A legal pathway to sustainable cocoa in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire

The document outlines the critical role of cocoa in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, where together they produce over 60% of the cocoa for the USD$130 billion global chocolate industry. It argues that the sector is hindered by poverty, child labor, and deforestation, and proposes a series of research papers to analyze national legal frameworks, identify governance loopholes, and assess the impact of EU and UK regulations on sustainability.

• Cocoa production is a vital economic driver in West Africa, supporting over 800,000 smallholder farm families in Ghana and nearly 1 million producers who provide income for 5 million people in Côte d’Ivoire.
• Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire are dominant global suppliers, producing more than 60 per cent of the cocoa used in a global chocolate industry valued at USD$130 billion.
• The cocoa sector faces three primary sustainability crises: widespread poverty among farmers and workers, the use of child labor driven by low earnings and labor-intensive production, and the loss of biodiversity and soil quality due to the expansion of cultivated areas into forests.
• Existing national legal and institutional frameworks, as well as international initiatives, are described as inconsistent and incomplete in addressing the reconciliation of production efficiency, trade, social protections, and environmental preservation.
• Consumer countries in the EU and UK are implementing legislation to reduce the consumption of commodities linked to deforestation and forest degradation, with further potential impacts from the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and the Environmental Crime Directive.

APA

ClientEarth (n.d.). A legal pathway to sustainable cocoa in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. https://www.clientearth.org/media/2a3lozcz/a-legal-pathway-to-sustainable-cocoa-in-ghana-and-côte-d-ivoire-introduction.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. A legal pathway to sustainable cocoa in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. n.d. https://www.clientearth.org/media/2a3lozcz/a-legal-pathway-to-sustainable-cocoa-in-ghana-and-côte-d-ivoire-introduction.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=ClientEarth |title=A legal pathway to sustainable cocoa in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/2a3lozcz/a-legal-pathway-to-sustainable-cocoa-in-ghana-and-côte-d-ivoire-introduction.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clientearthndlegal, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{A legal pathway to sustainable cocoa in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/2a3lozcz/a-legal-pathway-to-sustainable-cocoa-in-ghana-and-côte-d-ivoire-introduction.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }