2026 Partnership Meeting Securing Cocoa’s Future in a Changing World

This session brings together trade and regulation specialists from the European Commission, the International Trade Centre, policymakers of international trade and development from the International Cocoa Organisation and the European Parliament, to discuss the trade climate, regulation implementation, effectiveness, compliance challenges, and opportunities to deliver real impact for cocoa sustainability.

With deforestation and forest degradation continuing to pose risks to landscapes and supply chains, the sector must identify scalable, credible, and practical approaches for forest protection and restoration. This session will bring together experts in policy, science, markets, and implementation to explore actionable strategies for mitigating forest loss, strengthening investment, and driving measurable outcomes. Panelists will highlight threats and monitoring challenges due to data gaps, examine technical approaches and successful case studies, discuss the business case and incentives, and identify pathways to overcome policy and reporting bottlenecks.

Deforestation and land degradation not only threaten biodiversity and carbon sinks but also undermine the resilience of cocoa production itself. Beyond cocoa, the global urgency to halt deforestation is central to meeting climate goals, restoring ecosystems, and safeguarding rural livelihoods that depend on healthy landscapes. As the sector embraces global regulatory shifts (such as the EU Deforestation Regulation) and increasing pressure from markets and consumers, the need to transition from deforestation-linked supply chains to models of forest protection and large-scale restoration is more urgent than ever.

This session will explore the critical intersections of policy, corporate action, community engagement, and finance, while also connecting cocoa’s journey to the broader sustainability agenda that calls for protecting nature, promoting just transitions, and scaling impact across agricultural commodities.

With EU sustainability regulations such as CSRD, CSDDD, and EUDR coming into full force, alongside evolving voluntary frameworks like SBTi and SBTN, the regulatory landscape for creating nature-positive supply chains is becoming increasingly complex. This session will unpack current and anticipated regulations, explore how traceability is taking shape on the ground in producing countries, as well as examine global transparency. Panelists will share stories, lessons, and insights for stakeholders navigating these changes, and discuss takeaways for policy to support successful and inclusive supply chain transitions.

Child labour remains a persistent challenge in cocoa-growing regions, often exacerbated by fragmented monitoring systems and limited coordination between public and private actors. In response to new European Union regulations on deforestation and corporate due diligence, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana have launched efforts to integrate their national child labor monitoring systems (SOSTECI and GCLMS) with private sector traceability tools (CLMRS). This session will explore how these systems are being aligned to create a unified framework for child protection and traceability, and what this means for cocoa supply chains. Speakers will share insights from field implementation, policy development, and technological innovation, highlighting the opportunities and challenges of system interoperability. Key questions include: How can we ensure data privacy while enabling collaboration? What governance models support sustainable integration? And how can we measure real impact on child labor reduction? The conversation will bring together government representatives, industry leaders, and child protection experts to chart a path forward.

Emerging and persistent cocoa diseases, including swollen shoot virus, frosty pod rot, and black pod, pose a mounting threat to sustainable cocoa production, farmer incomes, and global supply. Despite years of research and training efforts, effective disease management remains elusive in many regions. This session brings together global scientific, institutional, footprint/certification entity and farmer perspectives to address this challenge and explore the value of coordinated global responses.

Following the plenary, this session focuses on the details: the practical tools, institutional partnerships and community-driven approaches needed to mitigate and remediate the impact of CSSVD in West Africa drawing lessons from experience in Brazil and Ecuador.

Technology and new programme approaches are rapidly reshaping how cocoa is produced, traded and consumed in a changing global environment. From digital traceability systems to precision agriculture to direct payments, innovations offer new opportunities to improve transparency, farmer resilience, and environmental sustainability. Yet, challenges remain: how do we ensure that smallholder farmers benefit equitably from these tools? What are the risks of excluding vulnerable groups in the digital transition?

This session will bring together industry leaders, tech innovators, and farmer-focused organisations to explore the promise and pitfalls of digital transformation in cocoa.

