The Rainforest Alliance cocoa certification program is the world’s largest scale initiative to drive more sustainable cocoa farming. We work with cocoa farmers to regenerate their land while improving their incomes. In partnership with diverse allies, we drive positive change across critically important cocoa landscapes.
This page features information about the Rainforest Alliance's work in cocoa and links to our cocoa-related content and resources.
We work as an alliance on both the supply side of the cocoa market (helping one million cocoa farmers implement more sustainable practices, and communities to restore landscapes), and the demand side (helping companies source more sustainable cocoa and understand and communicate their impact).
The Rainforest Alliance Cocoa Program tackles human rights, environmental and economic issues in the cocoa sector. Read more about our approach here.
Learn how the Rainforest Alliance is supporting cocoa and coffee farmers and companies in preparing for the EU Deforestation Regulation.
For the cocoa sector to be truly sustainable, we believe that both the value and the risks must be shared across the supply chain – read more about our shared responsibility approach here.
This public-private partnership supports cocoa farmers in the production of deforestation-free cocoa, while also tackling related issues like productivity and pest control head-on.
Our 2020 Certification Program includes two financial requirements for the buyers of Rainforest Alliance Certified commodities: the Sustainability Differential (SD) and Sustainability Investments (SI). For cocoa, we will require a minimum SD of $70 per MT as of July 2022.... Continue Reading
At the Rainforest Alliance, we believe in a shared responsibility approach that encourages companies to do their part in ensuring a living income for farmers. This is the basis of our initiatives, the Living Income Module and the Living Income Fund.... Continue Reading
Meet Kpomin Minrienne Kole Edi, a successful farmer and entrepreneur who has spent her life breaking barriers—from helping other women farmers in her community to advocating for global policy reform. This is her story.... Continue Reading
Regenerative agriculture is crucial to adapt and mitigate our food system to the climate crisis. Whether your company is just starting to assemble a regenerative supply chain policy or is looking to amplify its existing strategies, the Rainforest Alliance can help.... Continue Reading
In order to support your EUDR compliance efforts, the Rainforest Alliance will soon launch our Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool in September 2024. Learn all about the tool in this explainer article.... Continue Reading
A story in The Guardian exploring the challenges facing cocoa-growing communities in Chiapas, Mexico highlights how the Rainforest Alliance’s teams are working with local cocoa farmers to provide support in building resilience against climate change.
What do gold and cocoa have in common? Child labor, unfortunately. Find out about the innovative approach we took to helping cocoa families in Ghana thrive so they could let their kids be kids.... Continue Reading
Despite producing around 45 percent of the world’s cocoa beans, an estimated 87 percent of cocoa-growing households in Côte d’Ivoire earn below a living income.... Continue Reading
An article in Reuters and Ethical Corporation explores the important role of collaboration in addressing the challenges facing cocoa farmers, including income accelerator programmes run in partnership with the Rainforest Alliance.