Chocolate is the latest climate change victim, but scientists may have solutions

Delicious, decadent and depleting. Climate change is impacting the production of chocolate, and companies are struggling to keep up with the demand. Luckily, scientists from across the globe have offered up new ways to keep making chocolate that's tasty and affordable, even as cocoa production suffers.

The cocoa conundrum

Chocolate comes from the cocoa beans of cacao trees, which are largely harvested in West Africa. Unfortunately, "farmers in West Africa faced major challenges earlier this year with crops unable to withstand the drastic changes in weather and the rise in plant diseases," said the World Economic Forum. Since the beginning of 2023, "cocoa prices have risen by some 400%, as yields were hit by extreme weather." As a result, one estimation by the International Cocoa Organization predicts a 14.2% yield reduction in cacao for the 2023/2024 season.

Climate change is only expected to worsen unpredictable weather and disease. "Cacao trees are sensitive to environmental changes and don't produce beans well in diverse conditions and extreme weather, which is bringing adversity to farmers and the chocolate business," said Forbes. "It takes new cacao trees at least three years to produce beans." In addition, cocoa beans require large amounts of processing before they become the chocolate we know and love. "Traditional chocolate recipes combine fermented cocoa beans with refined sugar — usually made from sugar beets — to create the confectionary's characteristic rich, sweet flavor," said Wired.

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To keep up with the global chocolate demand, many chocolate companies "have already been quietly reformulating their recipes" as cocoa prices rise, and "are likely to add even more fillers and artificial flavors while further reducing their products' cocoa content," said Investopedia. Others have opted to increase the use of pesticides and fertilizers to improve the cacao tree yield. But a permanent solution requires more innovation.

Sweet solutions

So how can companies keep up chocolate production without lowering the product quality? One study published in the journal Nature Food looks at the potential for using not just cocoa beans, but the cacao pod as a whole. "Surrounding the beans is the pulp, which yields a very sweet juice, and the endocarp, which yields fibrous powder that can turn that juice into a gel," Kim Mishra, the main author of the study, said to Wired. "That sweetening gel is then used in place of refined sugar from sugar beets, and you have a new chocolate." However, "there will definitely be a change in taste," she added. "The chocolate has the same melt, the same visuals and the same snap, but it has a different sweetness sensation." Another option is abandoning cocoa altogether: Nukoko, a U.K.-based startup, is producing cocoa-free chocolate from the fava bean.

There are also ways to make the whole chocolate production process more sustainable. For example, the U.S. Agency for International Development partnered with the Indonesian government and private industry to "train 6,500 cocoa bean and coffee farmers in sustainable agroforestry techniques," said Forbes. "Sustainable cocoa projects also can make significant positive differences in the livelihoods of farmers and their families."