Chocolate is arguably one of the most ethically conflicted, fast-moving consumer goods on the market, but that hasn't stopped us from eating it. The average Australian consumes around 32 kilograms of the habit-forming substance a year, with a notable splurge at Easter time, when we spend about $60 a piece on chocolate products. But it's a guilty pleasure in more ways than one. 

It's no secret that cocoa farming, most of which takes place in West Africa, has a long history of environmental devastation and the use of child labour, among other concerns. This is why many of us want to know that the chocolate we consume has been as ethically sourced as possible. 

The chocolate industry is keenly aware of this consumer sentiment, and many brands make reassuring claims about their ethical sourcing policies. The question is whether the claims stack up. 

The answers in each case come with many underlying complexities, something that advocates and researchers in the area of ethical cocoa farming call a 'wicked problem'. Defining the criteria for what constitutes an ethically sourced chocolate product is not as straightforward as it may seem. 

The difficulty of defining ethically produced chocolate

For instance, some consumers may want to know that no pesticides or fertilisers were used to grow cocoa, and this is one of the factors that ethical chocolate advocates take into account when evaluating brands.  

But not using these agrochemicals can prove catastrophic for cocoa farmers and the local community, since the entire crop could be lost. 

The term 'child labour' is also not clear-cut. It's generally defined as children who are working without being paid and are denied access to schooling. The United Nations further defines it as "work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development". There is also a connotation that the work is physically dangerous. 

The overarching disconnect is that the ethics of cocoa farming are often defined by people who don't live in West Africa and don't understand its complexities

But in many cocoa farming communities, young people who are technically children work the farms out of necessity, since there are no other jobs around. And it can be difficult to measure whether their conditions fall under the definition of child labour. Meanwhile, some countries define a child as being under 18; in other countries it's 16. 

The overarching disconnect is that the ethics of cocoa farming are often defined by people who don't live in West Africa and don't understand its complexities.

What is clear, though, is that child labour in cocoa farming that does meet the general definition, along with widespread deforestation, are entrenched issues with a long history. 

And none of the above means we shouldn't try to buy the most ethically sourced chocolate products we can find, relying on whatever information is available. 

'We have to be seen to be doing something'

Cocoa farming expert professor John Dumay of Macquarie University tells CHOICE that "everybody knows there's child labour in the supply chains".

"We're getting to a point in supply chain awareness where you can't really hide behind the fact that you don't know what's going on. What the companies are doing now is going, 'okay, we can't ignore the fact that it's happening. We have to be seen to be doing something'," he says. 

Dumay co-authored a study in 2021 focusing on Nestlé's operations in the Ivory Coast. 

"It is intriguing that Nestlé can operate in the Ivory Coast with openly admitted ethical issues in its cocoa supply chain while simultaneously winning Corporate Social Responsibility awards," the authors wrote. 

We're getting to a point in supply chain awareness where you can't really hide behind the fact that you don't know what's going on

Professor John Dumay, Macquarie University

The study put the number of children under 15 working in Ivory Coast and Ghana at more than two million. There's little question that the conditions most of them were working under would meet the definition of child labour in the exploitative sense. But the situation seems to be improving. 

Dumay says the fact that all the major cocoa companies are working with advocacy groups like the Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade and Be Slavery Free shows that progress is being made. Nestlé currently reports that 85% of its cocoa is sourced through its Nestlé Cocoa Plan, which includes making its supply chains more transparent and traceable and mitigating other ethical concerns. 

"When I first started researching Nestlé, it had about 30% of its cocoa in the plan," Dumay says. 

For West African countries like Ghana and the Ivory Coast, cocoa farming is essential to economic survival, and the ethical questions have no easy answers.

Collaboration is key

A corollary of the wicked problem is that taking a sledgehammer approach to ethical issues in cocoa supply chains often backfires. It can have dire economic impacts on communities in cocoa-producing countries. 

"We could say, 'okay, we're gonna have a complete boycott of cocoa coming from West Africa', but that's not going to do the people in West Africa any good. It would probably cause more problems than it solves, because all of a sudden these people wouldn't have an income," Dumay says. 

Working collaboratively with cocoa suppliers and manufacturers to incrementally reduce the incidence of labour exploitation and deforestation, on the other hand, can lead to actual progress. 

We could say 'okay, we're gonna have a complete boycott of cocoa coming from West Africa', but that's not going to do the people in West Africa any good

Professor John Dumay, Macquarie University

Dumay cites European Union legislation meant to come into effect in 2021 that would have required importers of agricultural products to prove they weren't grown on deforested land. 

"People in West Africa are very happy to comply with that," he says.

"However, the EU legislation didn't come with any money to help the poor farmers put the systems in place that would allow that certification to happen. So, yeah, great legislation, good intentions, but at the end of the day, is that actually going to work?"

The legislation is currently on hold. 

