KitKat

How ethical and sustainable is KitKat?

KitKat is a brand of Nestlé chocolate that appears in The Good Shopping Guide’s Ethical Chocolate Ratings Table. Although KitKat has a very long way to go before reaching our ethical standards, we hope to see the brand progress in the future.

For which criteria does KitKat perform poorly? 

Even though KitKat ranks highly in some categories, there is still a large number of issues yet to be dealt with by the company. These are Animal Welfare, Genetic Modification, availability of Organic products, Public Record Criticisms, Political Donations, and availability of Fairtrade products.

In 2018 KitKat changed from a comprehensive Fairtrade Mark to Fairtrade Sugar Program, Fairtrade Cocoa Program, and Fairtrade Vanilla –which means that only those ingredients are fairly traded. As a result, KitKat’s Fairtrade rating dropped from a top to bottom rating. Today, KitKat does not have any Fairtrade certified products.

KitKat also receives a bottom rating for the Public Record Criticisms and Public Record Criticisms+ categories, as Nestlé is widely criticised for being one of the world’s most unethical companies. Its unethical practices include allegations of human rights abuses, land grabbing, plastic pollution, deforestation and many many more.

In what areas does KitKat score well for its ethics?

KitKat has achieved a top rating for the Vegetarian/vegan category, as it has one product certified by The Vegan Society.

For more information about KitKat’s ethics and sustainability…

See how other chocolate brands rank in comparison to KitKat for their ethics and sustainability in our Ethical Chocolate Ratings Table. If you are associated with a chocolate brand, company, or product and want to improve or validate your CSR/ ESG and sustainability policies, find out more about how you could apply for Ethical Accreditation here.