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Global carbon neutrality
Contributing to global carbon neutrality
Our environmental challenges
Our activities – from growing cocoa to selling chocolate – have an impact on the environment. At Valrhona, we are committed to minimizing these impacts. This makes sense from a commercial point of view, but also and most importantly to guarantee us a healthy future and a healthy planet.
This is why we mainly focus on contributing to global efforts to achieve carbon neutrality. We strive to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the carbon footprint of our chocolate factory and our transport-related emissions, as well as by combatting deforestation and promoting sustainable agricultural practices.
We are actively working to minimize our environmental impact, including reducing waste, using renewable energy and designing our products with the environment in mind. We ensure that our chocolate factory complies with the most stringent environmental regulations.
Our objectives and progress
-38% of greenhouse gas emissions
since 2013. Objective for 2025: -60%.
91% of waste recycled
Objective for 2025: 100%.
69% of renewable energies
in the energy mix. Objective for 2025: 79%.
83% of packaging
is recyclable. Objective for 2025: 85%.
93% new products
meet our eco-design criteria. Objective for 2025: 100%.
-18% of global waste production
Versus 2013. Objective for 2025: 50% reduction.
-60% of water consumption
Versus 2013.
-36% of total energy consumption
Versus 2013. Objective for 2025: 50% reduction.
Carbon Neutrality
The climate crisis is the greatest challenge of our time. At Valrhona, we know that the future of our planet, not to mention our company, depends on our ability to put the climate first in everything we do – every decision, every action, every investment.
We are committed to doing everything we can to help the world achieve carbon neutrality and thus keep global warming below 1.5°C (2.7°F).
To do this, we measure our carbon footprint, reduce greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible and contribute to global carbon capture efforts.
Energy
Processing cocoa into chocolate requires a lot of energy. If we want to reduce our carbon footprint, it is essential to improve our energy consumption. We are committed to reducing the amount of energy we use to make our chocolate and to promoting the use of renewable energy instead of fossil fuels.
As part of our efforts to be an exemplary manufacturer in terms of energy consumption, we are proud to say that for the past four years, 100% of our electricity has come from certified purchases of hydroelectric power.
Through these energy purchases under Guarantee of Origin Certificates, we help finance the renewable energy sector.
La consigne by Valrhona
La Consigne by Valrhona, our project to reinvent our packaging based on the principle of the circular economy, continues to grow. Today, more than 14 tons of Valrhona chocolate have been sold in bulk deliveries.
Customer feedback has been very positive, and the initiative is also gaining recognition within the Food Service: in September 2021, La Consigne by Valrhona was shortlisted for an award at the SIRHA Innovation Awards in the “MATERIALS - EQUIPMENT - PRODUCTS - TECHNOLOGIES - SERVICES” category.
Water management
Minimizing our environmental footprint also means reducing our water consumption in our industrial activities.
In the manufacturing of its chocolates, Valrhona strives to limit its environmental impact, pollution and resource consumption.
We are now devoting particular attention to our water usage, with the specific objective of cutting our 2013 consumption rates in half by 2025.
Waste management
As a business that uses raw ingredients to make chocolate, we are making every effort to limit the amount of waste we produce and improve the ways we recycle and recover.
Our objectives for 2025: to achieve our target of recovering 100% of our waste, while cutting in half the amount we generate as compared to 2013.
In 2021, through the efforts of our teams, we were able to recover 100% of the waste from the stone picking workshop. Since February, 27 tons of leaf residue, pieces of wood and other plantation waste have been transformed into compost, when in the past they would have simply been buried. This effective measure, among others, has enabled the company to increase its rate of waste reuse from 80% in 2013 to 91.3% in 2021.
This means that for a kilogram of waste produced, 652g was used as raw material for another product (co-product), 255g was recycled or reused, and 12.5g was recovered for energy.
Eco-design
Our aim is to offer our customers increasingly responsible products.
Our stakeholders judge our products’ quality and sustainability by their ingredients and recipes – but also by the packaging and materials they use.
Valrhona is working to ensure its products have an environmental design that completely lives up to customer expectations while also reducing our impact on the planet and its natural resources.
Transport
In order to limit its direct emissions, Valrhona has also adopted a transport policy that supports the reduction of GHG emissions linked to employee travel.
This approach also applies to the transport of our goods around the world, particularly by air.
Since November 2019, we have been participating in the French government’s FRET21 initiative to reduce our transport emissions, including, for example, minimizing air freight transportation.
In 2021, we started using trucks running on fuel made from rapeseed oil in partnership with the transportation company MARTIN. These trucks produce 60% less CO2 than “conventional” trucks. As a result of its use in 2021, we were able to save 32 tons of CO2.
