FERRERO CONTINUES TO SCALE COCOA SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAMME
In 2011, Ferrero committed to sourcing 100% certified sustainable cocoa beans by 2020 as part of its programme to help improve cocoa farmers’ living conditions and foster sustainable practices across cocoa plantations. In 2019, the company broadened the scope of this target to include chocolate sourced from third parties.
Ferrero is proud to confirm that it has achieved this goal.
Ferrero now sources all of its cocoa through leading certification bodies and other independently managed standards such as Rainforest Alliance (UTZ), Fairtrade, and Cocoa Horizons.
In line with its responsible sourcing approach, the company continues to drive forward and scale its sustainable cocoa efforts as part of the Ferrero Farming Values Cocoa Programme
Key achievements to date:
- Achieved 2020 target of 100% cocoa sourced through certification and other independently managed sustainability standards
- Made strong progress on reaching 100% traceability across its cocoa supply chain
- Renewed strategic partnership with Save the Children through a €8 million project to further scale and strengthen activities to protect children
- Supported around 14,000 cocoa community members being mainly women in getting access to small loans for entrepreneurial activities
- Recently joined a campaign calling on the European Union to strengthen human rights and environmental due diligence requirements of companies in global cocoa supply chains
Going beyond
Ferrero’s cocoa sourcing strategy is based on a distinctive set of principles that enable the company to implement due diligence throughout its supply chain and apply targeted solutions.
Ferrero is able to reach very high traceability from farms to consumers. This is due to its distinctive approach of sourcing the far majority of its cocoa as raw beans, which are processed in Ferrero’s own plants. The beans are sourced as physically traceable – also known as “segregated”– from dedicated farmer groups. This means that the company knows which farms the cocoa comes from, which helps to identify issues and drive positive change on the ground together with cooperatives and farmers.
In the 19/20 crop season, Ferrero managed to trace over 95% of its total cocoa beans back to the farms and it is strongly advancing on the traceability of the chocolate sourced from third parties. Also, the company is making considerable progress on mapping the farmers in its supply chain as part of its commitment to prevent deforestation, and on covering farmer groups with a Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System or equivalent systems. Another major focus of Ferrero’s programme is to empower women and reduce gender inequality. For instance, Ferrero has so far supported around 14,000 cocoa community members being mainly women in getting access to small loans for entrepreneurial activities.
These initiatives are part of Ferrero’s wider commitment to deliver on its sustainability strategy – to improve farmers’ livelihoods, protect children’s rights, and safeguard the environment.Ferrero and Save the Children expand partnership
As part of Ferrero’s Farming Values Cocoa programme, particularly in protecting children’s rights, the company announced its renewal and extension of its strategic partnership with Save the Children, building on the three-year programme launched in 2017 in 20 communities across Côte D’Ivoire.
“Child labour is a major issue in West Africa and has its roots in poverty, and lack of basic education and awareness. Only by trying to address these problems together with key relevant stakeholders, we can manage to make child protection, access to quality education, and adolescents and youth empowerment, central assets for the communities’ development. For this reason, we are glad to work together with Ferrero and to support the company's commitment to contributing to a fair and sustainable cocoa supply chain, in coordination with the relevant actors. Thanks to all these efforts, thousands of children will have significant improvements in their lives.” - Daniela Fatarella, Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children Italy
The co-funded €8 million project is anticipated to last for five years. It is expected to directly benefit 37,000 children and adults, and a total of 90,000 through mass awareness and outreach activities. This is a major action pledge as part of the UN’s International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour. The renewed partnership will see scaled up activities in 65 communities in the Ivorian Haut-Sassandra region where Ferrero sources a significant amount of cocoa.
Ferrero and Save the Children will closely coordinate with national and local authorities and other industry initiatives to create synergies where possible and maximize impact.
The holistic programme will strengthen child protection systems, increase access to quality education and nutrition, support community development, and empower women and adolescents.
Program with Save the Children
A new dimension in the partnership will be for Save the Children to provide strategic guidance and technical support to Ferrero and its suppliers to ensure a harmonized approach to child protection across Ferrero’s Ivory Coast cocoa and Ghana cocoa supply chain.
Other collective initiatives that Ferrero is part of are:
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