Environmental Advances 15 (2024) 100481

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Environmental Advances
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Evaluation of environmental impact on cocoa production and processing

under life cycle assessment method: From beans to liquor
Darmawan Darmawan *, Abdul Mutalib
Department of Agricultural Production Technology, Pangkep State Polytechnic of Agriculture, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This study aimed to identify the environmental impact on cocoa production and processing based on the life
Cocoa cycle assessment method (LCA). The major contribution of this study is to evaluate the environmental perfor­
Chocolate mance of a chocolate liquor in order to reveal the significant environmental hotspots along the entire supply
Fertilizer
chain. This is achieved through two main steps. First, the LCA method is applied to identify the environmental
Life cycle assessment
Pesticides
implications of managing the production and processing cocoa to become chocolate liquor. The LCA is performed
based on the international ISO 14040–14043 series. Secondly, a sensitivity analysis was carried out to evaluate
the impact of five proposed improvement options to discover whether any occurring potential environmental
impacts will be reduced. The kind of scenarios are: reducing pesticides by 50 % (option 1); using compost instead
of fertilizer (option 2); avoid burning stubble (option 3), conserving soil water (option 4) and applying alter­
native energy sources (option 5). As a result, the most significant environmental impact for the upstream and
core processing was human toxicity potential (HTP) and cumulative energy demand (CED), 89 % and 59 %,
respectively. In addition, the impact of the proposed improvement has significantly reduced environmental
impacts (HTP, 68 %) and achieved savings (IDR 18800, 17.7 %). Survey data includes the entire supply chain,
with a detailed focus on production and processing stages for an Indonesian chocolate company. This study only
dealt with cocoa beans that generated 1 kg of chocolate liquor.

1. Introduction
Cocoa beans are a universally high demand consumer item (Suh and
Molua, 2022; Mcclure et al., 2022). Cocoa is the main ingredient in the
manufacture of products such as chocolate (Puchol-Miquel et al., 2021;
Mohamed et al., 2020), candy bars (Hasan Yusuf and Pérez-Jiménez,
2021), drinks (Predan et al., 2019)and cocoa powder (Ferreira De Oli­
veira et al., 2021). According to (Escobar et al., 2021; Lemarcq et al.,
2022) a high-quality cocoa bean production technique is used to pro­
duce chocolates with better sensory qualities. Cocoa is one of the most
widely used raw commodities in the world and one that satisfies con­
sumer demands for health (Cinar et al., 2021; Shin et al., 2022). Bev­
erages made with cocoa are more attractive to children because of their
improved color, scent and rich flavor. Cocoa-based beverages, some­
times referred to as ready-to-drink cocoa drinks or chocolate drinks, are
all rising in popularity. These beverages contain various sugar alterna­
tives, omega-3 fatty acids and plant-based extracts rich in bioactive
components (Barišić et al., 2023). Cocoa makes a significant contribu­
tion to the global commodities market (Salazar et al., 2023), solves
different social and environmental issues (Lee and Park, 2023), and its
worldwide significance cannot be diminished (Ahoa et al., 2020).
Consequently, cocoa is a widely traded item that continues to be vital to
the global economy (Cruz-Tirado et al., 2020), as well as environmental
and social growth in many regions in the world (Gama-Rodrigues et al.,
2021; Fountain et al., 2020; Lambin et al., 2018; Akande et al., 2023).
In Indonesia, around a million rural households rely mostly on cocoa
for their income and survival. Over half of these producers are largely
driven by smallholder farmers in Sulawesi (Arsyad et al., 2019), pro­
ducing around 60 % to 71 % of national production (Tothmihaly et al.,
2019). According to Hoffmann et al. (2020) Sulawesi’s smallholder
farms produce about 500 kg of cocoa per hectare, although achievable
yields are far higher. The production of cocoa in Indonesia increased
from 27,000 tons (t) in 1984 to about 730,000 t in 2014. In 2020, the
area of cocoa plantations in Indonesia was estimated to be 1.5 million
hectares (Hafizal et al., 2023). Indonesia produces the third-highest
yield of cocoa in the world, behind Ghana and the Ivory Coast (Neil­
son et al., 2020; Syamsiro et al., 2012; Mcmahon et al., 2015; Drees
et al., 2023). As a result, it not only sustains more than 1.3 million family

