{"id":14204,"date":"2024-07-10T21:29:44","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T21:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.simtrade.fr\/blog_simtrade\/?p=14204"},"modified":"2026-02-17T11:54:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T11:54:28","slug":"environmental-impact-cocoa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.simtrade.fr\/blog_simtrade\/environmental-impact-cocoa\/","title":{"rendered":"The environmental impact of cocoa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\"Mathis<\/a>\n\n

In this article, Mathis DIALLO<\/a> (ESSEC Business School, Grande Ecole<\/i> Program – Master in Management, 2023-2026) explains what the environmental repercussions of the production and supply of cocoa are. <\/p>\n\n\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n\n

The carbon footprint is an which measures the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, i.e. a measure of the emissions that can be attributed to that human activity. Unfortunately, chocolate produces a lot of green gas emissions. Growing and harvesting cocoa, making chocolate, transportation, packaging: each stage of production produces greenhouse gases. <\/p>\n\n

Figure 1 gives the process flowchart for cocoa production designed by Sucden (a French trading company specializing in soft commodities and mainly in sugar).<\/p>\n\n

Process flowchart for cocoa production
\n\"Process<\/a>
\nSource: Sucden.<\/p>\n\n

Global cocoa production therefore has a significant environmental impact. However, chocolate can also influence the climate and deforestation. Indeed, the manufacture of this product has a negative impact on the environment. Certain prints also have an impact on cocoa plantations. <\/p>\n\n\n

Cocoa’s carbon footprint <\/h2>\n\n

It seems fair to say that chocolate’s carbon footprint is far from acceptable. A kilo of chocolate has a carbon footprint of around 13.7kg of CO\u00b2 (data from the Agribalyse database). The two factors that will influence the increase or decrease of this figure are either the type of chocolate, or its impact on deforestation. It means that some types of chocolates may need more transformation than others, which implies that there will be more chances to require some other products which have some influence in the green gas emissions. <\/p>\n\n

Cocoa production is responsible for 70% of chocolate’s CO\u00b2 emissions. All subsequent stages are included in the remaining 30%: processing from cocoa to packaging, addition of other foods and transport to the point of sale. <\/p>\n\n

Most cocoa is grown using conventional agricultural methods such as pesticides, machinery and fertilizers. These processes are energy-intensive and directly produce greenhouse gases, with the result that agriculture currently accounts for around 20% of global emissions. <\/p>\n\n

In the case of cocoa beans, there are also processing steps. The cocoa beans are first ground into cocoa powder, then the other ingredients are added: <\/p>\n\n