RAISING THE BAR

HOW PLANTING MORE TREES IS A SWEET VICTORY FOR HERSHEY.

Without fruitful cocoa farms, Hershey’s product lines would run dry, so the confectionary giant has committed to having no new deforestation in its supply chain and spearheading cocoa-forest protection efforts in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the two largest chocolate producers in West Africa. Hershey also plans to give out nearly 1 million trees and 2.5 million cocoa seedlings to the region. “Planting trees not only helps repopulate deforested areas, it also provides direct benefits to farmers through nutrient recycling and moisture conservation,” says CEO Michele Buck. “As a company dependent on agricultural ingredients for our iconic products, we know that climate change is an important issue.”