Luker Chocolate reports core environmental gains with its latest sustainability report

Ethically-founded Colombian chocolate manufacturer Luker Chocolate has released its latest 2022-2023 sustainability report, which has noted core progress against goals on farmer pay, social wellbeing and eradicating deforestation from cocoa supply chains, writes Neill Barston.

The business, which has gained coveted B Corp status for its environmental performance, and has previously played a notable role with our World Confectionery Conference, has continued to progress its operations with creating shared value at its heart.

This has seen the firm place an ambitious target of reaching 100% traceability in in its supply chain by 2027, which the company believed it remained on track to achieve, alongside its determination to pay farmers an elevated wage.

As we have previously reported, the business, which was originally founded in 1906, has continued to offer innovations for the B2B market, began life as a quality supplier of hot chocolate, and evolved in recent decades into chocolate production, working with a number of brands from around the world.

The company has worked extensively to deliver its cacao products through its own plantations, as well as working closely with a number of co-operatives within its native Colombia, placing a high value on fair and ethical sourcing practices that eared its B Corp certification.

Luker’s CEO Camilo Romero enthused: “Our past serves as the foundation for building an ever-more sustainable future. While we celebrate our achievements, we remain committed to continuous improvement, striving to do better for our communities, our planet, and future generations.”

Julia Ocampo, Luker Chocolate’s VP of Cacao Sourcing and Sustainability, agreed with that sentiment, noting that its guiding principles remained focused on supporting the communities that have proved central to its own development.

She said:  “We don’t just aim to positively impact cocoa producers; we involve their families and wider communities too. We are utterly convinced that the transformation towards sustainable well-being is done by involving communities in their own development through education, entrepreneurship, and environmental awareness.”

Significantly, the company purchases cocoa from  13,000 producers, which accounts for over 20% of the total in Colombia.  As outlined in its sustainability report, the company paid an average of 94% of the New York Stock Exchange Free on Board (FOB) price to cocoa suppliers in 2022-2023.

To provide context, this approach sees Luker pay Colombian farmers almost double the price of Ghana and Ivory Coast in the same period. Additionally, Luker offers a purchase guarantee to its producers, ensuring a market for their cocoa throughout the year.

Luker has made significant advancements in verifying this price transfer to the producer, achieving 100% cocoa traceability at the association and supplier levels. By 2027, the company’s goal is to achieve 100% price traceability of all cocoa used for export at the farmer level.

To further increase and diversify farmer incomes, Luker’s ‘The Chocolate Dream’ initiative helps farmers boost their productivity and expand business opportunities by providing training to help develop entrepreneurial skills and enhance local communities.

Farmer pay raised

As the report observed, the 2022/23 period, Luker facilitated a 12% increase in income for 1,125 farming families. This was achieved through higher profitability, quality, and sustainability premiums and a shorter cocoa value chain (excluding the price variable). Real progress is being made toward the company’s ambitious goal of 1,500 farmers reaching a 20% income increase (from their 2021 level) by 2027.

Beyond farmer income, today’s report demonstrates how Luker strengthens social well-being in Colombia’s cocoa-producing regions. Through ‘The Chocolate Dream,’ Luker offers vocational and technical education opportunities at the high school level, aiming to inspire young individuals to envision a future in cocoa cultivation. This initiative seeks to cultivate a new generation of entrepreneurs. Projects under this initiative also raise awareness of crucial human rights issues, such as gender equality, and work towards preventing modern slavery and child labor in the cocoa industry.”

Another key finding of the report was that in 2022, 2,210 families participated in Luker’s social well-being projects. By 2023, the number of families reached had grown by more than 13% to 2,512. Further, Luker has committed to improving the quality of life for 5,000 families in Colombian cocoa communities by 2027, with close to 4,000 (3,933) reporting improvements in 2022/23.

Environmental action
Luker Chocolate’s environmental mission is rooted in going ‘beyond sustainability.’ This is driven through ‘The Chocolate Dream’ programs such as Water and Forest, which aim to educate farmers and cocoa-producing communities on good water management and give rural communities access to safe drinking water. Other programs, such as Conserving the Future, encompass projects that focus on biodiversity, land conservation, reforestation, and environmental education.

Demonstrating its commitment to deforestation-free cocoa, the business is fully compliant with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which is set to come into force at the end of this year within European nations. Building on this, in 2022/23, the company introduced LukerTrace, which monitors ‘deforestation-free’ compliance with the latest geo-referencing and satellite lot tracking technologies, putting Luker at the forefront of meeting necessary compliance targets.

By 2023, Luker increased the land it protects through sustainable agricultural practices, agroforestry, and environmental programs from 2022 by 347% to 11,945 hectares — roughly equivalent to twice the size of Manhattan Island, New York. This already exceeds the company’s 2027 goal of 5,000 hectares. As a result, Luker Chocolate has extended its environmental goal to 15,000 hectares by 2027.

The company concluded that it has collaborated with suppliers to develop and implement effective strategies to reduce emissions. Consequently, it has achieved a significant reduction in scope 1 and 2 energy and industrial emissions, cutting them by 17% during 2022-2023. Moreover, Luker obtained carbon neutral certification for its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions for the period 2021-2023. This achievement was secured by offsetting emissions through the use of more than 11,000 carbon credits obtained from carbon sequestration projects involving farmers and cocoa crops in the regions of Huila and Casanare.