We have a responsibility to reduce our carbon footprint to build resiliency for our business and the planet and are doing so with challenging goals aligned with best-in-class science to inform our strategy…
— From the Hershey candy company website, June 2024.
I had not heard about carbon-neutral chocolate until just yesterday.
Apparently, it’s been around for a while now, courtesy of artisan chocolate manufacturers like Seattle Chocolate Company.
You would expect that kind of thing to come from Seattle, or maybe San Francisco. But we might not expect it from Mars Inc. and the Hershey Company.
My first question, when I heard about carbon-neutral chocolate, was, “Where are they putting the carbon?” The arrival of a chocolate bar on the shelves of your favorite grocery store entails massive amounts of carbon, from the planting and fertilization of the enormous cacao plantations carved out of the jungles, the processing of the cacao seeds, the transportation of the cacao to the manufacturing sites in Seattle or elsewhere, the manufacturing process itself, the packaging of the finished product, the transportation to the local grocery stores… and finally, the processing of your credit card purchase in our gigantic data centers.
That’s a heck of a lot of carbon.
I quickly made the mental connection between all this generated carbon and the surprising popularity of “dark chocolate” that now appears on the shelves where once “milk chocolate” ruled the roost.
What makes all that chocolate “dark”?
I assumed the worst. The candy companies are mixing all the carbon into their chocolate bars, and making us eat it.
As it turns out, that was a faulty assumption. Some additional research into dark chocolate revealed that it’s “dark” because it contains less milk and less white sugar.
Nevertheless, candy companies are claiming that their chocolate bars are ‘carbon neutral’. Here’s a recent quote from the Mars Wrigley candy company.
The science is clear – climate change is real, and around the world people are already beginning to feel its effects. To do our part of avoiding the worst effects of climate change, Mars is committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in our full value chain by 2050 (including all scope 3 emissions, such as those created by suppliers and customers), aligning with the most ambitious aim of the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 °C. This commitment includes our existing science-based targets to achieve a 27% reduction in full value chain emissions by 2025, and net zero emissions in our direct operations by 2040.
I honestly hadn’t thought of chocolate bars being a primary source of carbon pollution. I knew they were a cause of diabetes and tooth decay, but it was a real wake-up call to think I was causing global environmental destruction every time I ate a Twix Bar.
And the wrappers? That’s yet another problem.
The folks in the U.K. seem to be light-years ahead of us over here on the other side of the Atlantic. Mars Inc. has launched a test of paper-based packaging with U.K. retailer Tesco, so that people can recycle their candy wrappers.
When I think of all the candy wrappers I have failed to recycle during my lifetime — because they were non-recyclable plastic — it boggles my mind.
How many years will it take until we have recyclable candy wrappers in the U.S.? It’s too depressing to think about.
Unfortunately, when I get depressed, I eat chocolate.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.