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: darmawan@polipangkep.ac.id (D. Darmawan).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envadv.2023.100481
Received 9 October 2023; Received in revised form 9 December 2023; Accepted 26 December 2023
Available online 3 January 2024
2666-7657/© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
D. Darmawan and A. Mutalib
farmers nationwide, but it is also the third-largest source of foreign
funds for the agriculture industry, after oil and rubber (Ekananda,
2022).
On the other hand, production and processing of cocoa beans deliver
several impacts for the environment (Asigbaase et al., 2021; Pérez-Neira
et al., 2020; Mendoza-Meneses et al., 2023). Author in Asigbaase et al.
(2021) explains that the cultivation of cocoa, a significant worldwide
commodity, has been a significant contributor to deforestation in humid
tropical regions. Several scholars conclude that cocoa production has the
largest impact on eutrophication, acidification, global warming and
requires the highest energy expenditure (Pérez-Neira et al., 2020).
Additionally, some places have seen deforestation, increased carbon
emissions, soil deterioration and chemical contamination as a result of
the cultivation of cocoa (Mendoza-Meneses et al., 2023). Therefore, it is
necessary to enhance cocoa production and processing, and also critical
to examine the environmental implications of these activities.
To increase cocoa production and prevent the spread of pests, dis­
eases and weeds fertilizers and pesticides are used by farmers (Okoffo
et al., 2017). According to Oyenpemi et al. (2023), Mahot et al. (2020)
farmers use pesticides to restrict the impact of pests and illnesses in
order to minimize losses. Author in Hoffmann et al. (2020) reported that
across all management levels and meteorological circumstances, fertil­
izer treatment of cocoa production resulted in a yield increase of roughly
34 %. However, fertilizers and pesticides are also hazardous materials
that can have a negative impact on human health (Dhankhar and
Kumar, 2023; Mubushar et al., 2019), water pollution (Xiao et al., 2021)
and environmental sustainability (Zheng et al., 2020; Sowunmi et al.,
2019). Therefore, improper pesticide use in the cultivation of cocoa can
result in high residue levels, trade restrictions, and financial losses
(Blessing Faloni et al., 2021), and deliver environmental impacts (Ban­
danaa et al., 2021; Parra-Paitan and Verburg, 2022). In addition, due to
their small farm holdings, cocoa farmers in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi
region have used burning to make viewing easier for new land clearing.
This demonstrates that burning stubble is frequently considered the
quickest and simplest technique to clear fields in the shortest time before
planting the new crop. In contrast, the effect of burning stubble causes
soil deterioration, nitrogen loss and greenhouse gas emissions that
contribute to global warming and air pollution (Patel and Panwar, 2023;
Sahu et al., 2021; Jiang et al., 2019).
Author in Agbenyo et al. (2022) sets out an additional environmental
factor that could influence cocoa production and processing, namely,
climate change. The purpose of this study is to investigate how countries
that produce cocoa are affected by climate change in terms of cocoa
output. The World Bank and Food and Agriculture database provided
annual data from 1961 to 2018 for the study. To take heterogeneity into
consideration, cross-sectional-autoregressive distributed lag was used in
the investigation. The study found that average temperature, average
rainfall, and average carbon emissions all have favorable long- and
short-term effects on cocoa production. In contrast, due to unpredictable
rainfall and rising temperatures, cocoa is one of several crops that faces
significant risks from climate change (Amfo et al., 2021). For example,
excessive rainfall may foster the establishment and reproduction of in­
fections such as the fungus that causes cocoa black pod disease (Oye­
kale, 2020). Reduced rainfall may result in less moisture in the soil,
which could lead to a drought and prevent cocoa plants from being able
to synthesise soil minerals for healthy growth and development (Oye­
kale, 2020).
Research on the LCA method to evaluate the environmental impact
has been developed previously (Caicedo-Vargas et al., 2022; Tiegam
et al., 2021). According to Caicedo-Vargas et al. (2022) a life cycle
analysis methodology is applied to evaluate the environmental perfor­
mance of cocoa production. In this study, the cocoa production in
Ecuador’s Amazon region’s agroforestry systems was evaluated in terms
of its economic and environmental performance. The findings demon­
strated how low their yield per hectare is, especially when organic
farming is used. However, organic agroforestry systems use energy and
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Environmental Advances 15 (2024) 100481
water more effectively, and they were even more economical in terms of
return on investment, energy intensity or GHG emission intensity. They
also had a lower environmental impact across all of the studied cate­
gories (with the exception of land footprint). Author in Tiegam et al.
(2021) applied the LCA to assess the environmental effects of producing
