Cocoa research: New EU and UK regulations on deforestation-free commodities – a lever for change in the cocoa sector in Ghana?

After having described the legal and institutional framework for cocoa in Ghana and in Côte d’Ivoire, identified the loopholes and possible governance, legal and policy reform solutions for the major social and environmental challenges of the sector, this third briefing will focus on the potential impacts of the regulations on deforestation in the EU & the UK in the sector. The question is whether these regulations can act as a lever to address the social and environmental concerns of the cocoa sector in Ghana and in Côte d’Ivoire. More specifically, can these regulations contribute to resolving the shortcomings of national legal and institutional frameworks relating to cocoa?

For each of these two countries, we have translated the briefing into English and French. This is the original briefing for Ghana and you can find the English translation for Côte d’Ivoire here. French translations on Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire are also available.

The paper forms part of a series of legal research briefings which ClientEarth’s Ghanaian and Ivorian partners – TaylorCrabbe Initiative and Dr. Raphaël Kra – have undertaken on cocoa production and trade in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. The overview of the research can be found here.