As part of WCF’s ongoing work to strengthen carbon accounting in the cocoa sector, this session brings together WCF member companies, Quantis, and cross-commodity experts to share insights from the first months of using the Cocoa GHG Accounting Manual. Panelists will discuss practical application of the manual, including lessons learned and strategies to overcome remaining challenges in Scope 3 reporting. We will address key questions that have been raised by companies, and we will explore with cross-commodity experts what it would take to align cocoa sector approaches with other sectors such as coffee.

Celebrating the International Year of Women Farmers, sponsored by Hershey 

As the world’s leading cocoa-producing countries, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana remain central to the future of the global cocoa economy. In an era defined by shifting consumer preferences, climate change, sustainability regulations, and evolving trade dynamics, the two nations face both unprecedented challenges and transformative opportunities. This fireside chat will provide a rare and intimate dialogue with senior government officials as they share perspectives on their national strategies, bilateral cooperation, and vision for securing cocoa’s future.

This panel brings together senior business leaders to explore the impact of higher prices and sustainability issues on consumer demand and the challenges of adapting to an ever-evolving regulatory landscape. Participants will hear insights on how companies can maintain profitability while investing in long-term sustainability across the cocoa value chain.

Countries and organisations worldwide are racing to implement decarbonization strategies to keep global warming below 1.5°C by 2030, in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. This panel brings together leading policy and technical experts and industry voices to unpack upcoming changes in key carbon accounting frameworks such as the GHG Protocol and SBTi FLAG, and to examine the real-world challenges of implementing net-zero strategies across supply chains. Panelists will explore challenges that hinder progress on Scope 3 decarbonization, solutions, and opportunities for collaboration.

Cocoa’s future is no longer defined solely by West Africa. Emerging origins such as Brazil, Ecuador, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Indonesia are reshaping the global cocoa landscape with growing production, unique flavor profiles, and new policy approaches. These countries face both opportunities and challenges: navigating sustainability expectations, climate resilience, and farmer prosperity while competing in a market increasingly driven by traceability, quality, and compliance. This high-level international panel will bring together leaders from these origins to discuss: How are emerging producers positioning themselves in a changing global cocoa economy? What innovative policies, market strategies, and sustainability models are they adopting? And how will their collective voice influence the balance of power in the global cocoa sector?

With biodiversity-related compliance potentially on the horizon through legislation such as the CSDDD and CSRD, the sector must identify scalable, credible, and practical ways to measure and report nature-positive outcomes. This session will bring together experts in policy, science, markets, and implementation to explore actionable strategies for integrating biodiversity into both regulatory frameworks and their own corporate strategies.

This session will explore the intersection of land tenure security and corporate climate action, focusing on Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa sector. Land tenure insecurity remains one of the most persistent structural barriers to achieving sustainable cocoa production, deforestation-free supply chains, and credible Scope 3 decarbonization. Without secure land rights, farmers lack the long-term incentives to invest in sustainable practices, while companies face challenges in meeting global climate and due diligence frameworks. The session will bring together experts from government, industry, and civil society to discuss how land tenure reform can unlock climate-smart agriculture, enhance traceability, and support corporate compliance with emerging environmental regulations. Key questions will include: What are the current barriers to land tenure reform? How can companies align their decarbonization strategies with local realities? And what collaborative models are showing promise?

While investments and initiatives have grown, challenges such as farmer income insecurity, deforestation pressures, and shifting regulatory demands highlight the need for new approaches. This session will explore how companies, governments, and civil society can test, scale, and sustain innovative programmes that not only meet compliance requirements but also deliver lasting impact for farmers, communities, and landscapes. Key questions include: What new models are emerging that combine profitability with resilience? How can innovation move from pilots to scale? What role do partnerships and finance play in accelerating adoption? Speakers will share practical examples, successes, and lessons to spark fresh thinking and bold collaboration.

Industry and civil society representatives from Europe, the US, Latin America and Africa reflect on the lessons learned over the past two days and the key priorities identified.

Please register via the QR code or the link here. We are looking forward to seeing you there!