activated carbon from cocoa beans. Based on research findings, it was
determined that the electricity used in laboratory processes was the
main factor contributing to environmental impacts. The usage of electric
energy (which contributes on average 93 % of the time) is almost
entirely responsible for toxicity. In addition to distilled water, electricity
also contributes significantly to freshwater eutrophication potential (70
%). Author in Recanati et al. (2018) applied the LCA method to assess
the environmental impact of Italian dark chocolate for some categories.
The results show that the upstream process are significant contributors
to the total impacts, specifically: 63 %, 92 % and 99 % for ozone layer
depletion potential, eutrophication potential and abiotic depletion,
respectively.
However, although several methods were examined, none of these
methods specifically evaluated the environmental effect of using pesti­
cides, fertilizer, burning stubble, soil moisture and conventional energy
source on production and processing cocoa to be chocolate liquor under
the LCA method.
To close the study gap, especially in light of the ongoing increase in
cocoa demand, additional studies are needed to assist chocolate pro­
ducers in measuring, and eventually improving, the environmental
sustainability of their operations. This study contributes to the problem
by evaluating the environmental performance of a liquor chocolate with
the goal of revealing the significant environmental hotspots along the
entire supply chain. This is achieved through two main steps. First, the
LCA method is applied to identify the environmental implications of
managing for production and processing cocoa to become chocolate li­
quor. The LCA is based on the international ISO 14040-14043 series.
Detailed inventory created in collaboration with a distinguished Indo­
nesian chocolate company. Survey data includes the entire supply chain,
with a detailed focus on production and processing stages. In the second
part of the study, a sensitivity analysis was carried out to evaluate the
impact of the scenarios of the five proposed improvement options to find
out whether the potential environmental and economic impacts that
occur will be reduced.
Several environmental impacts have been examined in this research:
acidifications potential (AP), human toxicity potential (HTP), Global
warming (GW), Photochemical oxidation potential (POP), ozone
depletion layer potential (ODLP), abiotic depletion potential (ADP) and
cumulative energy demand (CED). In addition, the impact of using
alternative energy sources, such as natural gas, electricity and biomass
for production and processing cocoa has been evaluated. This research
only discussed cocoa beans that generated 1 kg of chocolate liquor.
2. Material, data and methods
This research examined the environmental impact of cocoa produc­
tion under the LCA method that keeps track of and evaluates a product
over its entire life cycle. The next sections discuss the various LCA
processes, including the defining of the LCA’s goal and scope as well as
the Impact Assessment and interpretation.
2.1. Aim and scope definition
The purpose of this LCA is to examine the environmental implica­
tions of Indonesian cocoa production using a cradle-to-grave approach.
With this approach, the complete environmental impact of a cocoa
product is assessed, from the extraction of raw materials to production
and processing to be a product, such as chocolate liquor.
2.1.1. Chocolate liquor characterization
The main ingredients compositions of chocolate liquor under this
D. Darmawan and A. Mutalib
research are natural cocoa from Indonesia (90 %), cocoa butter from
cocoa beans with unspecified origin (5 %), alkali (2 %), plastic (1 %),
carboard (1.5 %) and other materials (0.5 %) (See Table 1). Finally, the
production site of this chocolate liquor is located in Makassar-South
Sulawesi Indonesia.
2.1.2. Unit process
In general, there are three kinds of main unit processes: up-stream,
core and downstream. Upstream processes include cocoa cultivation
and the production of raw cocoa from the Sulawesi area (S1); from other
areas (S2); additional ingredients, such as cocoa butter (S3), packaging
(S4) and auxiliary materials used in the manufacturing process (S5).
Transferring each of the aforementioned inputs from their respective
points of production to the chocolate-making facility is called trans­
portation (S6). In addition, to making chocolate liquor through several
processes, namely: blending (S7); cleaning (S8); roasting (S9); deshel­
ling (S10); shell (S11); milling (S12) and tempering, molding, cooling
and packing (S12), generation systems and the disposal of industrial
waste are considered to be core processes (S14 to S17). However, the
distribution of chocolate liquor to the consumer is not considered in this
research. Fig. 1 (below) illustrates the boundaries system and the pro­
duction process of 1 kg chocolate liquor.
2.1.3. Data source
The proposed research makes use of both primary and secondary
data. The cocoa industry in Sulawesi provided the primary data which
were gathered during 2023. They provide details about the production
and processing within the company as well as the provisioning of
Indonesian cocoa beans (from mature plantations with a 15–20 years
