WASHINGTON – Many chocolate companies continue to sweeten their sourcing practices, but some key producers lag behind, according to the recently released 2024 Chocolate Scorecard. The scorecard, an independent initiative supported by the National Wildlife Federation and a growing list of partner organizations, is an annual effort to peel back the wrapper on company practices while evaluating labor, environmental and transparency standards throughout their supply chains. The 2024 scorecard finds that companies have demonstrated improvement in tracing, fairly compensating farmers, ending child labor and preventing deforestation, but that further steps need to be taken to ensure these practices are fully eradicated from the industry.

“The 2024 Chocolate Scorecard gives consumers essential insights into the historically opaque chocolate industry,” said Mustafa Santiago Ali, executive vice president of the National Wildlife Federation. “These findings put added pressure on companies to reform their sourcing practices, while also shining a light on those that have successfully integrated environmental stewardship and strong labor practices into their business models. The National Wildlife Federation is committed to working with industry leaders and policymakers to ensure that the industry continues to adopt more ethical practices.”

“This scorecard empowers chocolate consumers to make informed decisions to align with companies that support local farmers and preserve biodiversity,” said Chef Paul Joachim, president of The Chocolate Genius and vice president of Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund. “This is a testament to each and every member of the Scorecard’s coalition, who are providing us the essential knowledge needed to combine our purpose with our purchasing decisions.”

“Making the link between environmental and human rights is critical to addressing the worldwide climate and justice crises, and reforming the chocolate industry remains at the forefront of this work,” said Alfred Brownell, 2019 Goldman Prize recipient and international advocate for human rights and the environment. "In order to pressure the industry to change, it’s more important than ever that consumers have insight into our biggest chocolate producers. The 2024 Chocolate Scorecard will help them do just that.”

The scorecard finds that supply chain tracing has increased over the past year, particularly in response to new European Union laws, but that around 50 percent of supply chains remain untraced. The industry continues to show signs of improvement on labor issues — several companies, for instance, were able to report cases where they identified and remediated forced labor and human trafficking — but more needs to be done to ensure child labor is fully eliminated and that local farmers receive a living wage. Damaging environmental practices, unfortunately, remain rampant across the industry, and companies need to do more to prevent deforestation, end the use of hazardous pesticides, and encourage sustainable farming practices such as agroforestry.

To supplement the 2024 Chocolate Scorecard, the National Wildlife Federation also released an “explainer” document about deforestation and labor exploitation in the chocolate industry. The document details the major challenges preventing change in the industry, and how governments and companies are attempting to remedy these issues. It also shows where the United States receives its cocoa and spotlights recommended policy reforms.

About the Chocolate Scorecard

The Chocolate Scorecard, coordinated by Be Slavery Free in collaboration with 37 NGOs, 25 experts and 3 universities, is the world’s leading effort to evaluate chocolate companies on their sourcing policies and practices. Now in its fifth year, the initiative evaluates companies that collectively produce 95% of the world’s chocolate. The Scorecard gathers data from surveys sent to chocolate producers each year, whose answers are fact-checked and evaluated by industry experts. For more information on the Chocolate Scorecard, visit the organization’s website: The Chocolate Scorecard

About the National Wildlife Federation

The National Wildlife Federation is one of the world’s largest private, nonprofit conservation education and advocacy organizations, with over six million members and supporters. Its international team works to help people, agriculture and the planet by supporting more sustainable supply chains for high-impact commodities such as beef, leather, soy, palm oil, and cocoa. The team also advocates for strong and comprehensive international agreements that protect the climate and local communities across the globe.