Progress Aligning European National Cocoa Sustainability Platforms

Public-private partnerships in the cocoa sector have taken shape in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and The Netherlands. These partnerships are established through national platforms. Germany and Switzerland have a national platform in place through the German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa (GISCO) and the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa (SWISSCO). The Letter of Intent on “Sustainable cocoa consumption and cocoa production” in The Netherlands is now in the process of being renewed through the Dutch Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa (DISCO). This is being convened and facilitated by IDH and expected to be signed at the end of this year. The Belgians are working through the Beyond Chocolate Initiative, also facilitated by IDH.

Members and stakeholders of the different platforms have expressed the need to create alignment between the different national platforms for more effective and efficient implementation of the various targets. Therefore, representatives from the four national platforms will come together in Eschborn, Germany at 21st August for a full day workshop. During this workshop, areas of alignment in terms of objectives, indicators and policy dialogue will be defined. Also, the specific areas that the national platforms will work on together in the future, and a structured way of ensuring learning exchange and constant alignment is part of the objective of the workshop.

More information on the outcomes will be shared with the Beyond Chocolate signatories.