age range). For example: cultivation, transportation to manufacturing
and cocoa industry. In addition, secondary data are used from databases,
such as ecoinvent v3.6. which is used to process data about raw material
and production of cocoa beans to become chocolate liquor. Table 2
(below) illustrates a summary of input and output primary data for
production and processing of 1 kg chocolate liquor in Sulawesi.
2.2. Impact assessment
In this study, some environmental impacts have been assessed,
namely: AP, HTP, GW, POP, ODLP, ADP and CED. In addition, the cu­
mulative effects of energy demand was also computed to recognize the
direct and indirect energy uses due to the production and processing of
1 kg chocolate liquor. In this research, the potential of cocoa shell as
energy sources for biomass was also identified. The potential environ­
mental impact of improvement analyses suggested has been investigated
to identify the impact of the proposed improvement. In addition, the
economic impact has been assessment to recognize whether the poten­
tial environmental impact will be lessened by the proposed improve­
ment alternatives. Eq. (1) is applied to determine the benefit saving of
improvement analysis suggested:
Sav = BC − RC (1)
Sav
%= (2)
BC
Table 1
Primary Ingredients of 1 kg chocolate liquor.
No Ingredients Percentages
1. Natural Cocoa 90
2. Cocoa butter 5 namely: AP (73 %), GWP (82 %), POP (78 %), ODLP (79 %), ADP (83 %)
3. Alkali 2 and CED (41 %). Fig. 2 (below) illustrates the breakdown of total im­
4. Plastic 1 pacts into various unit processes.
5. Carboard 1.5
6. Other materials 0.5
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Environmental Advances 15 (2024) 100481
Where: Sav = Saving (IDR); BC = Base Case (IDR); RC = Reduction Cost
(IDR)
2.3. Interpretation
During this phase, the inventory information gathered from the
farms was converted into interpretable environmental effect values. This
made it possible to assess how the supply inputs and outputs of the in­
dustrial system will affect the environment. The LCA-Manager 1.3
software was used to construct this research study’s results.
3. Results and discussion
This section discusses the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) find­
ings, which are reported and examined from the upstream stage to the
main stage.
Table 1 (below) illustrates the environmental impact category of
production and processing for 1 kg Cocoa liquor in Indonesia. According
to Table 3, the most significant environmental impacts associated to this
research are HTP, CED and GWP.
3.1. Upstream stage
Fig. 2 demonstrates that, on average, the upstream process generates
a high contribution for environmental impact categories. According to
the investigation, usage of pesticides, fertilizers, burning stubble and soil
water brings various environmental impacts during this stage. For
example, the most significant impact of categories in HTP is 87 % in total
(S1 to S5), respectively. Cocoa farmers use fertilizers that contain more
molybdenum (Mo) compared to other substances. Author in Shi et al.
(2018) explains that Mo is an essential element for both plants and
microbes, but may become toxic when presented in excess concentra­
tions. On the other hand, due to the good catalytic properties, Mo cat­
alysts are viewed as a potential replacement for precious metal catalysts
(Liang et al., 2023). Mo has potential to play a function in plant meta­
bolism in order to optimize growth and development (Shoaib Rana et al.,
2020) as well as to improve fruit set and subsequent tree yielding
(Wójcik, 2020). Consequently, the long-term usage of traditional fer­
tilizers has increased problems with the environment worldwide
(Osman et al., 2020).
To control insect pests, around 100 % of cocoa farmers in Sulawesi,
Indonesia use chemical pesticides. Author in Miyittah et al. (2022)
explained that in order to increase cocoa productivity, cocoa farmers use
pesticides to control pests and illnesses, and to improve yields while
maintaining quality. However, there are serious concerns regarding the
safety of pesticide residues in cocoa beans, soils water, as well as people
and the environment. According to Ansari et al. (2021), Idowu et al.
(2022) most pesticides are extremely toxic to humans. Therefore,
widespread and indiscriminate uses of pesticides have resulted in serious
human health and the environmental impacts (Rani et al., 2021;
El-Nahhal and El-Nahhal, 2021).
In addition, one of the main causes of increased human toxicity has
been identified as burning of stubble (combustion). Author in Abdur­
rahman et al. (2020), Chanana et al. (2023) claimed combustion con­
tributes significantly to the amounts of gaseous pollutants harming both
the environment and human health. Due to the small farm holdings, no
agricultural machinery or tools are employed in Sulawesi-Indonesia’s
cocoa production. Traditionally, cocoa farmers have burned stubble to
control weeds and diseases, as well as to reduce biomass and make
sowing easier for land clearing. Consequently, it is not just generating
HTP (89 %) but also contributes to increasing other impact categories,
In addition, cocoa production has other important effects. Pod husks,
a significant portion of the solid waste produced by cocoa production are
D. Darmawan and A. Mutalib Environmental Advances 15 (2024) 100481

