The best ethical chocolate brands put people and planet first without compromising on taste.
This means their chocolate has been grown, farmed, and produced with the planet in mind and the company has treated the cocoa growers and farmers fairly.
Choosing sustainable and fair trade chocolate helps you support companies fighting for a fairer and more sustainable chocolate industry.
Now that’s what we call a sweet deal!
An Ethical Chocolate Sampler Of Our Favorite Fair Trade Chocolatiers
For vegan, fair trade chocolate that’s as close to its natural state as possible, start with The Raw Chocolate Company. They make their chocolate out of sun-dried organic cacao that’s sure to wow the taste buds.
Tony’s Chocolonely is on a mission to end slavery and child labor in the chocolate industry with their five-step action plan. Slave-free chocolate with utterly indulgent flavors? Yes, please!
One of the most ethical chocolate companies out there, Divine Chocolate is a social enterprise co-owned by a cooperative of Ghanaian cocoa producers. Their ethical vegan chocolate range is simply, well, divine.
Good chocolate brands aren’t just better for people and the planet. They’re healthier for you, too, thanks to cleaner ingredients that are free from additives, refined sugars, and artificial flavors.
So what brands of chocolate are ethically sourced?
Keep reading to find out, and scroll down to the bottom for a bit(e) about how we chose them.
Our Curated List Of Eco-Friendly Chocolate Brands That Hit The Sweet Spot
1. The Raw Chocolate Company
Price Range | £2–£90 | Shop The Raw Chocolate Company
Values | The Raw Chocolate Company creates chocolate with a positive impact starting from ethical ingredient sourcing to the factory where it’s made with love.
Ingredients | The entire chocolate collection is vegan and certified organic. All products are palm oil free, gluten-free and refined sugar-free.
What We Love | One of the best ethical chocolate brands UK readers have, they make sure to leave a positive impact on the land by supporting reforestation projects.
The Raw Chocolate Company’s Ethical Chocolate Range
Three cheers for Raw Chocolate Company’s collection of award-winning chocolates that nourish the body and soul.
They’ve got ethical chocolate bars, snack packs, chocolate buttons, gift bundles and a brand-new luxury hot chocolate.
If you love snacking on ethical chocolate chips instead of bars, start your raw chocolate journey with the heavenly vegan M*lk Chocolate Buttons. It’s not a People’s Choice award-winner for nothing.
The Raw Chocolate Company’s Sustainability
Certifications | Certified B Corp, Vegan Society Approved, Soil Association Organic, Sierra Organic Certified
Ethical Sourcing | The brand also works closely with Sierra Organic to source sustainable cacao. All ingredients are sourced from trusted growers, certified vegan and organic .
Thoughtful Packaging | Their eco-friendly chocolate wrappers are plastic-free and recyclable.
Paying It Forward | RCC works with Sierra Organics on agro-forestry and tree planting projects in Peru.
2. Tony’s Chocolonely
Price Range | £3–£25 | Shop Tony’s Chocolonely
Values | One of the biggest fair trade chocolate brands, UK-based Tony’s Chocolonely leads by example in proving that great-tasting chocolate doesn’t have to be exploitative. They build long-term partnerships with cooperatives and help them develop eco-friendly production methods.
Ingredients | All chocolate bars are made from Belgian Fairtrade chocolate, are palm oil free, and have a choice of vegan or vegetarian flavors.
What We Love | Chocolate that fights to end slavery gets a big thumbs up from us and that’s what Tony’s Chocolonely is all about. The brand creates exquisite chocolate to raise awareness of exploitation, child labor, and slavery within the cocoa industry.
Tony’s Chocolonely’s Fair Trade Chocolate Range
In addition to staple flavors, keep an eye out for Tony’s Chocolonely’s exciting limited edition chocolate bar range.
With so many flavors, you might have trouble knowing which fair trade chocolate bar to start with. In that case, opt for the Rainbow Tasting Set to try six different bars.
But if you’re vegan and love sustainable dark chocolate like we do, you’re in for a real treat with the Dark Chocolate with Almonds and Sea Salt bar.
Tony’s Chocolonely’s Sustainability
Certifications | Fairtrade Certified, Certified B Corp
Ethical Sourcing | They make child labor and slavery-free chocolate along with fully traceable cocoa beans.
Carbon | Carbon emissions are offset through Justdiggit.
Thoughtful Packaging | Their rainbow of eco-friendly chocolate wrappers are made of 100% recycled, recyclable, and FSC-certified paper.
3. The Equal Exchange
Price Range | £3–£30 | Shop The Equal Exchange
Values | The Equal Exchange builds direct, fairer trading between farmers and consumers. They partner with farming co-operatives to ensure smallholders thrive in a competitive market.
Ingredients | Their products are certified organic by Soil Association and their cacao is fully traceable.
