Consumer confidence

The context

Product sustainability is becoming an increasing driver for consumers who see their product choices as a reflection of who they are and what they value. Consumers want to see the issues they care about acknowledged in the brands they buy.

We believe that a prerequisite for making real progress on sustainability is ensuring maximum transparency and traceability across the cocoa supply chain. The proliferation of innovative and cost-effective technological solutions is accelerating traceability, real-time data collection and financial transparency. It also allows for greater transparency on how cocoa is grown and sourced from farmers.

As the quality of this information improves, consumers have greater confidence, and demand for sustainable cocoa goes up. This cycle will help hold everyone to a higher standard and move our industry forward.

Our target

• 100% farmer-to-plant traceability in our direct supply chain.
• 100% of chocolate ingredients sourced in line with our sustainability code of conduct.

Our Consumer Confidence Strategic Action Plan provides a roadmap towards achieving our goal, and sets the framework for how we will monitor and report on our progress.

How are we achieving our goal?

Traceability is a key first step to achieving a more transparent cocoa supply chain. The insights that come from traceability allow us to target our interventions at origin, informing the work we do with farmers and communities to further strengthen the cocoa supply chain.

To achieve greater transparency, we start at the beginning of the cocoa value chain, because this is where we believe we are uniquely placed to have the most impact.

First mile traceability is a fundamental tool to understand the circumstances under which cocoa was produced. It allows us to monitor and assess our supply chain and provides evidence and reliability to our sustainability claims.

To ensure traceability, we electronically track cocoa bags to know which farm they come from and we conduct GPS polygon mapping of farms. We also track and document financial transactions so that we can trace back sustainability premiums and cocoa payments to individual bags of cocoa and have visibility to how sustainability premium is invested. By providing access to mobile banking, for instance, smallholder farmers are able to receive their premium payments quickly and safely, in a manner that can be easily verified.

Furthermore, we collect data of the interventions we operationalize directly and through our partners. The aim is to measure the effectiveness of our sustainability interventions, we make sure to report on our progress in a clear and transparent manner, enabling our customers to understand how their financial contribution is invested and to assess their impact. At Cargill we take a technology-driven approach. CocoaWise™ is our suite of digital tools to gather transparent data to be handled and shared across the cocoa supply chain, from farmer to consumer.

We strongly believe in the value of verification and assurance. We collaborate with third-party certification organizations that provide internationally recognized and independent standards for sustainable production. This increases consumer confidence in purchasing chocolate products made with the cocoa we buy.

Results from our 2021 sustainability report:

• We are bringing digital traceability to scale. This year, 48% of farmers in our direct sustainable supply chain are delivering volumes through our first-mile digital traceability system. Meanwhile, 100% of cocoa in our direct supply chain is traceable to the first point of purchase.

• 49% of our entire cocoa volumes sold this year were third-party certified sustainable. Third-party certified sustainable refers to certification standards such as Rainforest Alliance and Fair Trade.

• More than 56,000 farmers were registered in mobile banking systems. Mobile banking pays farmers faster and more securely.