Fig. 1. Boundaries system, production and processing stage of 1 kg cocoa liquor.

Table 2 Table 3
Summary of input and output primary data for production and processing of 1 kg Environmental Impact Category of production and processing for 1 kg Cocoa
cocoa liquor. liquor in Indonesia.
No Inputs/outputs Amount Unit No Environmental impact category Total impact Unit

1. Material inputs 1. AP 1.82E – 03 kg Sb-equiv.

Water 6.1274E+00 kg 2. HTP 5.73E + 00 kg DCB-equiv.
Fertilizer 2.4590E-01 kg 3. GWP 3.98E – 01 kg CO2-equiv.
Pesticides 4. POP 7.82E – 04 kg C2H4-equiv.
Fungicides 8.4200E-03 kg 5. ODLP 5.97E – 09 kg R11-equiv.
Insecticides 9.0100E-04 kg 6. ADP 1.98E – 03 kg Sb-equiv.
Land use 4.9318E-05 ha 7. CED 1.72E + 01 MJ
2. Air emissions
Dust (PM2.5 e PM10) [particles to air] 2.7000E-03 kg
Sulphur dioxide [inorganic emissions to air] 8.5300E-03 kg 3.2. Core stage
Heavy metals to air 4.1755E-05 kg
Carbon dioxide [inorganic emissions to air] 3.4780E-01 kg
Carbon monoxide [inorganic emissions to air] 9.0100E-03 kg
Similar to the previous process, Fig. 3 illustrates the environmental
Pesticides to air 7.9308E-04 kg impact categories of every stage (S6 to S17) based on the core process.
3. Water emissions Transporting ingredients to the manufacturing facility and making
Biological oxygen demand (BOD) 4.9427E-12 kg chocolate liquor are core processes. The movement of cocoa beans
Chemical oxygen demand (COD) 9.2422E-12 kg
across vast distances is a notable initial contributor to environmental
Nitrates 3.8600E-15 kg
Oil and grease 1.0900E-14 kg effects. The findings in Fig. 3 demonstrate that trans-island shipping
Phosphates 4.5214E-14 kg movement is primarily responsible for around 25 % of overall acidifi­
Total dissolved solids 4.9535E-12 kg cation, as evidenced by the sulfur dioxide emissions from ships. During
Total suspended solids 5.0297E-12 kg the transport of cocoa beans, 3.54 MJ and 0.32 kg CO2eq/FU (9 % and
Heavy metals to freshwater 6.9961E-04 kg
Pesticides to freshwater 4.6980E-03 kg
10 % of total GW, respectively). In this study, the manufacture of
4. Soil emissions chocolate consumes significant energy primarily from electricity gen­
Pesticides to soil 10.0117E-04 kg eration, natural gas, diesel solar and biomass sources. It contributes 59
Heavy metals to agricultural soil 3.9970E-05 kg % to the overall stage (S6–S 17), with the four kinds of generation plants
Water to soil 3.0354E+00 kg
accounting for 0.68-kilogram CO2eq./FU and the remaining chocolate
5. Energy input
Electricity (from PLN grid) 3.2436E-01 kg manufacture for 0.26 kg CO2eq./FU. Additionally, the amount of nat­
Diesel 5.6341E-02 kg ural gas used in the process has a big impact on ozone depletion; in fact,
Petrol 9.0347E-03 kg halon leaks from the system of methane transportation pipelines pro­
Biomass 8.0567E-03 kg duce around 20 % of the category’s damage.
Additionally, Fig. 3 illustrates that other environmental effects for
a by-product. Presently, Sulawesi-Indonesia’s cocoa business produces industrial processing of cocoa beans were shown to be the most signif­
waste called pod husks, which are extremely difficult to dispose of. In icant stage of CED (59 %), AP (27 %), continuing by POP (22 %), ODLP
this research, the LCA method examines the direct effects of these im­ (21 %), GWP (18 %), ADP (17 %) and HTP (11 %). Boilers and roasters
pacts only for use of biomass as energy sources. were shown to be the primary source of environmental consequences
during the cocoa processing stage. As a result, efforts must be

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D. Darmawan and A. Mutalib Environmental Advances 15 (2024) 100481

Fig. 2. The environmental impact category based on the upstream process.

Fig. 3. The environmental impact category based on the core process.

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D. Darmawan and A. Mutalib Environmental Advances 15 (2024) 100481

concentrated to enhance the energy consumption efficiency of these assessed more favorably than other previously developed methods. Even
energy-intensive machines. As natural gas is considered to be substan­ though those systems’ production management is excellent compared
tially more environmentally friendly, it was also suggested to replace with the actual state of the studied area, it is worth highlighting that the
usage of diesel. Currently, cocoa shell is no longer regarded as a solid increased use of fertilizer and pesticides associated with cocoa produc­
waste. Cocoa companies sell cocoa shell as animal feed. However, in this tion in developing nations, such as Indonesia, adversely affects the
research cocoa shell is also utilized as an energy source for biomass. environment. Beyond productivity, effective management of cocoa
products could help boost farm incomes significantly and boost profit­
3.3. Overall stage ability to the point where monocultures are possible. However, the
environmental impact needs examination in order to maintain sustain­
Fig. 4 depicts the effects of the total process (S1–S17) disaggregated ability and increase productivity.
into upstream and core phases (called overall process). The greatest
impact of upstream process sequentially was HTP process, namely: 89 4. Improvement analysis
%, continuing by ADP 83 %, GWP 82 %, ODLP 79 %, POP 78 %, and CED
41 % of total impacts. In contrast, the biggest impact of core process To determine whether the potential environmental impact will be
successively was CED 59 %, AP (27 %), continuing by POP (22 %), ODLP lessened by the proposed improvement alternatives, these suggested
(21 %), GWP (18 %), ADP (17 %) and HTP (11 %). This indicates that improvement analysis findings were compared to the baseline case. The
such environmental impacts were mostly as a result of the cultivation of baseline data is based on Indonesian’s current methods and procedures
other cocoa beans, cocoa production, cocoa butter and packaging pro­ for producing and processing cocoa. Table 4 provides a summary of the
duction. However, only the CED delivers a higher impact for the core tested recommended improvement choices. The effectiveness of each
process due to contributions being mostly attributable to the availability enhancement option’s impact on the reference case was examined
and utilization of natural gas. The CED has a total value of 33.75 MJ/FU, separately from the others so that it could be evaluated individually. The
59 %. environmental ratings of these alterations are compared to the baseline
The result of the above analysis above indicates that the LCA meth­ in Fig. 5.
odology demonstrated its effectiveness in quantifying a number of
important consequences of human and environment. This research is
Table 4
thought to be among the earliest LCA studies conducted in Sulawesi,
Improvement analysis suggested.
Indonesia, and undoubtedly the first in the cocoa sector. Due to its
crucial role in the Indonesian economic sector, the cocoa industry was No Lif Cycle Base case Improvement analysis
Process suggested
selected. Although it is assumed that the use of pesticides and fertilizers
falls within permissible bounds, this study has shown that they play a 1 Upstream and ✓ Mineral Fertilizer and ✓ Reducing pesticides by 50
core Process pesticides % (option 1)
significant role in the repercussions during the cocoa production stage.
✓ Burning of stubble ✓ Use compost instead of
This calls for a reassessment of the government’s present Cocoa Disease ✓ Unpredictable climate fertilizer (option 2)
and Pest Control program from an environmental standpoint. The use of change ✓ Avoid burning of stubble
low-input systems that rely on integrated pest management, which uses ✓ Conventional energy (option3)
a high level of biological control of the main pests and diseases, requires sources: Diesel oil and ✓ Soil water conservation
electricity (option 4)
proper soil fertility management. Consequently, to further improve the ✓ Alternative energy source:
sustainability of cocoa production in Sulawesi, Indonesia, high yielding Natural gas, electricity and
and pest-resistant cocoa varieties are suggested. biomass (option 5)
In addition, the suggested studies of environmental impacts can be