What We Love | Equal Exchange goes above and beyond the fair trade label. They’re committed to developing long-term relationships with their cocoa farmers and helping them build resilient businesses.
The Equal Exchange’s Sustainable Chocolate Range
Enjoy a small but mighty range of fair trade chocolate bars.
We can’t get enough of the Organic Dark Chocolate with Raspberries which has a tangy sweet and sour flavor, combined with the bold chocolaty taste that comes from its 65% cacao content.
The Equal Exchange’s Sustainability
Certifications | Soil Association Organic, Scottish Fair Trade Forum Member
Ethical Sourcing | The cacao is sustainably grown by small farmer cooperatives in the Dominican Republic and Peru.
Carbon | EE works with organic cocoa farmers to reduce reliance on oil-based fertilizers.
Thoughtful Packaging | All eco-friendly chocolate packaging is recyclable.
4. Alter Eco
Price Range | $5–$55 | Shop Alter Eco
Values | Easily one of the most sustainable chocolate brands, Alter Eco empowers cacao farmers to become more resilient to the effects of climate change by teaching them to adopt regenerative farming methods.
Ingredients | All Alter Eco products are certified organic. This means they’re free from GMOs, gluten, soy, and additives.
What We Love | This ethical chocolate USA brand’s Alter Eco Foundation empowers farmers to adopt regenerative farming methods to tackle climate change. This is a holistic approach to growing food which improves soil health and crop yield.
Alter Eco’s Organic Chocolate Range
Think of Alter Eco as the alter ego of the world’s least ethical chocolate brands—trading child labor for fair trade sourcing and synthetic ingredients for organic ones.
Enjoy a wealth of sustainable chocolate bars and truffle pieces with interesting ingredients such as quinoa and salted brown butter.
We can’t get enough of their Truffle Thins collection with dark Ecuadorian cocoa and smooth filling. The Silk Velvet is heaven for fans of smooth and creamy ethical dark chocolate.
Alter Eco’s Sustainability
Certifications | Certified B Corp, USDA Organic, Fair For Life fair trade
Ethical Sourcing | Ingredients are organically grown by small-scale, fair-trade farmers from Ecuador and Peru.
Carbon | Alter Eco is 100% carbon-neutral by planting trees with PUR.
Thoughtful Packaging | They use recyclable, compostable, post-consumer recycled sustainable chocolate packaging.
Paying It Forward | The Alter Eco Foundation funds regenerative movements for cocoa farmers.
5. Conscious Chocolate
Price Range | £2.50–£79 | Shop Conscious Chocolate
Values | Conscious Chocolate believes that everyone should be able to enjoy chocolate regardless of diet. Their organic eco-friendly chocolate is suitable for raw foodies, vegans, celiac and healthy eaters alike.
Ingredients | All Conscious Chocolate’s ingredients are non-GMO and free from palm oil, refined sugar, soy, gluten, and dairy.
What We Love | Conscious Chocolate is conscious in every way, from an organic chocolate factory powered by renewable energy to yielding zero plastic and zero food waste.
Conscious Chocolate’s Ethical Chocolate Range
Conscious Chocolate has an incredible melt-in-the-mouth selection of organic chocolate treats all in the most beautiful packaging.
Feast on 60g chocolate bars, chocolate covered fruit nibbles, cocoa powder for baking, ethical drinking chocolate, and sharing boxes.
For extreme dark chocolate fans, don’t miss their bite-size chocolate buttons, available in 85% or a whopping 100% cacao.
Conscious Chocolate’s Sustainability
Certifications | B Corporation Certified, Soil Association Organic, Sierra Organic Approved
Ethical Sourcing | The cacao is organically grown by producers in Peru
Carbon | Their kitchens are carbon neutral and powered by renewable energy
Thoughtful Packaging | Plastic free, recyclable and compostable packaging
6. Montezuma’s
Price Range | £3–£45 | Shop Montezuma’s
Values | Ethical cocoa sourcing has been Montezuma’s core philosophy from day one. They work with suppliers that meet stringent ethical criteria.
Ingredients | All their chocolate products are palm oil free. They don’t use materials from genetically-modified sources and most products are free from artificial colors, flavors and preservatives.
What We Love | The eco-friendly chocolate brand operates on a Trading Fairly policy. They work to create sustainable cocoa production through education and investment in local communities.
Montezuma’s Eco-friendly Chocolate Range
Montezuma’s are purveyors of interesting chocolate flavors like dark chocolate, orange and geranium.
If you’re feeling adventurous, try Absolute Black with 100% cocoa. Dubbed as ‘not for the faint of heart,’ it has zero added sugar, no milk, soy, or gluten. It’s an eco-friendly dark chocolate hit, pure and simple.
While not everything is vegan (the milk chocolate, for example), they offer a comprehensive vegan selection for all products.