Be Slavery Free's Chocolate Scorecard 

The Australian advocacy organisation Be Slavery Free recently published its sixth annual Chocolate Scorecard, which ranks the ethical profiles of chocolate manufacturers according to a range of criteria, including supply chain traceability and transparency, deforestation and climate impact, the use of child labour, and ensuring a living income to those who work in the cocoa industry.

The Chocolate Scorecard is put together each year by researchers at Macquarie University, University of Wollongong and Open University UK. 

The due diligence in determining the rankings involves gathering verifiable documentation from the companies about their ethical supply chain programs, and putting them under the microscope to evaluate their credibility. 

CHOICE spoke to Be Slavery Free co-director Fuzz Kitto from Brazil, where he was getting ready to speak at the World Cocoa Foundation's annual partnership meeting. The foundation is an industry body dedicated to resolving its ethical problems.

The scorecard project evolved out of a growing awareness that simply calling companies out for wrongdoing wasn't fixing the problem, and that many companies genuinely wanted to clean up their cocoa supply chains, Kitto says.  

"So we changed from a name and shame to a name and fame organisation. And that's what the chocolate scorecard is really based on. It's highlighting those that are doing well, those that are along the track, and others who really need to change and do a lot more. We back up what the companies tell us by third-party assessments." 

Be Slavery Free's annual Chocolate Scorecard rates companies on their ethical practices based on a range of criteria. Source: Be Slavery Free

The necessity of relationship building 

Kitto and his colleagues took on board the complaints by industry that non-government organisations such as Be Slavery Free were quick to criticise chocolate manufacturers for not doing enough to stop child labour and deforestation in their supply chains but slow to commend them when they did make progress. He says working with companies and offering constructive feedback, rather than preaching to them, has moved the needle in the right direction. 

But it's not all smooth sailing. 

You can't have trust unless you've got some sort of relationship going. And there are companies that we've learned to trust

Be Slavery Free co-director Fuzz Kitto

"You can't have trust unless you've got some sort of relationship going. And there are companies that we've learned to trust. Then there are other companies where it's a bit of a reach to even attempt to trust," Kitto says.  

Kitto says a common pitfall with wicked problems such as cocoa supply chains is oversimplifying their solutions and missing the underlying causes, and that can spill over into how well-meaning NGOs approach the issue. Child labour, deforestation and other issues are symptoms of a disease, he points out, which is the lack of a living income for cocoa farmers. 

Child labour is endemic in the cocoa farming industry. Source: Be Slavery Free

Companies can't do it alone

John Dumay has come to learn that expecting chocolate manufacturers to snap their fingers and eradicate child labour and deforestation in their supply chains is delusional. 

Despite their size and global reach, these companies aren't in a position to fully trace all the cocoa that comes from each farm gate through the manufacturing system. 

"For millions of farmers to be able to set that kind of infrastructure up is not within the power of a particular company, it's actually within the power of national governments," Dumay says.  

The governments of the Ivory Coast and Ghana have been working on national traceability systems since early 2022. 

From our own Western perspective, we may think it's an easy problem to solve. But you have to understand the intricacies of what's happening in West Africa

Professor John Dumay, Macquarie University

"It's such a wicked problem with so many different moving parts," Dumay says.

"From our own Western perspective, we may think it's an easy problem to solve. But you have to understand the intricacies of what's happening in West Africa.

"If we just rely on the companies to fix the problem the problem will never get fixed, because it's a wider economic problem, a wider social problem and a wider political problem. We're dealing with people and governments and cultures that are in West Africa, not in Australia or the global north." 

The Dutch brand Tony's Chocolonely was recently rated most ethical on Be Slavery Free's Chocolate Scorecard for the sixth consecutive year. Source: Be Slavery Free

Tony's Chocolonely charting a new course 

The Dutch chocolate manufacturer Tony's Chocolonely was recently ranked the most ethical brand in Be Slavery Free's medium and large company Chocolate Scorecard category for the sixth year in a row. Fuzz Kitto says there's a reason for that. 

"They're looking at systemic change, and that's where they've really made a difference. Instead of going out and saying we're good and you're all bad, they've said, 'okay, let's get in here and see if we can all change this together'. It's that spirit of collaboration that has brought about the incredible effect that Tony's Chocolonely has been able to have," Kitto says. 

John Dumay, who is involved in the Chocolate Scorecard project, says "they're one of the companies that are leading the charge. But when you look at how much influence or how much volume they have in the market, they're a drop in the bucket compared to the bigger players. So we're very happy that companies like Nestlé' are participating in the scorecard." 

Whichever way you slice the problem, getting everybody on board is the only option, Dumay says. 

"We're seeing an increase in traceability, which is a good thing. We are seeing that progress, but the progress is slow. It has to be done with the cooperation of the companies, the suppliers, and the governments themselves. Otherwise, it just doesn't work." 

Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.

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