Major chocolate companies such as Godiva, Lindt and Hershey are failing to keep child labor out of their supply chains, according to a new ranking by activists released on Thursday.
Godiva was rated the worst, followed by Ferrero and Mondalez, on a scorecard of efforts to reduce child labor and deforestation published by the activist group Green America.
Mars and Nestle were rated slightly better than Lindt and Hershey, while seven smaller companies received the best grade, including Alter Eco, Divine and Tony’s Chocolonely.
Photo: AP
Most of the world’s cocoa is grown by poor family farmers in the west African countries of Ghana and Ivory Coast, where an estimated 1.6 million children work in the industry.
While companies are making efforts to fix the problem, Green America said it is too early to see results for some, while others received low grades for lack of transparency.
“This Halloween and every day, children should be able to enjoy candies that aren’t made by child laborers,” Green America’s labor justice manager Charlotte Tate said.
“Big brands must do more to tackle these issues, and buying ethically sourced chocolate is one way for consumers to put pressure on brands to change their practices,” she said.
Godiva, which received the worst ranking, said it purchases cocoa through third parties, which put it at a scoring disadvantage.
“We ensure ethical sourcing through agreements with our suppliers to comply with our GODIVA Code of Conduct, which explicitly prohibits the use of forced and child labor,” a company spokeswoman said in an e-mail.
Other companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Most major chocolate companies are working to increase the proportion of their cocoa that is certified as ethical by groups such as Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance, or through their own certification programs.
Many have the goal of sourcing 100 percent certified cocoa by next year.
However, Green America said buying certified cocoa is not enough, citing other issues such as whether companies had initiatives to support communities and raise farmers’ incomes.
Most cocoa farming families live below the World Bank’s poverty line of US$2 a day, fueling child labor, the charity International Cocoa Initiative said.
Ghana and Ivory Coast on Thursday said that cocoa companies were too focused on their own sustainability plans versus a payment plan called the living income differential, which the countries introduced this year to ease farmer poverty.
“The two countries [are] therefore re-examining all sustainability and certification programs for the 2019/20 season,” they said in a joint statement.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
RSS