Cocoa

Cocoa is indigenous to South and Central America where more than 5,000 years ago, Mayans and Aztecs would use the beans as a currency or to prepare a hot beverage in rituals. Today, chocolate remains a staple of many of our shopping baskets and is a multi-billion dollar industry. 

Despite its popularity, cocoa production and trade is too often associated with major environmental and social inequalities. Low productivity, market volatility, and the negative effects of climate change have engendered a cycle of poverty for producers that often leads to the clearing of tropical forests and the use of child labour on farms. Particularly in West Africa.

In Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, where about 60% of the global cocoa supply comes from, around 2 million smallholders rely on cocoa for their livelihoods, yet most of them do not earn a living income, meaning they cannot afford basic necessities. In Côte d’Ivoire, between 2000 and 2019, 2.4 million hectares (more than the third of the size of Ireland) of forest were cleared for cocoa production.

At the John Lewis partnership we are committed to sourcing cocoa responsibly and to addressing inequalities in cocoa by helping build a fairer and more equal supply chain. We believe that offering chocolate that delights our customers doesn’t have to be at the expense of people or the planet. 

Procuring cocoa that is certified is an important step towards this as certification programmes help reduce social and environmental externalities, and improve farmers’ incomes. To go further and scale up our impact, we must increase traceability and achieve a deforestation-free supply chain, as well as ensuring cocoa farmers get a fair deal and the support needed to achieve decent livelihoods.

We make progress towards our vision for cocoa by working collectively with our suppliers, other businesses and organisations to affect change in the wider industry. By doing so we seek to have a positive impact for nature and people in our cocoa supply chain.

We publish an annual update on our performance against our commitments in our E&S report.

Each year, our cocoa footprint is calculated as part of a common UK retailer reporting process that we undertake managed by the sustainability consultancy 3Keel. All suppliers using cocoa derived ingredients in food are contacted about this to collect data and evidence on cocoa sourcing for the previous calendar year. 

Additional information about the breakdown of our cocoa sourcing footprint can be found in the transparency section below. 

Our commitments:

1. Source 100% certified cocoa in all JLP own-brand products by 1st January 2025;*
2. Sourcing 100% deforestation-free cocoa ingredients in all JLP own-brand products by end of 2025;
3. Working collaboratively with industry stakeholders to create positive and systemic change in cocoa. 

^{* Uncertified cocoa is prohibited by our policy. If it is identified, it is immediately resolved with the supplier.}

Since 2020, all cocoa used in our own-brand confectionery products is sourced on Fairtrade terms. 

In 2023, Waitrose was the 1st UK supermarket to launch a special edition chocolate bar made with the entire cocoa fruit. Using the whole cocoa fruit helps reduce waste on farm and support farmers with additional income. 

In 2024, we were the 1st UK grocery retailer to partner with Tony’s Open Chain to source cocoa for 9 chocolate bars. The Tony’s Open Chain model means that farmers have been paid a Living Income Reference Price (LIRP*) and that the cocoa is fully traceable, as well as verified deforestation-free. 

*The LIRP is a key component of the Living Income model in cocoa. A living income is “The net annual income required for a household in a particular place to afford a decent standard of living for all members of that household." (Living Income Community of Practice, 2023) The LIRP is set by Fairtrade International and includes various social and economic factors such as household size, costs of production, etc. 

In 2025, 100% of our own-brand cocoa is certified to Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance certification standards. 

Waitrose & Partners ranked 4th out of 16 retailers globally in the 2023 Chocolate Scorecard for our work on child labour and agroforesty in cocoa.

Sourcing 100% certified cocoa for all our own-brand products is a starting point for building a more responsible supply chain. Once this is achieved we will focus our efforts on sourcing deforestation-free cocoa for our whole footprint, as well as exploring other initiatives to improve farmers’ income and cocoa landscapes.

Waitrose is a founding member of the Retailers’ Cocoa Collaboration (RCC) which aims to drive improvements in the cocoa sector through transparent dialogue. 

The main activity of the RCC is the annual assessment for which traders in the retailers’ supply chains are invited to submit data on key topics such as deforestation, traceability, gender equality, farmer incomes and child and forced labour. The data is then collated and analysed to make informed recommendations to the traders on best practices. Read the latest report published in 2023. The RCC also serves as a platform for retailers to discuss sourcing, regulatory and sustainability trends in cocoa and have a collective voice to influence best practices. 

The JLP has advocated via consultations and joint letters to UK legislators in support of due diligence legislation on forest risk commodities in supply chains, to deliver market-wide changes in sourcing of palm derived materials to deforestation and conversion free sources. 

Responsible Sourcing of Cocoa policy- Purpose:
 

• To deliver 100% certified cocoa in JLP own-brand products by 1st January 2025;
• To deliver progress towards the wider JLP public target of sourcing all key raw materials from more sustainable sources by 2025;
• To deliver progress towards the JLP public commitment of zero deforestation in its key raw material supply chains, for own-label products;
• To deliver traceability and transparency on the sourcing of all cocoa-based food ingredients in JLP’s own-brand supply chains back to the first importer;
• To provide clarity of role and responsibilities of suppliers in relation to the sourcing of cocoa-based ingredients and in conducting due diligence and reporting;
• To enable assurance of public reporting and evidence to support any public claims made to JLP customers and to key stakeholders of JLP.

Responsible Sourcing Code of Practice (RSCOP) which sets out the Partnership's expectations of suppliers (see section 4 on child labour).

Human Rights Policy (see sections 5.5 and 5.6, in relation to the rights of local and indigenous communities with respect to land, water and natural resources, and to free prior and informed consent.)