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Looking forward, our aim is to grow our sustainability ambitions across all the markets in which we operate and to find new ways to be more impactful as a group.”
Alain Poncelet
ECOM Chief Executive Officer
Sustainability in figures
Countries with sustainability programs
26
Farmers in sustainability programmes
340k+
Farmers on digital platforms
230k+
Approach and Strategy
Our pillars summarise the group-wide, strategic approach to ethical and environmental trading for the good of communities and for our shared environment.
As one of the world’s leading soft commodity suppliers, with a customer base in over 75 countries, we have a tremendous opportunity to embed sustainable, ethical practices into our global supply chains.
Our Second annual Cocoa Sustainability Report discusses our progress we have made on the Charter’s commitments and key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure maximum transparency. We are currently in the process of defining rigorous KPIs for Coffee and Cotton against our Group-wide Commitments”
Our sustainability approach
2023 Sustainability Report
ECOM Group Sustainability Report
As an origin-integrated business, ECOM invests from source to customer, maximising efficiencies and innovation throughout our network to create a more agile value chain.
The 2023 report covers our group-wide activities and achievements for 2023 and ambitions for the future.
Read our 2023 ECOM Group Sustainability Report here
Digitisation
Harnessing cutting edge remote sensing technologies
ECOM monitors deforestation risks by using satellite and remote sensing technology. The risk assessment work is proving scalable solutions, helping us to create global models that determine and predict areas in our value chain that have been deforested in the past and have the highest likelihood of being deforested in the future.
This work will be used, alongside further contextual data, to identify priority landscapes. The outputs will inform coordinated engagement between relevant stakeholders in the cocoa sector committed to eliminating deforestation in their supply chains.
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Empowering Farmers
Improving gender representation among farmers
While the GEI is helping us to more precisely identify areas for improvement in gender representation, we have been working to support women farmers for some time.
Following two pilot iterations in the cocoa supply chain, in Ghana and Peru, we now aim to roll the GEI out across the Group with a focus on addressing and empowering women in five key ways: Organisational capacity; Strategy and analysis; Reach women; Benefit women; Empower and transform.
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Our Alignment
UN Sustainable Development Goals
ECOM has long recognized the importance of sustainability by embedding ethical practices into our operations and supply chains. Our group-wide strategic approach is informed by our most material topics– which can be found in our 2023 Cocoa Sustainability Report– and addresses the creation of a more sustainable future across our commodities. This strategy aligns with several of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and we are dedicated to allocating our resources to achieve them in a timely manner.
ECOM operates within a complex landscape marked by diverse human rights and environmental challenges. Together with our partners, we are actively working toward achieving the SDGs outlined above. However, we recognize that our approach remains a work in progress, and we are committed to continuous improvement.
Please follow this link to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals website to learn more about the SDGs.
The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States.
