News

Barry Callebaut helps found Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa

1 Feb 2018

The Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa was launched last week, with Barry Callebaut one of the founding members. This platform will, the company said, play an important role in creating the market pull for sustainably sourced cocoa.

The Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa was launched last week, with Barry Callebaut one of the founding members. This platform will, the company said, play an important role in creating the market pull for sustainably sourced cocoa.

41 players from the Swiss cocoa industry have joined together to form the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa. The platform members have agreed on the goal that by 2025, at least 80% of the cocoa-containing products imported into Switzerland should come from sustainable cultivation. In addition to Barry Callebaut, the founding members include the industry association CHOCOSUISSE, manufacturers, importers, and distributors of cocoa-containing products, Swiss retailers, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), non-profit organizations and research institutions. All members of the cocoa platform are actively and collectively committed to strengthening the sustainability of the cocoa production and value chain. An important advantage of the cocoa platform is that it provides a framework for closer cooperation between the private sector and the public sector. In this way, economic development cooperation, provided in various cocoa-growing countries, can have a greater impact.

After the Netherlands and Germany, Switzerland is now the third country where the chocolate and confectionery industry has committed to a clear target for the sourcing of sustainable cocoa.

Raphael Felenbok, General Manager of Barry Callebaut Switzerland: "This platform will play a key role in creating the market pull for sustainably sourced products. This is good news for Barry Callebaut's plan to make sustainable chocolate the norm by 2025, it is good news for Carma which is already 100% UTZ certified, and it is good news for the entire Swiss chocolate industry".