home
frankly speaking podcast

#40 Belinda Christine Borck: Tony's Chocolonely's Journey to Transform the Industry - A Chocolate Revolution

Listen to Belinda Christine Borck, Global Public Policy Coordinator at the Dutch-based chocolate producer Tony's Chocolonely.

In this episode, you’ll learn more about Tony’s mission to make 100% slave free the norm in all chocolate worldwide. Founder Teun van de Keuken picked the name “Chocolonely” to encapsulate his “lonely fight against inequality in the chocolate industry”. 

The company has changed the standard square piece format of the chocolate bar to an unequally divided piece to symbolise the unequally divided cocoa supply chain.

In this episode, you’ll hear more about: 

  • How chocolate companies can combat systemic poverty by ensuring that farmers and producers in their supply chain are paid a living wage
  • The importance of traceability as a base for companies to take responsibility for their potential negative impacts
  • The role of legislations such as the EU Deforestation Regulation, the EU Forced Labour Regulation or the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive to enhance transparency and address human rights and environmental violations
  • Tony’s Open Chain and how collaborating on cocoa does not impede competition on chocolate

“For Tony's, it was a lonely fight in the chocolate industry. To overcome that, we started an initiative to take responsibility together: Tony’s Open Chain. Companies can come together and source cocoa via the same supply chain. However, just because we collaborate on cocoa does not mean we cannot compete on chocolate.”

Belinda Christine Borck in Frankly Speaking

You may also like these episodes

36.14

#70 Maria Tymtsias & Julia Otten: EU Omnibus Revealed and How Companies Should Respond

What have been the latest developments on the European Commission’s Omnibus proposals and how have companies reacted? Listen to Maria Tymtsias, co-founder of the Palau Project and Frank Bold’s Julia Otten 

39.20

#69 Anne Kelly: What Does Trump 2.0 Mean for Sustainable Business?

How can US businesses continue their work towards a green transition despite the Trump 2.0 administration’s efforts to derail them? Listen to Anne Kelly, Vice President of Government Relations at Ceres

31:42

#68 Donato Calace: Can Data Solutions Make ESG Easier and Better?

Are there other ways to make green legislation easier for businesses besides dismantling the system? Listen to Donato Calace, SVP Market Leader, Partnerships & Innovation at Datamaran.