Chocolate Might Be Extinct by 2050

A new report published this week by Business Insider revealed that chocolate is on a path toward extinction by 2050. Cacao—the main ingredient of chocolate—grows only in rainforests that are no more than 20 degrees north or south of the equator, and as global temperatures rise, growing the crop will become increasingly more difficult. Due to this predicament, last year, chocolate company Mars, Incorporated dedicated $1 billion to the “Sustainability in a Generation”—an internal initiative that aims to reduce the company’s carbon footprint by 60 percent by 2050. “We’re trying to go all in here,” Mars Chief Sustainability Officer Barry Parkin said. “There are obviously commitments the world is leaning into, but frankly, we don’t think we’re getting there fast enough collectively.” While Mars has not announced plans to remove dairy from its supply chain, doing so would greatly reduce the company’s carbon footprint as, according to the United Nations, animal agriculture produces two times more greenhouse gases than the entire transportation sector combined.