On the 28th and 29th of January, the London office hosted a Due Diligence Workshop that brought together 20 participants working with cocoa from across functions. This workshop served to understand responsible business practices better and how to integrate them better into ECOM’s work.

The workshop was made possible thanks to the financing from a grant project obtained from RVO (the Netherlands Enterprise Agency), enabling us to invest in practical learning and collective reflection on how we embed due diligence more effectively into our operations. The workshop was held by Paul Schoenmakers, former Head of Impact at Tony’s Chocolonely, who facilitated open and constructive dialogue throughout the 2 days. 

Participants learned about the origins of due diligence and gained a clear overview of the six key due diligence steps, from identifying and assessing risks to tracking, communicating, and improving impacts over time. These foundations helped connect global standards to the day-to-day realities of our work. For example, we discussed how client requirements around these topics are increasing and how financial institutions are also starting to require us to use the due diligence cycle to improve our sustainability.  

The sessions were marked by great participation, engagement, and insightful contributions. Through interactive discussions and break-out sessions, teams exchanged experiences, identified due diligence risks and challenges, and explored how due diligence looks in practice across different parts of the business. 

ECOM has been proactively advancing our due diligence processes and systems over the years. We have improved our policies, such as the Supply Chain Due Diligence Policy, and Supplier Code of Conduct, all of which can be found on the 'Ethics and Compliance' section of our website. We have also done a comprehensive risk mapping of cocoa, coffee and cotton sourcing countries, and continue to do yearly supplier assessments.

In 2026, we plan to bring insights from the supply chain and country risks to the follow-ups, to make follow-ups more targeted and relevant for the supply chains in question. Additionally, traceability projects like rolling out BanQu and TRACT are helping us to better understand where our supply chains are located. 

The workshop helped make these efforts more visible while highlighting opportunities to strengthen consistency, alignment, and impact going forward. 

Stay tuned for further updates as we communicate next steps and actions– and a huge thank you to Marianne, SMS Project Manager, for organising this workshop!