Between October 2018 and March 2019, Corporate Accountability Lab (CAL) staff interviewed farmers, tribal leaders in cocoa-growing villages, cocoa cooperatives and local and international NGOs to assess the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts in the industry, and to identify the root causes of the serious and ongoing problems in the cocoa sector: child labor, trafficking and deforestation.

What we saw was appalling: CSR efforts have had a nearly imperceptible impact on the lives of cocoa farmers and their communities. The sustainability claims of major chocolate brands and agribusiness companies not only mislead consumers, they obfuscate a system that relies on child labor, forced labor, and debt peonage to survive...

We identify four major obstacles to meaningful progress in the sector:

1. Unliveable Income: The government-set “farm gate” price for cocoa is roughly one-third the amount needed for farmers or workers to earn a living wage;

2. Reliance on “CSR” over responsible business conduct: Companies rarely mention their business and human rights obligations, and instead have relied on ineffective certification schemes while failing to comply with their voluntary commitments, despite nearly 20 years of CSR activity in the sector;...