{"id":9748,"date":"2016-11-03T22:33:31","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T02:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/barry-callebaut-im-in-love-with-the-cocoa\/"},"modified":"2016-11-03T22:33:31","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T02:33:31","slug":"barry-callebaut-im-in-love-with-the-cocoa","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/barry-callebaut-im-in-love-with-the-cocoa\/","title":{"rendered":"Barry Callebaut: I\u2019m in love with the cocoa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barry Callebaut: I\u2019m in love with the cocoa <\/strong><\/p>\n

Operating primarily in the B2B space, Barry Callebaut isn\u2019t the Company that the average consumer would identify as one of the titans of the global chocolate industry (see Nestle, Hershey\u2019s, Lindt). Nevertheless, there\u2019s a one in four chance that the last chocolate bar you ate was at least partially manufactured in one of Barry Callebaut\u2019s 53 factories across the world.[1] As a major player, Barry Callebaut must stay abreast of emerging threats to the chocolate industry\u2019s supply chain, and with mounting evidence linking climate change to a future decline in cocoa bean (chocolate\u2019s most important input) production, the Company along with other industry participants approached cocoa farmers with a multipronged solution. [2]<\/p>\n

From tree to the bar<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chocolate in its simplest form is a mixture of cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, sugar and sometimes milk. Cocoa liquor and butter are extracts from grounded cocoa beans, of which nearly all is produced in (i) emerging economies (70% from West Africa) and (ii) small family-run two to four hectare farms. Cocoa farming is a delicate process, with trees that are susceptible to changing weather patterns, diseases, insects and that don\u2019t reach peak production until the 5th<\/sup> year.[3] As opposed to large, industrialized crops, a threat as serious climate change can\u2019t be left for fragmented cocoa farmers to solve on their own.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s getting hotter, so what?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The major wakeup call came in the form of a climate-based report, Africa’s Chocolate Meltdown<\/em>, published by The International Center for Tropical Agricultural with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In it, researchers found that the situation for chocolate in an ever so warmer planet is indeed quite dire. With an expected annual temperature rise of more than two degrees Celsius by 2050, many of West Africa’s cocoa-producing areas would be too hot for production. The research findings also predicted that areas of cocoa suitability will begin to decline as soon as 2030, as average temperatures increase by one degree Celsius.[4]<\/p>\n

The report highlighted several potential solutions but the biggest conclusion was that the farmers couldn\u2019t do it alone. \u201cBig Chocolate\u201d needed to step in.<\/p>\n

Protecting the golden goose <\/strong><\/p>\n

In its 2014\/2015 sustainability report, Barry Callebaut outlined its plan to address climate change by focusing on two fronts:[5]<\/p>\n