What is 1% For The Planet?

1% For The Planet is a collective of companies committed to donating 1% of their annual revenue on all or part of their product range to environmental protection organizations. This non-governmental organization was founded in 2002 by Yvon Chouinard, the founder and owner of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, former owner of Blue Ribbon Flies.

We have chosen to be part of it in december 2023, committing to donate 1% of the annual revenue from our Cuvées and Gourmet ranges.

cocoa pods on tree valrhona

Cacao Forest

The project grew out of an ambition to develop agroforestry as a means of protecting resources, increasing cocoa producers’ income, and securing our supplies of quality beans. It is a dynamic and unique alliance of French chocolate makers (Valrhona, Ecotone, Weiss, Révillon, Voisin, the Relais Desserts association, and Carambar & Co, who make up the TERRA ISARA endowment fund), research and higher education institutions (CIRAD and ISARA respectively), the Earthworm Foundation NGO, and the Agence Française de Développement. 

From 2016 to 2023, four different agroforestry models designed to improve growers’ income were tested. This income includes sales of both cocoa and other related crops.
The research program has yielded very positive results, as the four models all proved much more profitable than the control model. One of them even provides an income of $3,000 per hectare annually - that’s three times more than the control model.

Plans are in place to roll out the Cacao Forest project in Ivory Coast in 2024

iVORY COAST COCOA PRODUCER

Biovallée: let’s meet under the trees

The “Sous les arbres, rejoignons-nous” initiative, which means «Let’s meet under the trees» and has been led by the Biovallée non-profit since 2020.

It gives local residents the chance to plant thousands of fruit trees in public areas of the Drôme valley every year.

3,450 trees have been planted, 20 educational projects carried out and 2,150 people involved over three planting seasons.

The future collective projects are oriented towards areas of importance for biodiversity and towards regenerative hydrology.

cocoa tree plantation in Madagascar

Fonds Solidaire Valrhona

The Valrhona Foundation, which promotes fair, sustainable cocoa farming and inclusive, responsible gastronomy.

Over the course of three years, the Valrhona Foundation has financed 20 projects in seven countries, improving the lives of 23,500 people both directly and indirectly.

cocoa producer in Millot Madagascar