Checking In On: Industry Initiative Updates | #PSC 210
OVERVIEW: Episode 210 focuses on updates to fact-checking claims, asking, “Have there been any updates?” Spoiler Alert: Why no, no there have not. We’ll discuss why you should care about the silence.
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Episode 210
Every major cocoa “sustainability” initiative since the Harkin-Engel Protocol was enacted in September 2001 has operated within a governance model that virtually guarantees failure: voluntary commitments, industry-controlled decision-making, lack of public disclosure, deadline extensions, and the absence of binding enforcement mechanisms.
The following was in the Monday weekly news brief I got today, but it was not accompanied in the post I published online [for Premium members] because it did not cite a source URL:
Sustainability / HRDD intensification. Mondelēz and Tony's Chocolonely both used the World Day Against Child Labour window to publish fresh supply-chain commitments.
I did some Googling about Tony’s “using the World Day Against Child Labour window to publish fresh supply‑chain commitments.” What I got back [Confectionery News] was that it was likely an author’s synthesis (expressing concern rather than commitment), not something supported by clearly dated Tony’s press materials.
More Fact Checking
Clay Gordon
The last time I took a look at Together Cocoa and the UKCC was about one month ago.
Together Cocoa Foundation
UK Cocoa Coalition
TL;DR: Within the past 30 days, there have been no new press releases, no published minutes, no expanded policy positions, and no technical annexes or implementation roadmaps for either TogetherCocoa or the UK Cocoa Coalition.
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