Pioneering a New Approach to Cocoa Sustainability

Progress Blog

Cocoa Life is celebrating 10 years of lifting up cocoa communities and shaping the landscapes where cocoa grows. 10 years of working on-the-ground with partners, and the women & men who grow cocoa to help everyone benefit from the bean that becomes the chocolate we love. 10 years of innovating and taking what works to scale so we can move cocoa forward together. To celebrate this milestone, we have launched a series of stories featuring our partners that demonstrates our progress and impact to date.

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When we started Cocoa Life, we pioneered a new approach to more sustainable cocoa sourcing: investing and working directly on-the-ground with cocoa-growing communities to deliver measurable impact, at scale, where change is needed; getting clearer visibility across the cocoa supply chain; and working to tackle all the different interconnected challenges. By co-creating integrated solutions tailored to the farmer, community, and environmental needs, we have seen positive impact on farmer incomes, the cocoa communities, and landscapes. To learn more about how we have been moving cocoa forward together over the past ten years, you can find the full series here.

"We believe that a more sustainable cocoa supply chain begins with empowered cocoa farmers. That is why Cocoa Life works side-by-side in cocoa producing countries with partners, the national institutions and most importantly the men & women whose livelihood it is to grow our cocoa. Through this approach we have seen communities become stronger and able to drive their own development. Of the over 2,500 communities we work with, all of them have Community Action Plans in place and 70% of these plans are supported by the local governments."

Cathy Pieters, Vice President Sustainable Ingredients & Cocoa Life, Mondelēz International