Product development with focus on sustainability in the production chain of cocoa

Abstract

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool to assess the potential environmental impacts associated with a product or service throughout its lifecycle. Employing the LCA makes it possible to evaluate the implementation of improvements to products or services. Environmental labels and declarations about the product can be based on LCA studies, the same as the development of products with less environmental impact. In the last twenty years, much has been developed in interdisciplinary research and standards related to sustainability, however, such methods are still rarely applied in the development of Brazilian products and also around the world, although they are fundamental for Global and Local Sustainable Development. The Brazil stands out as the world's sixth largest cocoa producer country, fifth largest cocoa processor, third largest chocolate producer and fifth largest chocolate consumer country. These data underscore the economic and social importance of cacao, and Brazil is the only country with the complete production chain. The pre-processing of cocoa and chocolate production is made by industries that have developed several projects related to sustainability around the world (as certified organic, fair trade, products with designation of origin, among others). The project goal is to deepen the knowledge about the certifications and indicators of socio-economic and environmental sustainability, and the challenge of applying them into the cocoa production chain, from the production of cocoa in Bahia State in Brazil, to the consumption and post-consumption of chocolate / packages. (AU)