Adapting our model to maximise efficiency We have seen our approach deliver meaningful progress in some areas, like child labour 18 , while others, like enabling farmers to earn a living income or increasing productivity, remain industry-wide challenges. As part of our adaptive learning approach, we must confront the biggest issues in cocoa, along with the threats they pose to farmers’ livelihoods. We have seen an increase in the estimated number of cocoa farmers earning a living income at our 3 longest-term partner cooperatives between this season and last season (up from 19.1% 19 to 40.6%). Recent data also shows a slight increase in cocoa yields in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. 20 Overall yields, however, still remain below what is needed to support the majority of cocoa farmers to earn a living income and long- term threats of decline as the result of ageing trees and crop disease means it is essential to invest in farms now. 21 This is why we reviewed and refined our strategies on living income and productivity this season: tying them closer together to accelerate change and deepen our impact where it matters most. As part of our efforts to continue learning, we were also part of a double materiality assessment (DMA) carried out by our founding Mission Ally, Tony’s Chocolonely, this year. The DMA covered Tony’s Chocolonely’s whole value chain, including Tony’s Open Chain. A DMA evaluates sustainability issues from 2 distinct perspectives: impact materiality, which assesses how a company’s operations, products or services affect the environment and society (inside-out), and financial materiality, which assesses how sustainability-related issues, such as climate change, can impact the company’s financial performance (outside-in). 22
Impact materiality Company impact on the environment and society
Double Materiality
Environment and society
Company
Financial materiality
Impact of the environment and society on the company
Visual adapted from Datylon, Understanding Double Materiality with Impactful Charts, February 2025
The DMA identified the following topics as material 23 within the cocoa supply chain, confirming that we have been focusing our efforts on the right issues, whilst also drawing our attention to other topics that require further attention:
Impact materiality Financial materiality X X X X X X X X X X X X
Topic
Climate change Biodiversity and ecosystems Child and forced labour
Working conditions in the value chain Farmer livelihoods & communities Business conduct
18. Read about our results in our Human Rights chapter. 19. Note that we updated our living income analysis model this year, towards a more conservative approach. As a result, the 19.1% and 40.6% figures are not directly comparable. 20. Read about this in our Environment, Climate and Productivity Chapter.
21. A 2024 Fairtrade study noted that various factors including inflation, climate change, and labour shortages have limited the positive effects expected from higher prices. For example, the study found that average farm yield increased slightly between 2020 and 2024, from 625 to 650 kilogrammes per hectare. However, average farm size and cocoa growing area decreased at the same time, possibly indicating that farm measurements are more accurate thanks to geolocation mapping, and yield improvements should be interpreted with caution. The study also found that cocoa production volumes per household decreased by 29 percent between 2020 and 2024 (from 2,743 kg to 1,952), and that average production costs increased by 16 percent, from €179 per hectare in 2020 to €207 per hectare in 2024. See Fairtrade International. “More Cocoa Farmers Earning Closer to Living Incomes in Côte d’Ivoire. ” 22. EFRAG. IG 1: Materiality Assessment. European Financial Reporting Advisory Group, 2023. 23. A sustainability matter is material from: (a) ‘an impact perspective when it pertains to the undertaking’s material actual or potential, positive or negative impacts on people or the environment over the short-, medium- and long-term. Impacts include those connected with the undertaking’s own operations and the upstream and downstream value chain, including through its products EFRAG IG 1: Materiality Assessment Implementation Guidance May 2024 Page 11 of 55 and services, as well as through its business relationships’ (ESRS 1 paragraph 43). EFRAG. IG 1: Materiality Assessment. European Financial Reporting Advisory Group, 2023.
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Ending exploitation in cocoa together
Living income
Climate, environment & productivity
Human rights
Governance & finances
Interesting appendices
Scaling for change
Introduction
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