German Award for Sustainability Projects for "Very Fair" Chocolate

The German Institute for Service Quality, the DUP magazin and news channel n-tv have presented the German Award for Sustainability Projects for the first time. The award is intended to promote the visibility of sustainability projects in the public eye and draw attention to companies that are actively addressing the issue.

According to Brigitte Zypries, patron of the award and former German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, the main focus was not on the size of the projects, but on taking sustainable commitment into account at all levels.

In the "Supply Chain & Procurement" category, the initiators of the "VeryFair" chocolate were delighted to take first place. The chocolate is made from sustainable cocoa from Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. The project provides local smallholders with a financial supplement that contributes to a living income; alongside covering the costs of farming, this gives them sufficient security to allow for education and other investments. In addition, training and other activities are implemented to increase income.

The "VeryFair" chocolate has been on supermarket shelves at Penny and Rewe since spring 2021. For this, we had Julia Rennert, Sustainability Project Manager at Rewe Group, and Martin Kuntze-Fechner, GIZ employee in Ghana, as guests in our podcast "Vom Feld ins Regal". The two explained in detail what makes the "VeryFair" chocolate so sustainable and how the project was implemented.

Listen to episode 42 here.

All award winners and more information can be found here.