Callebaut Group serves the entire food industry, from industrial food 
manufacturers to artisanal and professional users of chocolate, such as 
chocolatiers, pastry chefs, bakers, hotels, restaurants or caterers. The two 
global brands catering to the specific needs of these Gourmet customers are 
Callebaut® and Cacao Barry®.

The Barry Callebaut Group is committed to make sustainable chocolate the norm 
by 2025 to help ensure future supplies of cocoa and improve farmer livelihoods. 
It supports the Cocoa Horizons Foundation in its goal to shape a sustainable 
cocoa and chocolate future. 

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SOURCE  The Barry Callebaut Group
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