Chocolate is about to become greener after 12 of the world’s biggest cocoa manufacturers and confectioners came together with the Prince of Wales to end deforestation.

Companies including Mars, Nestle and Ferrero have promised to come up with a plan by November to prevent cocoa growers clearing vast swathes of forest to grow crops.

Cocoa production has largely escaped the criticism levelled at industries like palm oil and beef over forest clearance, but recent reports suggest that it is also contributing to the destruction of rainforest particularly in Ivory Coast and Ghana.

The environmental group Mighty Earth has warned that chocolate ‘is killing west African forests on a massive scale.’