WCF and its members are criticized for doing too little to end child labor, deforestation and extreme poverty,[1] with their efforts dismissed as greenwashing[2] and “a remarkable failure”.
None are black.”[7] The WCF's vision[8] “is to be a catalyst for a thriving, healthy and equitable cocoa sector that is collaborating to improve farmer income, reverse deforestation, and combat child labor”.
A 2019 Washington Post investigation[13] noted that “Mars, Nestlé and Hershey pledged nearly two decades ago to stop using cocoa harvested by children.
Yet much of the chocolate you buy still starts with child labor.” The piece reported on children from Burkina Faso working in appalling conditions to harvest cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire.
[13] A 2020 report by NORC at the University of Chicago concluded that the prevalence of child labor in cocoa production had increased in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
An investigation in 2022 by Britain’s Channel 4 Dispatches found children as young as 10 working on farms in Ghana supplying the Cadbury’s brand of Mondelēz International.
Last Week Tonight host John Oliver[18] joked: “I don’t know what statement Mondelēz could release in the wake of that other than maybe ‘Honestly, did not think anyone would actually check’”.
A CBS television news[19] investigation in 2023 found children as young as five years old working in the Ghana supply chain of Mars to harvest cocoa for brands such as Snickers and M&Ms.
KPMG noted that “the overall strategy and objectives of CocoaAction were designed with minimal input from external stakeholders” and that “the origin country governments were not sufficiently involved and therefore no local ownership was established”.
[36] Said Glenn Hurowitz,[37] CEO of Mighty Earth: “Chocolate companies like Nestlé, Hershey’s, Mondelez and Mars need to stop making empty promises and start working together with governments in the CFI to establish an open and effective joint deforestation monitoring mechanism this year”.