Chocolate is a frequently gifted product for Valentine’s Day, but the product has become a symbol of climate change.
Researchers have found that the climate crisis is pushing chocolate production beyond the optimum temperature range due to increasingly erratic weather.
Approximately 70% of the world’s cacao comes from West African countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon, and Nigeria, which are being impacted by rising temperatures.
Emmanuel Essah-Mensah, a cocoa grower from Ghana, said the drought from climate change had reduced his income and caused him to lose 60% of his cocoa plants.
Following droughts and floods, global cocoa production decreased by approximately 14% in the 2023-24 season, causing chocolate prices to rise.
Analysts predict a further decrease in demand for chocolate as prices continue to rise, with some chocolatiers, such as Mars and Hershey, reducing the amount of cocoa in products or introducing new items that don’t include cocoa at all.
