Chocolate’s sustainability conundrum

Humanity’s long love affair with chocolate began thousands of years ago in Mesoamerica. The Maya discovered they could concoct something wonderful from the fuzzy white beans of the cacao plant. When Spanish explorers brought the bean back to Europe in the 16th century, it instantly became a hit. 

Over the years, chocolate has fuelled our minds, bodies, and souls. London’s chocolate salons of the 17th and 18th centuries were meeting places where Enlightenment ideals brewed alongside frothy drinks of indulgent goodness. In the 19th century, confectioners learned to combine cacao’s fats with milk and sugar, and a new age of chocolate began. Today, the global chocolate industry is worth $130bn in retail sales. 

But while chocolate brings immense joy, it has a darker side. Chocolate has one of the highest carbon footprints of any food item due to an unholy trinity of deforestation, industrialisation, and transportation. Most of the world’s cacao is produced in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. In Côte d’Ivoire, 80% of all forests have been cleared for monoculture cacao production. Burning forests to clear land releases enormous amounts of CO₂ into the atmosphere and limits the forest’s future ability to store carbon. Once cacao beans are harvested, they are transported to countries in the Global North, where they are mixed with milk, which comes with its own high carbon footprint, and sugar. 

Chocolate is also highly vulnerable to climate change. Cacao-growing countries have experienced dramatic fluctuations in weather patterns. Global cacao prices jumped 400% in 2024, partly due to Côte d’Ivoire receiving 40% more rain than usual in July, followed by scorching heat that December. Climate scientists believe that without intervention, many cacao-growing regions across West Africa could become unsuitable for cultivation by 2050. This would directly impact the livelihoods of more than two million cacao farmers and the communities that depend on them. 

Agroforestry offers one promising solution: Rather than being grown as a monoculture, cacao is grown beneath taller trees such as mango or cashew, which provide shade and help protect plants from extreme heat and disease. Environmentally, agroforestry improves carbon sequestration, soil health, and biodiversity. Studies suggest that shaded cacao plants store more than twice the carbon of unshaded ones. Agroforestry also benefits farmers by allowing them to diversify their income through additional crops. 

Unfortunately, transitioning to sustainable cacao cultivation is far from simple. It requires significant upfront investment, particularly in planting and maintaining shade trees, which is beyond the financial means of many farmers. Research shows that most cacao growers in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire live in poverty. A 2021 study found that between 30% and 58% of farmers earn a gross income below the World Bank’s extreme poverty line, while around 90% do not earn a living income. Households with lower daily incomes also tend to have lower cacao yields. 

Doubling the price chocolate makers pay to cacao growers would not only increase yields, but also halve the number of households living in extreme poverty and increase the number earning a living income by 30%. Higher incomes would allow farmers to invest in crop diversification and help secure a future for cacao cultivation for generations to come. 

Introducing a circular economy into cacao production could further improve environmental outcomes while increasing farmers’ incomes. The World Resources Institute estimates that 75% of the cacao plant is currently discarded. Under a circular model, everything from husks to the fuzzy pulp can be reused. Once harmful toxins are removed, husks can be repurposed as animal feed, while compost made from cacao waste can be returned to orchards to improve soil quality.

In Uganda, cacao husks have been used as biomass for electricity production, a particularly valuable solution for small farmers living far from the main power grid. Last year, an initiative was launched to build the first cacao-fuelled power plant in Côte d’Ivoire. Once completed, it is expected to reduce carbon emissions by 300,000 tonnes per year, create nearly 4,000 jobs, and financially benefit 36,000 cacao farmers. 

Ultimately, the future of chocolate depends on whether farmers are paid fairly for the crops they grow. Sustainable cacao cannot exist while the majority of producers live in poverty and lack the resources to adapt to climate change. Paying farmers a living wage is a necessary investment in the resilience of the supply chain. Consumers also have a role to play. By choosing sustainably produced chocolate and supporting brands that prioritise fair pay and environmental stewardship, we help ensure that chocolate remains not just a source of pleasure, but a product that can be enjoyed responsibly for generations to come.