Barry Callebaut’s ESG report reveals progress, yet key child labour and cocoa challenges remain

The Barry Callebaut group has released its latest ESG report on its environmental and social governance, which has asserted core gains on its 2030 sustainability targets, while key challenges on child labour and farmer engagement remain, writes Neill Barston.

Notably, the Swiss headquartered business highlighted its core target of helping raise 500,000 agricultural workers gain earnings above the poverty line of $3 a day earnings. Its  latest total stands at 557,739, which is reportedly up 30% from its 2024 figure of 428,997 last year. During the latest period covered by the study, labour groups operated across 35,797 hectares of cocoa farms, which was up 18% on the prior year.

It also gained progress against satellite geomapping goals, tracing  over 1.5 million cocoa farms as of 2025, which it believed made it compliant with incoming EUDR deforestation requirements.

This included mapping 725,000 plots, and encouraging 24,000 hectares of agroforestry designed to combat deforestation, which comes against a backdrop in the region of ongoing issues of ‘galamsey’ illegal gold mining stripping traditional farmland that has led to cocoa deficits.

There have also been ongoing significant issues of crop disease including swollen shoot virus (CSSV) that has caused widespread problems for the cocoa sector- particularly due to the nature of the agricultural infection laying dormant for a considerable period before majorly impacting yields.

In response, the company said that it had launched a direct initiative within the past year to combat the threat of CSSV, by clearing infected plots and planting barrier crops, following CIRAD protocols.  As the business noted, these crops act as physical barriers to mealybugs, the virus’s primary vector. 

Furthermore, as the company’s ESG report revealed, in terms of its social rights policies, while an improved figure of 99.3% of its direct supply chain now had child labour remediation systems in place to monitor the issue (CLMRS), its figures revealed that there had in fact been an increase of identified cases, standing at 25,288 for 2024-2025, against a total of 19,389 instances found in 2023/2024. 

The company confirmed a separate total of 30,080 remediated child labour cases in 2024/25, against 26,530 the previous year, though the number of farmers working in groups covered by CLMRS systems was 411,045, compared against a higher figure of 517,613 the previous year – highlighting the scale of the ongoing challenges.

However, as Barry Callebaut observed, the increase in detected cases was indicative of the fact that monitoring systems had improved, rather than the situation actually becoming worse in relation to child labour statistics, which it said had been backed-up by industry reports from Norc, the social science university based in Chicago. 

Significantly, within the introduction of the report, the company stated it remained committed to its ambitions on sustainability, yet acknowledged there were ‘historic levels of volatility in cocoa markets’ that had impacted its operations, with climate change being highlighted as among factors affecting yields in its producing nations including Ivory Coast and Ghana.

The report noted:  “We must recognise that in the past twelve months, we have witnessed the scaling back of sustainability agendas by some governments, institutions and corporations.

“This shift has raised questions about the future of sustainability and the durability of progress made so far. In this context, our long-term sustainability commitments become even more vital, not just to maintain momentum, but to lead where others hesitate and to remain a trusted partner for sustainable solutions.

“At the heart of our ESG strategy lies Forever Chocolate – our long-term commitment to tackling the most pressing issues in the cocoa and
chocolate supply chain. Since its inception in 2016, Forever Chocolate has remained consistently based on four founding pillars: Prospering
Farmers, Human Rights, Thriving Nature, and Sustainable Ingredients,” which it added remained of core importance to its activities.

Child labour focus
As the company noted, human rights is one of the four major pillars of its core Forever Chocolate strategy, with the company stating that by the end of this year, 100% of its cocoa value chain was covered by human rights due diligence frameworks.

It stated that by 2030, its direct sourcing farming communities will be further empowered to protect children’s rights, which remains a hugely challenging issue for the wider sector.

The report stated: “Our actions go beyond detecting child labor: we
aim to strengthen and connect with child protection systems, empower communities and promote local ownership and child participation.

We believe enforcement of a strong regulatory framework to prevent, mitigate and respond to human rights abuse and violations in origin countries should be part of a broader effort to strengthen an enabling environment for sustainable farming.

“Barry Callebaut’s HRDD approach is guided by local, national and international laws and standards, such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct (OECD Guidelines), the UNGPs, the OECD Business Handbook on Due Diligence in the Cocoa Sector, the Children’s Rights and Business Principles by UNICEF, and the UN Global Compact.”

The report added that it had adhered to principles of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Core Conventions and the UN  Convention on the Rights of the Child. It has also followed OECD’s framework for identifying, preventing and addressing human rights risks.