Barry Callebaut Beverages UK is further strengthening its bid for 100 per cent sustainable chocolate by 2025 with the news that parent company, Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading supplier of high quality chocolate, has joined sugarcane platform, Bonsucro.
A global initiative, bringing together senior industry representatives to work on a sustainable cane sugar value chain, Bonsucro works to drive sustainable solutions for cane-growing communities and ecosystems. Becoming a member of this platform will enable Barry Callebaut to expand its understanding of the challenges faced by other sectors in the supply chain and will complement its strategy to further its own manifesto, ‘Forever Chocolate’.
The ‘Forever Chocolate’ proposal was launched by Barry Callebaut last year as a show of commitment to addressing key sustainability challenges with the following pledges:
- To eradicate child labour from the supply chain
- To lift more than 500,000 cocoa farmers out of poverty
- To be carbon and forest positive
- To use 100 per cent sustainable products in all of the company’s ingredients.
The Group set itself a deadline of 2025 to make ‘Forever Chocolate’ a reality.
Head of sales for Barry Callebaut Beverages UK, Paula Bentley comments: “Joining forces with Bonsucro reflects the Group’s strong desire to stand at the forefront of promoting positive change. Sugar is a key ingredient in the production of chocolate and, by working closely with our peers within this sector, we can foster a better understanding of what is needed to effect change on a grander scale.”
Barry Callebaut is an established advocate of sustainability, working with smallholder farms in West and Central Africa, supporting farmer training in Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). It is renowned for working to increase productivity and improve the quality of cocoa while positively impacting on livelihoods on a large scale.
