André van den Beld, what does Export Trading Group (ETG) do for a sustainable value chain?
Established in Kenya in 1967, ETG is a leading international agri-trading company with a diverse portfolio including cocoa, coffee, cotton, grains, pulses, fertilizers, logistics and energy. The company has a large infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa, with 121 processing plants and a storage capacity of 2.4 million Mt for importing and exporting 180+ products across 32 countries.
In 2019, we established the Beyond Beans Foundation, which today operates to build sustainability programs in ETG’s cocoa and cashew supply chains. The Foundation has positioned itself as a centre of expertise in sustainability. Its employees work across ten African countries with a strong focus on innovation in community development, addressing child labour and environmental solutions, and reaching more than 100,000 smallholder farmers.
Furthermore, the Foundation has developed tailored village savings and loan association (VSLA) modules to help remediate child labour in cocoa, introduced improved cookstoves in Côte d’Ivoire to reduce environmental degradation, and was one of the first to pilot Payment for Ecosystem Solutions (PES) in West Africa.
The Foundation is building on the various synergies with ETG’s business, including other products purchased from the same farmer communities (such as cashew and coffee), the development of green fertilizers, a carbon trading desk, and a seed development department.
What does ETG expect from a membership in the Cocoa Platform?
ETG aims to continue its journey in innovation and impact at scale. We believe that partnerships are essential to optimise impact. Therefore, the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa will be the right place for us to exchange knowledge, build alliances, and continue growing sustainably.
Where would you like to get involved?
Our interest has a wide scope: whether being active in the field with farmers, at exports in ports, or trading in consumer countries. Be it implementing technical solutions for soil conservation in the cocoa belt, traceability services for compliance with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), or collaboration with producing countries on new legislation, we want to contribute where we can.
Where do you see ETG's greatest potential to contribute to the SWISSCO Roadmap goals of improving sustainability in the cocoa value chain?
ETG recently established a climate desk in Switzerland and is growing its environmental portfolio with a focus on regenerative farming and agroforestry. By partnering with the Swiss cocoa sector, we believe synergies can be made and relevant technical expertise can be exchanged.
With an upcoming project on industrial biochar production in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, we believe new solutions can be developed to regenerate soils while reducing the chocolate industry’s environmental footprint.
"With an upcoming project on industrial biochar production in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, we believe new solutions can be developed to regenerate soils while reducing the chocolate industry’s environmental footprint", says André van den Beld, Head Sustainability at ETG.