The newly launched Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa aims to tackle problems such as child labour and poor working conditions in cocoa-producing companies, while making the final product more environmentally-friendly.
By 2025, at least 80 percent of imported cocoa products should have been sustainably produced, said industry group Chocosuisse which announced the initiative together with the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), and several NGOs and research institutes.
Representatives from all these groups will make up the Cocoa Platform, an independent association which will be formally created in January 2018.
It will work to strengthen ties between Switzerland's chocolate companies and manufacturers in other countries, as well as issuing guidelines on environmental and production issues.
READ ALSO: Priest disguised gold bars as Swiss chocolate to evade customs
The Swiss chocolate industry – one of the most important economic sectors in the small country – wants to continue its “pioneering role”, the groups said, and hopes to set an example for other industries.
READ ALSO: Swiss train drivers to get chocolate as reward for being precise
Member comments