Purpose
Throughout ECOM's long history as a merchant, innovation and permanence have been key to our success by working in constant collaboration with partners, research institutions, governments, NGOs and our in-house subject experts
Our aim is to foster collaboration and innovation by providing a platform that encourages the exchange of ideas and best practices. By centralising these resources, we hope to equip clients, partners and colleagues with tools to navigate sustainability challenges effectively. While the journey towards a sustainable future is complex, we believe that access to shared knowledge can help drive incremental progress. As the challenges we face continue to evolve, our knowledge hub aims to stay dynamic and relevant, offering fresh insights and new publications to support this ever-changing journey. We highly encourage viewers to look into the research that has been shared here and into the organizations that have driven and published it.
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Featured Resources
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Themes
ECOM's Green Meter
ECOM's Green Meter
We are pleased to announce the official rollout of our internal carbon calculator, Green Meter, which has been third-party reviewed by SustainCERT.
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Climate-Smart Agriculture and Agroforestry in Cocoa
Climate-Smart Agriculture and Agroforestry in Cocoa
This guidance document was published by SWISSCO and focuses on approaches, financing needs and opportunities as well as providing high level guidance for stakeholders in the cocoa sector seeking to establish a broad range of actions that take the complexity of crop- and site-specific impacts of climate change and the realities of smallholder cocoa farmers into account.
Read the full report
Cocoa Agroforestry at ECOM
Scaling-up cocoa agroforestry requires a collaborative effort involving co-learning, co-adapting, and co-managing between ECOM and cocoa farmers. The ultimate goal for ECOM is to improve the sustainability of cocoa production while addressing environmental, economic and social issues.
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The Voluntary Carbon Market
This report by VCM Primer provides an overview of the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM), from what it is to the roles of carbon standards, governments, and Indigenous Peoples in the VCM.
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CMPs significantly decreased deforestation in the most at-risk protected areas in Africa since 2000
This article explores collaborative management partnerships (CMPs) between state wildlife authorities and nonprofit conservation organizations to manage protected areas (PAs) have been used increasingly across Sub-Saharan Africa since the 2000s.
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Responses of five Coffea arabica genotypes under soil water deficit in field conditions
This research paper, published in Frontiers in Plant Science and co-authored by Thuan Sarzynski from our Vietnam team, explores the agronomical and physiological responses of five Coffea arabica genotypes under soil water deficit in field conditions.
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Principles for Regenerative Landscapes
Principles for Regenerative Landscapes
The Circular Bioeconomy Alliance published this report that advocates for a transition to a circular bioeconomy supporting biodiversity and human well-being through 10 key principles.
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Google Earth Engine, an innovative technology for forest conservation
This report explores how Google Earth Engine (GEE) can and has been used as a land monitoring tool to help enforce forest protection laws, co-authored by ECOM's SMS Manager Coffee, Thuan Sarzynski.
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Cocoa Barometer 2022 - Executive summary
The Cocoa Barometer is a publication with the aim of creating an up-to-date, fair, and clear overview of the state of sustainability of the cocoa sector. It is published by a consortium of civil society actors from across the globe, and hosted by the VOICE network.
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IDH Gender Toolkit
IDH published this gender toolkit with the intention to inspire and give practical case examples from similar sectors and projects they work in.
Access the toolkit here
Recruiting and retaining female field agents
The International Cocoa Initiative's (ICI) report summarises practical action to improve the gender balance of staff in sustainability programmes, drawing on learnings from the field in cocoa communities in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.
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Gender equitable service prvovision in coffee and cocoa: the state of the industry
This research report was published by Equal Origins in 2021, and explores gender equitable practices in the coffee and cocoa sectors.
Read the report here
Gender dimensions in the role of CLMRS agents
Gender dimensions in the role of CLMRS agents
This report by the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) presents the results from qualitative research on the motivation, perceptions, and experiences of female child labour monitoring agents in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
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Guidance and methods for child and forced labor sectoral risk maps
This document explains the method used to create the Rainforest Alliance's risk maps on child labor and forced labor and provides an overview of how the indices per country and sector were calculated.
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Protective Community Index
The Protective Community Index is a simple tool, developed by ICI, to rapidly assess access to services that help protect children in cocoa-growing communities. It captures factors related to children’s fundamental rights, such as quality education and safe water, as well as other community characteristics that are associated with lower levels of child labour.
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Guiding steps towards living income in the supply chain
This guide was published by the Living Income Community of Practice (LICOP) and the "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit" (GIZ), and it seeks to address poverty and economic viability with smallholder farmers in their supply chains.
Read the full guide
The Cocoa Price - A Key Factor for a Living Income for Farmers
The Cocoa Price - A Key Factor for a Living Income for Farmers
SWISSCO has published a brief regarding perspectives and solutions regarding the price of cocoa and how it is relevant for a living income for farmers.
Read the full brief
Living income in Latin America: towards a prosperous future
The Living Income Community of Practice hosted the annual in-person workshop and learning journeys in Colombia during the week of the 4th of November.
Read more here
Good Purchasing Practices
The first of the 2024 Consultation Papers is a deep dive into Good Purchasing Practices. This document looks at the principles and steps that cocoa and chocolate companies should take to ensure the way they do their core business is sustainable.
Read the full report here
Income study of cocoa producing households in Ghana
This publication was prepared by Ghana COCOBOD, the Swiss Platform for Sustainble Cocoa (SWISSCO), and the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL). It is an evaluation of household income, living income gaps, and the contribution of sustainability interventions on cocoa farming households income situation.
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Principles of inclusion in advancing living income
The principles of inclusion and shared responsibility in advancing living income are shared by GIZ, LICOP, and IDH. We must all work together to ensure that these commitments drive our collective action on living income with smallholder farmers.
Read the principles here