Montezuma’s Sustainability
Ethical Sourcing | Paying for premium-priced cacao, their source from suppliers that are slave labor and deforestation free and have signed their Supplier Code of Ethics.
Carbon | All power used in their offices, stores and factories are from 100% renewable sources.
Thoughtful Packaging | They use 100% recyclable, compostable or biodegradable packaging.
Paying It Forward | Montezuma has a long-term partnership with the children’s rights organization Children on the Edge.
7. Endangered Species Chocolate Bar
Price Range | $2–$40 | Shop Endangered Species Chocolate
Values | A fair trade, sustainable chocolate brand that saves animals? That’s good enough for us. Endangered Species Chocolate is committed to a business model that’s ‘doing good better’ by supporting charitable initiatives.
Ingredients | The brand sources Fairtrade cocoa beans from the Ivory Coast in West Africa. All of their products are palm oil free and non-GMO.
What We Love | They donate 10% of annual profits to wildlife and conservation charities around the world.
Endangered Species Chocolate’s Sustainable Chocolate Range
Whether you buy singles or 12-pack cases, every flavor supports a different cause at Endangered Species.
For example, Caramel, Sea Salt and 60% Dark Chocolate supports the bald eagle whereas Hazelnut Toffee and 72% Dark Chocolate helps the black rhino.
Our personal favorite is the fudgy peanut butter, which works to bring awareness to caribou problems caused by climate change.
Endangered Species Chocolate’s Sustainability
Certifications | Fairtrade, Non-GMO Verified, Certified Vegan
Ethical Sourcing | Cacao is sustainably grown by small, family-owned co-operatives in Ivory Coast and West Africa.
Paying It Forward | They donate 10% of annual profits, totaling an incredible $3.1 million dollars since 2016.
8. Unreal Snacks
Price Range | $21–$40 | Shop Unreal Snacks
Values | One of the best ethical chocolate brands in the US, Unreal Snacks makes delicious junk-free alternatives to big-name candies. All chocolate treats are Fairtrade certified and sustainably sourced.
Ingredients | Unreal Snacks have mastered the art of delectable treats with up to 51% less sugar than other leading brands. They use organic and non-GMO ingredients throughout their range.
What We Love | Founders Kirs and Nicky have shaken up the American candy and chocolate industry by proving that delicious and affordable treats don’t need to compromise the planet. Unreal Snacks compares itself to top-name brands but with ethical and Fairtrade ingredients.
Unreal Snacks’ Fairtrade Chocolate Range
Dive into bags of fair trade certified chocolate gems, treat-worthy nut butter cups and chocolate bars.
We love the extensive vegan chocolate range, including the irresistible Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups that make for the perfect sustainable Reese’s alternative.
Unreal Snacks’ Sustainability
Certifications | Fairtrade
Ethical Sourcing | All cacao is Fairtrade certified.
Thoughtful Packaging | While the packaging is plastic, it’s recyclable through TerraCycle.
9. Divine Chocolate
Price Range | $5–$95 | Shop Divine Chocolate
Values | Divine Chocolate is a global social enterprise which believes producers deserve a stake in the profits they help to create. They are co-owned by Kuapa Kokoo Farmers’ Union, a Ghanaian cooperative with over 1000,000 cocoa farmers.
Ingredients | All Divine chocolate is palm oil free and vegetarian-friendly. The brand’s certified organic range comes from a farmer cooperative in São Tomé.
What We Love | Divine and their farmer co-partners strive for gender equality and female empowerment in the cocoa industry. They provide mentorship programs, financial support and education to women farmers in Ghana and São Tomé.
Divine’s Ethical Chocolate Range
Make a foray into the divine with the fair trade chocolate brand’s selection of small bars, sharing bars, hampers and vegan range.
They also have ethical cocoa powder to level up your ethical hot chocolate or baking game. Their cocoa powder is made of 100% unsweetened cocoa powder and processed with alkali only.
Divine’s Sustainability
Certifications | Fairtrade, Certified B Corp, Soil Association Organic
Ethical Sourcing | Traceable bean to bar cacao is produced by co-operatives in Ghana and São Tomé.
Carbon | Divine reduces road and sea miles, never uses air freight or takes internal flights, and their HQ works from a sustainable co-working office with 100% renewable energy.
Thoughtful Packaging | They use only recycled or recyclable packaging.
Paying It Forward | Divine supports women’s empowerment initiatives in farming.
10. Seed & Bean
Price Range | £3–£18 | Shop Seed & Bean
Values | Eco-friendly chocolate brand Seed & Bean uses Fairtrade-certified suppliers where possible and all products are handmade in England. They make their chocolate in small batches so that every bar is given the same impeccable attention to quality.
Ingredients | The brand works with Soil Association to ensure all ingredients are 100% organic. They also have a certified fair trade vegan chocolate range with 14 different flavors to choose from.
