How we select and source our ingredients can be a catalyst for change in creating a healthier food system. For us, this means continuing to source a greater quantity of food that’s organic and Rainforest Alliance Certified. Organic and more sustainably grown ingredients are the link between people’s well-being and a healthy planet. For that reason, we’re working with our suppliers and certifiers to source cocoa and palm kernel oil that meet our environmental and socially responsible standards.
Responsible Cocoa Sourcing
Today, 100% of the cocoa ingredients we use in our food are organic or Rainforest Alliance Certified and sourced from farms in the Côte d’Ivoire, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, Peru, and Tanzania.* We’ve had a longstanding commitment to using as many organic ingredients as possible because of their benefits to people and the planet. We chose Rainforest Alliance certification because its comprehensive social, economic, and environmental commitments closely match Clif Bar & Company’s Five Aspirations business model.
Rainforest Alliance supports a healthy environment and promotes the social and economic well-being of farmers, farmworkers, and their forest communities. Certified farms help conserve soil and water, prevent deforestation, and minimize use of pesticides and agrochemicals. Farmworkers benefit from safe working conditions, dignified housing, medical care, and access to schools for their children.
Rainforest Alliance certification can help improve farmers’ livelihoods. A third-party study commissioned by the Rainforest Alliance found certified cocoa farms in Côte d’Ivoire increased net income by 258% and yields increased by 73%.
Revisions to the Rainforest Alliance certification program in 2020 have brought a stronger, more forward-looking approach to certification. Farms must not only implement a set of core requirements but also continuously improve their sustainability performance over time. The standard promotes climate-smart growing techniques that can help farmers adapt to and prepare for impacts; adopts a proven “assess-and-address” approach to child and forced labor; and takes a stronger stance against gender inequality. Crucially, requirements to uphold human rights and protect environmental sustainability extend beyond the farm to all supply chain actors, including traders and manufacturers. And the list goes on!
Responsible Palm Kernel Oil Sourcing
All palm oil purchased for Clif foods is either certified USDA Organic and/or Rainforest Alliance Certified™ from farms in South America. The adoption of Rainforest Alliance certification is a way to help address the environmental and social problems posed by the expansion of palm oil plantations — including deforestation, displacement of Indigenous peoples, and competition between large agribusinesses. By working to promote more sustainable production and manufacturing of palm oil and palm kernel oil, the Rainforest Alliance is helping to mitigate the social and environmental impacts of a growing industry.
*As of Q1 2021