Fig. 4. The environmental impact category based on the overall process.

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D. Darmawan and A. Mutalib Environmental Advances 15 (2024) 100481

Fig. 5. Comparison of the probable environmental effects of fertilizer, pesticides, burning stubble and soil water towards base case.

Fig. 5 (below) illustrates the improvement analysis of options 1, 2, 3
and 4. Applying these options guarantees a considerable lessening in the
possible environmental effects. In this case, the amount of reduction for
pesticides was 50 %, if using compost instead of fertilizer and burning of
stubble was not carried out. In this research, soil water conservation
practices carried out by cocoa farmers to cope with climate change are
the planting of leguminous crops (18 %), retention of trees (62 %), and
planting of shade trees (20 %) on cocoa farms. In this case, options 1, 2, 3
and 4 were conducted to recognize the potential reduction of environ­
mental impacts during the upstream process. In contrast, option 5 was
conducted only as a core process. However, in order to identify the
potential reduction of environmental impacts for all processes that
improved analysis for all options will be discussed in the last section, as
shown in Fig. 6.
These conservation techniques cover and protect the soil from harsh
sunshine, high or excessive temperatures, low relative humidity, strong
winds that carry meagre, dry soils away, and other unfavorable weather
patterns brought on by climate change. These stop the soil from
warming up too quickly or becoming overheated. By increasing the
organic matter content of the soil, these conservation techniques also
improve soil structure, boost soil water-holding capacity, decrease soil
erosion, and maintain beneficial soil organisms. Furthermore, soil nu­
trients are enhanced by the breakdown of mulch materials, leftovers
from leguminous crops, leaves from shade and retained trees on cocoa
fields and organic fertilizers. Soil moisture conservation techniques
enhance the physical and chemical characteristics of the soil.
Fig. 5 illustrates the most significant impact for potential reduction
of HTP, 65 %, 60 %, 55 % and 45 % for options 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively.

Fig. 6. Potential reduction of conventional and alternative energy sources.

