Colombia’s Luker Chocolate attains core goals with annual sustainability report
Colombia’s Luker Chocolate has confirmed significant gains against its core sustainability targets on farmer income, net zero climate goals and community engagement, reports Neill Barston.
The ethically-focused chocolate manufacturer’s latest annual report, covering the period 2024-2025, highlighted key gains attained by the company, despite what it acknowledged as one of the most turbulent periods ever experienced in the cocoa sector.
Notably, the business, which was among speakers at our World Confectionery Conference last year in Brussels, noted that it has hit its goals, including exceeding progress on farmer incomes, driven by improvements in productivity, quality premiums and shorter value chains.
As the company noted, it its has had its climate action programme validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which the company is set to further scale-up across its operations.
Significantly, it remains committed to addressing deforestation, supporting farmers to implement agroforestry and improve productivity to reduce deforestation risk . It has ensured all exports to the EU have been fully EUDR-compliant since October 2024, with due diligence statements available for every shipment – which as the company observed is notably ahead of the legislation’s introduction.
The landmark laws had been due to come into force at the end of 2024, but political lobbying from centre-right political groups has seen the timeline pushed back until the end of this year. A statement from the EU Commission this year indicated that no further setbacks were anticipated to its major legislative agenda.
CEO optimism
Writing in the extended sustainability report, Luker Chocolate’s CEO Camilo Romero explains that its commitment to ethical sourcing is something that is lived as a daily reality by its teams.
Significantly, he observed that in over a century of manufacturing, the company had not lost sight of the fact that changing to adapt to conditions is an integral part of future success.
He said: “Our work is directed by the Chocolate Dream sustainability plan, ensuring that value is shared equitably – bringing opportunity that strengthens Colombia’s cocoa regions and the communities within them.
“Luker enables rural development while protecting ecosystems and communities, inviting other partners and stakeholders to become part of local solutions. The Chocolate Dream makes a very real impact every single day, improving the living conditions of more than 4,500 families in Colombia’s cocoa communities to date,” adding that the company’s 120 year history has been founded on forging close personal relationships with the sector. Through providing additional technical support to the cocoa farming industry, this has further enhanced the productivity of the communities that it has continued to work with.
On farmer income, 1,599 cocoa-farming families increased their income by 16% over the 2021 baseline — driven by productivity improvements, quality premiums and shorter value chains. Its goal for 2027 is to raise that further by a figure of 20%.
As regards social wellbeing, it is strengthening community wellbeing in cocoa- through education, entrepreneurship and rights-based projects, with a particular focus on young people.
Projects are designed to foster a connection to cocoa and rural life, raise awareness of human rights, and support the prevention of child labour and modern slavery. In 2024/25, Luker’s project Generación R — delivered in collaboration with Fundación Luker and local partners — reached 935 young people across rural cocoa-growing communities, providing access to education, leadership development and employability skills at a time when rural-to-urban migration poses a growing challenge for Colombia’s cocoa-growing regions. It has a goal of reaching 5,000 families by 2027.
Furthermore, The Chocolate Dream, Luker Chocolate supports farmers to implement a range of environmental practices including agroforestry, biodiversity monitoring, composting, soil health improvement, rainwater harvesting and the protection of water sources. Its targets for 2027 are to benefit 15,000 hectares of land, from a current base of around 18,587 hectares.
In addition, from December 2024, the Science Based Targets initiative validated Luker Chocolate’s 2030 and 2050 carbon reduction goals. The company has already achieved an 18% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 industrial emissions against its 2021 baseline. Colombian operations now run on 100% renewable electricity.
