Cocoa and coffee
Cocoa and coffee

Cocoa and coffee

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TL;DR

Cocoa and coffee are two plants with similar stories. Traditionally grown under the protection of a forest canopy in tropical regions, increasing demand has pushed both out into the sunlight (literally). The sun-grown crops produce faster than their shaded counterparts, but with decreased quality and for a shorter period of time. This type of monoculture has led to large-scale deforestation, soil erosion, and agrochemical pollution.

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Most of the environmental impact from coffee and cocoa is due to land-use change, i.e. cutting down forests for cultivation.
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Demand for cocoa and coffee is higher than the rate at which supply can be sustainably renewed.

Cocoa

Cocoa is a low-yield crop, relative to other fruit products. Of the stimulant crops, (coffee, tea, and tobacco) cocoa also offers the lowest financial returns for growers. Cacao farmers are paid by weight of dry beans and it takes 16 kg of cacao pods to produce 1 kg of dried cocoa beans. An average subsistence farm (two hectares) will produce 600 to 800 kg of cocoa beans per year.

After the cocoa fruit is harvested, the contents inside the pod are fermented—this removes the pulp and develops the chocolate flavors. After fermentation (aka curing) you are left with cocoa beans.

Since 2015/2016, cocoa production has increased from 3.9 million tons to a (forecasted) 4.8 million tons in 2020/21. To increase yields and shorten production time, many cocoa farmers are switching from traditional agroforestry over to full-sun monoculture. Monoculture cocoa production is a high GHG emitter, largely because of the intensive land use change involved. Agroforestry is better for the environment, but cocoa production is lower, slower and the output is more expensive for buyers.

Happy cocoa Shade from the sun, high humidity, uniform temperature, and protection from the wind...this means it grows best when it is planted under a rainforest canopy.

  • Trees take 2-5 years to produce fruit, but it is better quality and the trees are productive for longer (25-30 years).
  • Yield is lower than monocrops, at around 52% to 75%.
  • More resilient to changes in weather, less reliance on chemicals.
  • Farmers seem to get better prices for this type of cocoa.

Sad cocoa To meet growing demand, farmers have started clearing forests to grow cocoa in the sun.

  • Trees produce faster, but at a lower quality and for less time ("a few years"), the soil gets severely degraded, and trees are more susceptible to diseases...so farmers cut down more trees and the cycle continues (aka "burn and bust").
  • It is not sustainable. Favorable conditions for growing cocoa are declining (areas are getting warmer and dryer) and eventually, this type of farming just won't work any longer.

Cacao trees are sensitive to disease and pests, and (especially in monoculture) high amounts of chemicals are used to increase production.

Cocoa consumption

Cocoa has a long supply chain because the countries growing cocoa are not the same countries that consume it. Dried cacao beans are shipped from the global south to factories in North America and Europe where processing and manufacturing takes place.

Source:
Source: Cacao Trace

Chocolate

Going from cocoa to chocolate is an energy-intensive process involving high amounts of electricity and heat. See this video for a very scientific explanation of cocoa processing.

Based on: COCOA PROCESSING (
Based on: COCOA PROCESSING (Food Technology Info, 2021)
  • In the UK alone, Chocolate contributes 2.1 million tonnes of GHG to the atmosphere every year.
    • The footprint of chocolate production is largely impacted by the use of milk: 54-70% of its global warming potential.
      • In milk chocolate, milk powder is about 25% of the ingredients but represents up to 70% of the “global warming potential” (total GWP of raw materials [milk powder, cocoa derivatives, sugar, and palm oil] is 67-81%)
  • It takes about 1,000 liters of water to produce a single chocolate bar.
    • The majority of this is in the form of green water used in raw materials production. This is water that falls as precipitation, rather than being extracted from a freshwater resource. Green water is important for recharging soil moisture that is lost to agricultural practices.
      • It’s important to note that as temperatures rise and precipitation becomes more unreliable, we will see an increased reliance on irrigation in agriculture, especially in water-stressed regions.
    • Blue water: packaging (44-65%), raw materials (24-43%), and manufacturing processes (6-11%).
  • Chocolate manufacturers don't know where their chocolate comes from.
    • "Mars, maker of M&M’s and Milky Way, can trace only 24 percent of its cocoa back to farms; Hershey, the maker of Kisses and Reese’s, less than half; NestlĂ© can trace 49 percent of its global cocoa supply to farms." (Washington Post, 2019)

In comparison to other foods, chocolate scores as a rather heavy GHG emitter.

