Ghana - Gross emissions from cocoa deforestation
Years available: 2014-2021
Data last updated: 28 Jul 2025
This metric estimates the gross greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with cocoa-driven deforestation over a 15-year period expressed in tonnes of CO₂-equivalent, and embedded in cocoa trade. Emissions are calculated from the carbon stored in above- and below-ground biomass lost when undisturbed forest is deforested (excl. degradation) (Vancutsem et al., 2021) and converted to cocoa plantations (Kalischek et al., 2023), excluding soil carbon. To link emissions to cocoa exports, the metric applies a four-year lag between deforestation and the first cocoa harvest, reflecting the time required for cocoa trees to become productive, and allocates impacts over a 15-year production period. Carbon stock estimates are based on local biomass density data (Soto-Navarro et al., 2020) and converted to CO₂-equivalent using a factor of 3.67 (Pachauri et al., 2015). Estimates are based on cocoa plantation maps (Kalischek et al., 2023) and tropical forest loss data from the EC JRC Tropical Moist Forest dataset (Vancutsem et al., 2021). Values for recent years may change in future dataset updates as recent forest disturbance is reclassified over time.
- (Kalischek et al., 2023; Pachauri et al., 2015; Soto-Navarro et al., 2020; Vancutsem et al., 2021)
- Kalischek, N., Lang, N., Renier, C., Daudt, R. C., Addoah, T., Thompson, W., Blaser-Hart, W. J., Garrett, R., Schindler, K., & Wegner, J. D. (2023). Cocoa plantations are associated with deforestation in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. Nature Food, 4(5), 384–393. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00751-8
- Soto-Navarro, C., Ravilious, C., Arnell, A. P., de Lamo, X., Harfoot, M. B. J., Hill, S. L. L., Wearn, O. R., Santoro, M., Bouvet, A., Mermoz, S., Le Toan, T., Xia, J., Liu, S., Yuan, W., Spawn, S. A., Gibbs, H. K., Ferrier, S., Harwood, T., Alkemade, R., … Kapos, V. (2020). Above and below ground biomass carbon [Dataset]. UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). https://doi.org/10.34892/RH7V-HG80
- Vancutsem, C., Achard, F., Pekel, J.-F., Vieilledent, G., Carboni, S., Simonetti, D., Gallego, J., Aragão, L. E. O. C., & Nasi, R. (2021). Long-term (1990–2019) monitoring of forest cover changes in the humid tropics. Science Advances, 7(10), eabe1603. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abe1603
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