The Hershey Company is seriously stepping up its game to tackle the problem of deforestation in the cocoa supply chain by declaring it is committed to no new deforestation, effective immediately.

The US confectionery giant has pledged to protect forests in cocoa-growing regions where the company sources its cocoa.

The commitment includes two fundamental components:

• No new deforestation for cocoa through a strict commitment not to source cocoa from anywhere in the world where new deforestation has occurred, effective immediately.
• Agroforestry to support shade-grown cocoa through tree planting programs.

Hershey is committed to achieving these commitments through its own forest initiatives and its work with the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and its Cocoa & Forests Initiative (CFI), an industry commitment announced in 2017 to protect and help restore forests and support sustainable cocoa production and farmer livelihoods.

Hershey’s commitments will help protect forests by helping to stop the illegal deforestation that has been occurring for decades, especially in National Parks and Reserves. It will also help to rejuvenate forests impacted by farming activities.

In addition, the company will develop a comprehensive forestry plan this year to outline its agroforestry programs, tree-planting goals, supplier guidelines and monitoring, and timelines to achieve its forest protection and reforestation goals.

The comprehensive plan will be completed and publicly shared before the end of 2018.

“Deforestation in cocoa regions must end and every stakeholder in the cocoa supply chain needs to work together to protect the forests for future generations,” said Susanna Zhu, Chief Procurement Officer at The Hershey Company.

“We are committed to working with local governments and civil society to strike the right balance between producing cocoa for the world and conserving the precious natural ecosystem.”

Big businesses are becoming increasingly sustainable in terms of how and where they source major ingredients like cocoa. Focusing on the global phenomenon of deforestation can make a major difference in the supply chain and campaigners have been calling for more effort from industry for many years.

In January, Mondelēz announced investing in a program to protect forests in Ghana, which supplies about 20 percent of the world’s cocoa has one of the highest deforestation rates in Africa.

The company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding reinforcing its commitment to reduce emissions in its cocoa supply chain across Ghana. Through Cocoa Life, Mondelēz International’s signature sustainable cocoa sourcing program, the company will take a leading role in implementing projects to deliver the Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ Program (GCFRP) which aims at tackling deforestation and forest degradation.