Cocoa cultivation has been promoted in Peru since the 1990s as an alternative to illegal cocoa cultivation. However, this has resulted in high deforestation rates. Since 2011, HALBA has been purchasing organic and Fairtrade cocoa beans from the San Martin province and has launched a CO₂e insetting project with partners such as Acopagro und PUR Projet in order to protect the rainforest.
The cooperative Acopagro plants trees in order to produce carbon-neutral chocolate, thereby combating deforestation and maintaining biodiversity. The project offers farmers a new source of income, as the cooperative can sell the sequestrated CO₂ as part of the international emissions trading. This is expected to save 1 959 101 tonnes of CO₂ by 2040.
Within the ambit of this project, HALBA insets chocolate product emissions with the Carbon Neutral Product label by arranging for products’ CO₂e footprints to be calculated and validated by the foundation myclimate. The project also helps to conserve 4 954 hectares of forest.
As of the end of 2021, 38 290 tonnes of CO₂e have been inset in this project.