What We Love | Seed & Bean scored 100% ethical accreditation in the Ethical Company Index thanks to being handmade using British botanicals, along with Fairtrade and organic certified beans.
Seed & Bean’s Fairtrade Chocolate Range
The brand’s bean to bar chocolate range covers everything from vegan fair trade chocolate bars to two kinds of truffles, both of which can be sampled in all their rich, decadent glory in the Deluxe Truffle Bundle.
Flavors are inventive and unique with a constant conveyor belt of new or limited edition lines being added.
Tuck into Milk Chocolate Cornish Sea Salt & Lime or opt for Coconut & Raspberry Extra Dark. Trust us, these treats are just too good to share.
Seed & Bean’s Sustainability
Certifications | Fairtrade, Soil Association Organic
Ethical Sourcing | All ingredients are 100% organic and ethically sourced.
Thoughtful Packaging | They use 100% compostable, plastic-free, eco-friendly chocolate packaging.
11. Love Cocoa
Price Range | £3–£50 | Shop Love Cocoa
Values | Love Cocoa only works with suppliers that pay farmers higher than the market price. They’ve cut out the middlemen to have more control over their supply chain.
Ingredients | All ethically sourced chocolate bars are palm oil-free, slave free, vegetarian-friendly and made from Single Origin Chocolate that’s sourced from Colombia.
What We Love | We’re impressed by the brand’s ‘one bar, one tree’ initiative which sees one tree planted for every bar or truffle product sold. They’ve planted over 750k trees so far.
Love Cocoa’s Ethical Chocolate Range
Love Cocoa is your place to go for ethical chocolate gifting, whether you need some eco-friendly Valentine’s chocolates (a la the With Love truffle box) or just something to surprise your loved ones.
Their range includes bars, truffles, hampers, ethical cocoa powder, alcoholic chocolate, biscuits, and more.
Try the Honeycomb milk chocolate bar for a delicious fix that comes in utterly beautiful packaging.
Love Cocoa’s Sustainability
Ethical Sourcing | Love Cocoa works with a family-run supplier in Bogota, Colombia, which trades directly with farmers, ensuring them better prices.
Carbon | The company is carbon-negative through planting trees.
Thoughtful Packaging | All packaging is plastic-free and recyclable, including cardboard dividers in their eco-friendly chocolate boxes.
Paying It Forward | LC partners with Eden Reforestation Projects to restore natural landscapes destroyed by deforestation in Africa.
How We Choose This Fair Trade Chocolate Brands List
Is there such a thing as ethical chocolate? If so, how do we know what is the most ethical chocolate, and how can you tell?
For instance, is Hershey’s chocolate ethically sourced? (TL:DR: no).
To help us narrow it down, we’ve created a list of criteria to identify ethical and sustainable chocolate.
Even the most ethical chocolate companies don’t always manage to tick all boxes, but the road to sustainability is a marathon, not a sprint.
Certifications:
Fairtrade, Soil Association, B Corporation (B Corp), Non-GMO Verified, Vegan Society, Sierra Organic, US Department of Agriculture Organic (USDA Organic), Fair For Life, Scottish Fair Trade Forum
Ingredients:
We prefer brands that use organic ingredients, but we know that’s not always possible.
They should be non-GMO and palm oil-free, though we would also accept RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil chocolate.
Values:
We like to see fair trade certified brands go above and beyond for their suppliers. This can be charitable initiatives, supporting sustainable production or taking part in environmental projects.
Packaging:
At the very least, it should be recyclable, but compostable, plastic-free and zero waste packaging is ideal.
Ethical Sourcing:
Responsible brands should be aware of the ethical issues of chocolate and cacao sourcing. We want to see chocolate companies that don’t use child labor or slavery in their supply chains.
Carbon:
With climate change reaching a critical point, it’s no longer optional for brands to take their carbon impact into consideration.
We look for brands not only offsetting their emissions, but actively taking a bite out of them through reduction efforts.
Paying It Forward:
Giving back isn’t necessary to be a sustainable brand (we know smaller brands and startups may not be able to afford it), but chocolate certainly tastes sweeter knowing it’s helping out other environmental and social causes.
Closing Thoughts On Fair Trade Sustainable Chocolate Brands
How can chocolate taste so good but have so many ethical issues?
Demand for cheap cocoa is enforced by large corporations that dominate the market. As a result, farmers are paid very little (less than $1 a day in some cases!) which forces them into extreme poverty.
The cycle of exploitation continues as cash-strapped farmers cut corners to keep prices competitive. This leads to child labor and modern slavery.
Ethical chocolate brands take a stand for chocolate that has a positive impact and fair pricing for all—from bean to bar.
They also develop sustainable solutions to chocolate production from farming to packaging.
Have a chocolate aficionado in your life?
Pass on this fair trade chocolate brands list and help their sweet tooth give back.