Source:
Source: BBC, 2019

Cocoa/Chocolate alternatives*

  • Molecular chocolate: Byproducts of other food-making processes are used to replicate the components of chocolate.
  • Cultured chocolate: Cocoa beans and cocoa butter are lab-grown from plant stem cells.
  • Carob: The carob tree produces edible bean pods that have been used as a chocolate substitute, especially by people with chocolate allergies or caffeine sensitivities.

Coffee

It is the coffee beans that farmers prepare and export, these are contained within the coffee berry. After 4 to 7 years of growth, coffee cherries are harvested and processed before being shipped abroad (primarily to the US and Europe) to be prepared for consumption. Each coffee cherry contains two beans and an average cup of coffee contains 70 roasted beans.

Like cocoa, coffee farming is divided into shade-grown and sun-grown. Coffee is also meant to be grown in the shade of agroforestry, but demands for higher yields have led to mechanized farming with a highly negative impact on the environment.

Rising temperatures and persistent droughts are decreasing the availability of suitable land for coffee cultivation and negatively affecting the taste of coffee. As demand for coffee continues to grow, production declines, and supply chain barriers are leading to higher and more volatile prices than any point in the past ten years—with no signs of improvement any time soon.

Types of coffee

  • Over 120 wild species
    • 60% of wild coffee species are in danger of going extinct (compared to 22% of all plants) due to climate change, disease, and habitat loss (mainly to agriculture and livestock farming).
    • Coffee is very sensitive to growing conditions, and the reduction of wild species means we are losing varieties that could be grown in place of (or interbred with) commercial crops.
  • Cultivated (two primary species):
    • Arabica - lighter flavor with "smooth" taste, more expensive, grown in higher and cooler locations, 80% comes from Latin America.
    • Robusta - higher caffeine gives a bitter taste, mostly used for espresso and instant coffee, sun tolerant, and pest resistant.
      • Source:
      Source: Allann Bros Coffee, 2020

Coffee consumption

When it comes to total retail volume, the US leads. But per person, Finns drink the most coffee in the world at around 4 cups per day (American's don't even crack the top ten).

Source:
Source: MINTEL, 2018

Pots versus pods

Single-cup brewing via coffee pods could be a solution to minimize the impact of coffee per serving, but only with proper disposal (i.e. recycling or composting). Currently, about 576,000 tonnes of pods end up in a landfill every year.

  • On average, a cup of coffee brewed from a recycled aluminium pod uses fewer beans, less water, and less electricity than one prepared from a drip filter.
Source: Marinello et al., 2021
Source: Marinello et al., 2021

Coffee alternatives*

  • Molecular coffee: Lab-grown coffee. The components of coffee (taste, smell, texture, caffeine content, color) are replicated without the incorporation of any coffee beans. This can be done using upcycled plant material.
  • Mushroom coffee: Caffeine-free, but also available as a blend of mushrooms and coffee beans (low caffeine). Said to improve focus without the jitters of traditional coffee. Most often made from the powder of dehydrated reishi, chaga, lions mane, and cordyceps mushrooms.
  • Chicory coffee: AKA New Orleans Coffee. Caffeine-free, but often mixed with traditional coffee. The root of the chicory plant (an herb native to Africa, Asia, and Europe - now commonly found in North America) is roasted, ground, and brewed. The leaves of the plant can be used in salads. In warm climates, chicory root can be dried in the sun, but in recent years has mostly been replaced by mechanical drying.

*This is a small snapshot of some of the alternative products available. They don't necessarily address the climate impact we've outlined above and it is not a comprehensive list or a suggested list of solutions. If you've come across any great alternative solutions that aren't listed here, and are addressing the climate impact explored above, please feel free to get in touch.

Resources

  • Stimulating environmental degradation: A global study of resource use in cocoa, coffee, tea and tobacco supply chains (Sporchia et al., 2021)
  • Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers (Poore & Nemecek, 2018)
  • Scenario building to test and inform the development of a BSI method for assessing GHG emissions from food (Defra, 2009)

Cocoa and chocolate

Coffee

Last updated: Mar 2022