Be Slavery Free, Green America, INKOTA, Mighty Earth, and National Wildlife Federation have surveyed the world’s biggest chocolate companies to find out what they are doing to eliminate child labour from the supply chains, ensure farmers make a living income from their work, and prevent environmental damage caused by deforestation.
The results appear in their Easter scorecard, which gives each company a score across different categories so that you can buy the most ethical and sustainable Easter chocolates.
Some chocolate companies are rising to the challenge, but others continue to ignore consumer demand for chocolate that’s free of child labour, farmer poverty, and deforestation.
With the shopping guide in hand, you’ll be able to easily see which of your favourite chocolate suppliers are taking strides towards producing chocolate that’s better for people and planet.
The “good eggs” this year are alter eco (whose mission is to pioneer a full-circle approach to eating, farming, and doing business, and to inspire others to do the same), Tony’s Chocolonely (which offers a petition you can sign to help make chocolate 100 per cent slave free) and Whittakers (a family business, which has seen the Whittaker family and the Vaa’i family work together to make a positive difference to cocoa suppliers across Samoa).
Australia also has some smaller brands (too small to appear on the scorecard) but which are making the effort to be ethical. Pana Organic, Daintree Estates and Jasper and Myrtle are a few the South Sydney Herald has heard about and whom you might like to support.
To go the extra (ethical) mile this Easter, you could look up the “bad eggs” on the scorecard who aren’t trying as hard, and entice them to change.
