Today, the demand for chocolate continues to rise while the effects of climate change threaten to impact chocolate production. Chocolate is sweet, but what about its environment impact?
Cacao production was predominately in West Africa, however, it has expanded to South America to keep up with the market. Some research suggests that cacao farmers clear tropical forests to plant new cacao trees rather than reusing previously used land, becoming one of the leading causes of deforestation.
A study in 2012 investigated the effects of deforestation and found that their sample cacao plantation could store approximately 40 metric tons of carbon per hectare over its production lifetime! The World Resource Institute did the math and if you apply this to a 2,000 hectare planation–YIKES! The net carbon emissions from land-use change will be 0.6 million metric tons (more than 660,000 tons) of carbon dioxide.
To mitigate or adapt to risks, some chocolate companies have adopted environmentally-friendly practices like teaching more sustainable farming techniques and management, as well as cultivating a diversity of shade trees.
With the rise of veganism, there are more vegan chocolate options than ever before! Milk, as discussed in our vegan ice cream series, has been proven to have both a high carbon and water footprint due to how it’s produced. Vegan options generally lower the water and carbon footprint, especially for sustainable chocolate options.
We want to see what vegan chocolates, produced by companies with commitments to environmental sustainability, taste the best but also have the best practices! So, we reached out to some of our favorite chocolate companies and they sent us their vegan chocolate bars and treats. We’ve tasted them all and are ready to share our findings! The criteria in which we based these reviews on are:
- Where is the ice cream coming from? Are the ingredients local/in-season?
- What values and practices does the company have in terms of sustainability?
- How much is it? Is it worth its value?
- And of course, is it delicious*?
*delicious is a completely subjective term that differs between individuals.
The staff at the Office of Sustainability were chosen as a sample size to taste the chocolate. They rated their overall experience from 1-10 (1 = bad, 10 = best), noted their favorite and least favorite parts of the product, determined if it reminded them of ‘regular’ chocolate, and if they would eat it again.
Note that various companies sent us vegan chocolate free of charge to our office however, please note that our reviews are 100% honest.
Stay tuned for this delicious weekly blog series next week on…Theo’s Chocolate!
Well well. I use your writing in my proposal