The ongoing extensive biodiversity loss threatens natural diversity and human existence. To prevent the emergence of biodiversity loss in different production chains, it’s crucial to identify the ways that production chains impact this loss. This bachelor’s thesis studies what the drivers of biodiversity loss are and examines how milk chocolate’s production chain is connected to these. It is relevant to study milk chocolate’s production chain due to the big chocolate market.

The research revealed that the five drivers of biodiversity loss are chemical pollution, habitat loss, exploitation of species, invasive species, and climate change. The study successfully identified the connection of milk chocolate’s production chain to habitat loss, chemical pollution, and climate change through its environmental impacts. Milk chocolate’s production chain also indirectly connects to invasive species and habitat loss through climate change. The study also identified a possibility of the spread of invasive species in milk chocolate’s production chain. The most significant impacts on biodiversity loss within the production chain of milk chocolate are due to cocoa bean cultivation and milk powder production. The results of this study can be used to recognize and apply ways to prevent biodiversity loss in chocolate’s production chain or in similar production chains. The need for further research on the environmental impacts of milk chocolate’s production chain and its connections to biodiversity loss was noticed in this study. In addition, there’s a need for studies where the effects of milk chocolate’s production chain on biodiversity loss would be quantified.