Health project for cocoa farmers wins Swiss Ethics Award 2025
On 7 May 2025, the Swiss Ethics Award was presented as part of the Future Leadership Forum at the KKL Lucerne, organized by the Swiss Excellence Forum. Out of five nominated projects, Max Felchlin AG was ultimately recognized for its project "Healthcare at the origin of cocoa".
May 7, 2025 was a special date: it marked "Earth Overshoot Day", the day on which Switzerland consumes more renewable resources than the earth can reproduce. In other words, we are now living "on credit". There could have been a more symbolic date for this year's Future Leadership Forum with the presentation of the Swiss Ethics Award 2025.
Making ethical behavior in business visible
The Swiss Ethics Award recognizes ethical projects in business. The focus is on outstanding achievements by organizations and companies that assume responsibility in a special way and are committed to sustainable and value-oriented corporate management. According to Werner von Allmen and Ruth Buholzer from the Swiss Excellence Forum, who founded the award in 2005, the aim of the award is to make ethical business practices visible.
This year, a six-member jury headed by Dr. Christoph Weber-Berg, business ethicist and President of the Reformed Church of Aargau, evaluated five projects from different industries. The nominees for the Swiss Ethics Award 2025 were 1001 Organic, E. Schellenberg Textildruck AG, Lonza Group AG, Max Felchlin AG and mymyio GmbH. It was a very close call this time, as Christoph Weber-Berg revealed at the award ceremony. The five projects were able to show that there are many ways to put ethics and sustainability into business practice without having to sacrifice profit. And last but not least, they all make a contribution to delaying Earth Overshoot Day in the future.
Award for Max Felchlin AG
In the end, Max Felchlin AG, a leading supplier of premium chocolate and cocoa products, came out on top. The company was presented with the Swiss Ethics Award 2025 for its "Healthcare in the cocoa origin" project. With this commitment, Felchlin is setting new standards in sustainable and social corporate responsibility and demonstrating in exemplary fashion how ethical action and economic success can be reconciled.
Felchlin's commitment provides cocoa producers and their families with access to basic medical care. Since 2021, targeted initiatives have been launched in Ghana, Ecuador, Venezuela and Madagascar, including the introduction of health insurance, the assumption of treatment costs and the provision of medical resources. Close cooperation with local partners and healthcare facilities is creating sustainable structures that effectively combat poverty and child labor, sustainably improve health and quality of life, increase productivity and income and thus secure the livelihoods of cocoa farmers in the long term.
Decisive contribution to combating poverty
The project addresses a decisive lever for improving the quality of life and securing the livelihoods of people at the beginning of the Felchlin supply chain. Felchlin thus makes a significant contribution to combating poverty in the regions of origin of its raw materials and consistently places the well-being of the people at the center of its actions. The jury particularly appreciated the remarkable scope of the project in view of the size of the company - a clear sign of the seriousness and consistency of the commitment. Felchlin thus provides exemplary proof of how corporate success and social responsibility can go hand in hand. The project is also transferable to other supply chains in countries of the global South and makes Felchlin a role model for companies in a wide range of sectors. These aspects were decisive for the jury in awarding Max Felchlin AG the Swiss Ethics Award 2025.
Further information: Swiss Excellence Forum
