In Pennsylvania, The Hershey Company has made a commitment to no new deforestation in its global cocoa supply chain, which is aimed at stopping ongoing deforestation and protecting forests in the cocoa-growing regions where the company sources its cocoa. The commitment includes two components – 1) 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 and 2) Agroforestry to support shade-grown cocoa through tree planting programs.
Hershey will develop a comprehensive forestry plan in 2018 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 in their press release. “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.”