Climate, forest and agroforestry

Cocoa farming is often carried out at the expense of the environment and biodiversity. The members of the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa are therefore committed to a deforestation-free and climate-friendly cocoa supply chain.

Cocoa needs a warm and humid climate to grow. These conditions are found in the tropical areas along the equator, where cocoa is mainly grown by smallholder farmers. Often, however, they have little or no access to agricultural inputs and insufficient knowledge about sustainable cocoa farming. This leads to overaged plantations and monocultures, poor land management, high pesticide use, increasing pest and disease pressure, and a decline in productivity of the plantations after a few years, for example due to degraded soils. To access fertile soils and secure their income, producers are often encroaching on new areas, including forests. The expansion of new agricultural land makes cocoa one of the biggest drivers of agricultural deforestation worldwide, along with cattle farming, palm oil, soy, rubber and coffee.

Deforestation and land-use change also affects local microclimates and causes carbon emissions that contribute to global climate change. Climate change, in turn, is leading to more extreme weather events such as prolonged high temperatures, shifting rainy seasons and the occurrence of droughts, which are making cocoa cultivation increasingly difficult. The consequences of climate change are already being felt and today's cocoa-growing areas could potentially no longer be suitable for growing cocoa within the next 30 years – unless the necessary measures to adapt to climate change are taken in due time.

A diverse and resilient cultivation system is therefore crucial. One such approach is, for example, an ecologically diverse agroforestry system. In contrast to monocultures, it includes many different plant species. This has the advantage that trees and plants benefit from each other by providing shade or enriching the soil with nutrients. It also leads to less pesticide use and promotes biodiversity. An agroforestry system also has advantages for cocoa farmers on an economic level. It allows them to grow additional crops suitable for self-consumption or sale, which contributes to their household income and food security. It is therefore essential to support cocoa farmers in converting to sustainable production systems to strengthen the viability of cocoa cultivation in the future.

Members of the Cocoa Platform have jointly set the following targets by 2030 in the area of climate, forest and agroforestry:

• Members engage directly or through supply chain partners in international efforts to stop deforestation, forest degradation caused by the expansion of cocoa production areas and logging in cocoa plantations (e.g. through engagement in the "Cocoa and Forests Initiative" CFI in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire).
• The Cocoa Platform is actively engaged in the development and implementation of so-called landscape approaches (see below) for the protection and restoration of forests. Five landscape approaches are to be implemented in practice by 2025.
• Members empower cocoa farmers to effectively apply climate-smart agriculture or agroforestry practices. At least 150,000 people will be supported by 2030.
• Swiss cocoa supply chain partners aim to achieve a net zero target in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, with a focus on reducing emissions within the supply chain (for example, by applying the so-called Science-Based Target initiative or equivalent efforts).

Learn more about the Roadmap 2030

In the summer of 2022, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) launched the so-called "SWISSCO Landscape Call" together with the Cocoa Platform (SWISSCO). With an amount of CHF 10 million, SECO is promoting so-called landscape approaches. Stakeholders of the Swiss cocoa industry and other international companies and partners are called upon to promote sustainable cocoa cultivation at a regional level instead of only focusing on the direct supply chain in the cocoa sector.

This recognises that challenges such as deforestation, biodiversity loss, child labour and rural and social development are best addressed on a larger scale – across entire regions as well as individual provinces or municipalities. To this end, the members of the platform work in the projects with a wide range of actors, such as farmer cooperatives, local civil society and municipal or national authorities. The orientation towards common sustainability goals is central to this.

Learn more about landscape approaches

In the area of climate, forest and agroforestry, the aim is to ensure that problems such as deforestation are addressed holistically and are not shifted from the cocoa to other raw material supply chains. In addition to measures against deforestation, the project also promotes climate-friendly cultivation methods and the use of innovative investment models, for example through carbon credits. 

Learn more about OUR projects

Various members of the Cocoa Platform are implementing projects to promote a deforestation-free and climate-neutral value chain. These projects received a contribution from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) thanks to the mediation of the Coordination Office.