Environmental Sustainability
Clif Bar has instituted policies intended to make a more green-friendly business. The company switched to organic ingredients and eliminated shrink-wrap, thereby saving 90,000 pounds of plastic and $400,000 annually, and invested in wind energy to offset fossil fuel usage.
In 2007, Clif Bar began giving employees $6,500 (taxed) to switch to bio-diesel or high-mileage hybrid cars to reduce fuel consumption. As a bio-diesel incentive program, "Cool Commute" was the first of its type nationwide and drew praise from Al Gore for helping to aid the fight against global warming. In 2008, the company began giving employees up to $500 to purchase a commuter bike, with annual rewards up to $960 for getting to work on foot, bicycle, or public transportation. The company also began offering employees up to $1,000 annually to make eco-improvement to their homes, such as insulation, solar panel installation, and new windows. In April 2009, Clif Bar joined Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy, a coalition of companies, including Nike, eBay and The North Face, with the goal of passing progressive climate and energy legislation.
The company’s business practices are not without controversy, however. In 2012, Clif Bar came under fire for not disclosing where they source their chocolate from. According to the nonprofit Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P.), two West African countries, Ghana and the Ivory Coast, supply 75 percent of the world’s cocoa market. In recent years, a handful of organizations and journalists have exposed the widespread use of child labor and, in some cases, slavery on West African cocoa farms. Volunteers with F.E.P. contact companies that make vegan products containing chocolate to find out if they source their cocoa beans from areas where slavery can still be found. F.E.P. first contacted Clif Bar in May 2011, and the company has refused to disclose the source of its chocolate. The nonprofit launched a campaign in March 2012 asking consumers to contact Clif Bar and demand transparency in light of the possible connection to child labor and human slavery. On March 5, 2012, Clif Bar & Company announced that "100 percent of cocoa ingredients for CLIF Bar will be sourced from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms."
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