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D. Darmawan and A. Mutalib
The results indicated that reducing pesticides by 50 % was an option
suggested as the most significant compared to other impact indicators.
The impact of the environment (first option) on ADP and POP reduces
47 % and 34 %, respectively. The GWP and ODLP reduce 16 % and 5 %.
The AP 2 % and CED is not recognized, similar to the impact of compost
instead of fertilizer for production and processing of cocoa (second op­
tion). The environmental impact categories of ADP is to reduce 55 %,
POP and GWP 25 % and 13 %, respectively. The ODLP and AP 5 % and
only CED are not identified. For the third option, the higher potential
reduction when avoiding burning stubble for environmental impact on
HTP, was 55 %. These were followed by other indicators, namely ADP
42 %, GWP and POP 20 %; ODLP and AP, 5 % and 3 %, respectively.
Only CED was not recognized. In addition, the higher potential reduc­
tion for the fourth option can reduce on HTP 45 %. These were followed
by other indicators, ADP 35 %, PP 17 %, GWP 15 %, ODLP 6 %, AP 1 %,
only CED was no identified. As a result, the production of cocoa beans
has the most negative impact on both people and the environment. This
is because of the direct field emissions brought on by the extensive use of
pesticide fertilizers, stubble burning and soil water.
Fig. 5 shows that the pattern of potential reduction due to the
amounts of pesticides, use of compost, burning stubble and soil water
was similar, even though the number presentations reduction for every
category varies. For example, the most potential reduction of HTP is
pesticides, namely 65 %; followed by fertilizer, burning stubble and soil
water was 60 %, 55 % and 45 %, respectively. In contrast, the most
potential reduction on ADP is fertilizer (55 %), followed by pesticides
(47 %), burning stubble (42 %) and soil moisture (35 %). Likewise, the
most potential reduction on GWP is burning stubble (20 %), followed by
pesticides (16 %), soil water (15 %) and fertilizer (13 %). This indicates
that the kind of improvement suggestion has a different number of im­
pacts for every indicator.
Based on the proposed method and result of in-depth analysis, it
could assist chocolate manufacturers to determine the environmental
profile of their goods and make strategic decisions to increase their
environmental sustainability, such as switching to a different kind of
raw material or energy source. For instance, if a company chose only to
use the cocoa beans from Sulawesi to meet its cocoa demand, its envi­
ronmental impacts would consistently decrease in comparison to
sourcing provisioning from other islands. In addition, reducing pesti­
cides by 50 %, using compost instead of fertilizer, not burning stubble
and soil water conservation could deliver the most significant impacts to
reduce the environmental impacts. Likewise, using natural gas, elec­
tricity and biomass as energy sources that can be applied not only to
decrease environmental effects but also to reduce cumulative energy
demand.
As can be seen from Fig. 6, potential effects on the environment when
applied to conventional as opposed to alternative energy sources. This
Figure shows in the potential reductions of environmental impact
caused by combining of improvement analysis suggested for options 1,
2, 3 and 4. Option 4 only makes a comparison between conventional and
alternative energy sources. Based on Fig. 6, the potential reduction of
environmental impacts compared with conventional and alternative
energy sources for every indicator was variable. For example: ADP (3
%), HTP (3 %), GWP (15 %), POP (2 %), ODLP (5 %), ADP (2 %) and
CED (22 %). This indicates that the most potential reduction of envi­
ronmental impact was CED (22 %) %. This is because of alternative
usage as an energy source during the core process. Consequently, the
most potential reduction of environmental impact for all process,
combining between options 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 was HTP (68 %), followed by
other indicators, namely: ADP (57 %), POP (36 %), GWP (35 %), CED
(22 %), ODLP (11 %) and AP (8 %).
In addition, the economic potential implication of the proposed
improvement option can be illustrated in Table 5 (below).
Table 5 illustrates the economic potential effects when the applied
option is suggested for production and processing cocoa. This
Table shows the potential reductions cost caused by the proposed
8
Environmental Advances 15 (2024) 100481
Table 5
The economic potential of the proposed improvement option.
No Options Base case Reduction Cost Benefit
Suggested (IDR) (IDR) Saving %
(IDR)
1 Option 1 25,000 21,000 4000 16
2 Option 2 24,000 20,200 3800 15.8
3 Option 3 10,000 9000 1000 10
4 Option 4 12,000 11,000 1000 8.3
5 Option 5 35,000 26,000 9000 25.7
Total cost 106,000 87,200 18,800 17.7
improvement suggested for options 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The total benefit to
produce 1 Kg cocoa liquor under the proposed suggestion option was
IDR 18800 (17.7 %). However, the potential benefit for every option
suggested was different. The most potential benefit is option 5, IDR 9000
(25.7 %). The following options 1, 2, 3 and 4 were IDR 4000 (16 %), IDR
3800 (15.8 %), IDR 1000 (10 %), IDR 1000 (8.3 %), respectively. The
benefit of suggested option number 5 was higher than others due to
natural gas being less expensive than other fossil fuels. In contrast, the
benefit of option numbers 3 and 4 was less as these steps required a high
cost and more time-consuming steps for these options. The financial
benefit for option numbers 1 and 2 was higher than numbers 3 and 4 but
these steps were simple and took only a brief time to apply. Therefore, it
can be stated that the proposed improvement option could bring eco­
nomic benefits with minimum environmental impact.
5. Conclusion and recommendations
The proposed research illustrated the environmental impacts of
cocoa production and processing under the LCA method. Seven envi­
ronmental impact categories have been evaluated, namely: AD, HTP,
GWP, POP, ODLP, ADP and CED potentials. Research results indicated
that the most potential reduction of environmental impact based on the
upstream and core process was HTP and CED category, 89 % and 59 %,
respectively. These were followed by other indicators during upstream
process: ADP 83 %, GWP 82 %, ODLP 79 %, POP 78 %, and CED 41 %. In
contrast, other indicators during the core process were POP (22 %),
ODLP (21 %), GWP (18 %), ADP (17 %) and HTP (11 %). This is indi­
cated that the potential reduction of environmental impact between
upstream process and core process was not similar. The environmental
effect of production and processing to generate 1 kg cocoa liquor was not
identical.
In order to reduce the environmental impact, the improvement
analysis suggested some options. For example: reducing pesticides by 50
%, using organic pesticides (compost) instead of fertilizer, avoid burning
stubble and soil moisture conservation as the first, second, third and the
fourth options suggested. Consequently, the most significant impact for
potential reduction was HTP, specifically 65 %, 60 %, 55 % and 45 % for
options 1, 2 3, and 4, respectively. This was followed by other indicators,
such as AP (2 %, 5 %, 3 % and 1 %), GWP (16 %, 13 %, 20 % and 15 %),
POP (34 %, 25 %, 20 % and 17 %), ODLP (5 %, 5 %, 5 % and 6 %), ADP
(47 %, 55 %, 42 % and 35 %), CED (0 %, 0 %, 0 % and 0 %). Similarly,
the potential reductions of environmental impacts caused by combining
of improvement analysis suggested for options 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 for every
indicator was variable. For example: ADP (57 %), HTP (68 %), POP (36
%), GWP (35 %), CED (22 %), ODLP (11 %) and AP (8 %). In addition,
the proposed improvement option suggested not only brings environ­
mental impacts but also has economic potential. The overall benefit for
producing 1 kg cocoa liquor using the suggested option was IDR 18800
(17.7 %). However, the possible cost saving resulting from the suggested
improvement option 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 was not identical. The greatest
potential benefit is option number 5, IDR 9000 (25.7 %). Thus,
continuing by other options 1, 2, 3 and 4 were IDR 4000 (16 %), IDR
3800 (15.8 %), IDR 1000 (10 %), IDR 1000 (8.3 %), respectively.
In order to assess any potential environmental effects related to the
D. Darmawan and A. Mutalib
cultivation and processing of cocoa in Sulawesi, Indonesia, this LCA was
conducted. The aim was to create a scientific foundation for assessing
the complete environmental impact of cocoa from cultivation and the
extraction of raw materials to production and processing to becoming a
product, such as chocolate liquor. However, a number of significant
environmental impacts of cocoa production, such as loss of biodiversity
and disposal of cocoa pod hulls, have not been studied and taken into
account in the impact assessment of this research due to its limited
scope.
For the next study, it will be necessary to advance and promote the
method’s use in the nation’s development priority areas given the
method’s potential for sustainable development. In order to explain the
ideas, resources and advantages of LCA to policy and decision-makers, a
simplified language will need to be developed, along with a database
that is pertinent to domestic circumstances. Due to the fact that current
LCA approaches solely consider environmental factors and effects, rec­
ommendations based on LCAs do not take into account potential con­
flicts that may arise during the course of a product’s life cycle between
environmental conservation and issues of social and economic impor­
tance. This raises concerns about LCA’s capacity to assist in the actual
decision-making in businesses that pursue sustainability and provides
motivation for expanding the scope of the LCA technique to incorporate
these additional sustainability facets.
The study found a direct correlation between production of cocoa
and a few of the recommended options for development. Thus, cocoa
productivity rises in tandem with the number of these alternatives that
are recommended for adoption on cocoa farms. Thus, it is suggested that
cocoa farmers reduce pesticide use by 50 %, use compost instead of
fertilizer, avoid burning stubble, conserve soil water, and apply natural
gas, electricity, and biomass as energy sources on cocoa production and,
as a result, increase productivity. Further recommendations for
improving cocoa production include the creation of farm management
training programs for cocoa farmers by policy makers, private cocoa
groups, and other stakeholders, as well as the provision of input sub­
sidies and information on climate change. Offering this support in a
creative way to reinforce current efforts would benefit cocoa farmers
and the Indonesian cocoa sector more as a whole. For example, it is
imperative that the majority of smallholder cocoa growers receive
agricultural support. Moreover, it is imperative to provide cocoa
growers with cost-effective alternatives. It is imperative that policies
specifically target female cocoa farmers in order to encourage their
adoption of the suggested modifications to the upstream and core pro­
cesses. Consequently, it is advised that cocoa producers carefully culti­
vate their fields in order to implement agronomic techniques that would
increase productivity. Rehabilitating old cocoa fields by replanting is
also essential to increasing yield. It is also advised that farmers who
manage or inherit family cocoa plantations implement productivity-
boosting agronomic practices, such as using pesticides and fertilizers,
burning stable methods, and conserving soil water, as a way to mitigate
the effects of climate change. In order to share knowledge and gain
insight from one another, associations are also essential for cocoa
growers to join.
In evaluating the environmental profile of their products and making
strategic decisions to enhance their environmental sustainability,
chocolate firms may find assistance from the suggested alternative and
the achieved conclusions (both LCI and LCIA as well as in-depth anal­
ysis). But it is necessary to understand how the suggested choices would
affect things in the long-term. The suggested changes would have a huge
impact on the economy and environment. As a result, the industry of
cocoa growing in Indonesia contributes significantly more to develop­
ment than it does to loss. Crop productivity is the primary factor influ­
encing the expansion of cocoa growing. The cocoa sector faces a variety
of hazards and can be highly variable in terms of its operational success
due to the numerous physical and economic variables that impact it.
High levels of reliance on the environment and the state of the market
can result in significant risk factors that compromise sustainability.
9
Environmental Advances 15 (2024) 100481
These elements include pollution, plant diseases, and weather. Farmers
who grow cocoa in Indonesia are susceptible to disease, drought, and
floods. An extended dry season is one unwelcome possibility. Climate
change is predicted to impact in a negative way the productivity and
means of subsistence for cocoa growers in developing nations, such as
Indonesia. The aforementioned problems make it difficult for many
farmers to sustain long-term output. Therefore, the study suggests that
in order to avoid any potential unintended consequences, the Indonesian
government should offer appealing crop insurance packages.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Darmawan Darmawan: Conceptualization, Data curation, Soft­
ware, Methodology, Formal analysis, Methodology, Supervision,
Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Abdul Mutalib:
Data curation, Formal analysis, Software, Validation, Investigation.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to take this opportunity to thank the Ministry
of Education, Culture, Research and Technology and the Pangkep State
Polytechnic of Agriculture. This research is conducted according to the
assignment letter from the Director of Pangkep State Polytechnic of
Agriculture, number: 244/PL22/KEP/2023, 5th February 2023. This
research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the
public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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