This company uses Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa in its chocolate for Magnum ice cream products. However this only represents a fraction of this company's total sales. Rainforest Alliance certification has been dubbed 'Fairtrade light' by critics, as it offers producers no minimum price for their crop.

This company has sustainability claims on its website under the headings Climate, Responsible Sourcing, Packaging, Social Strategy, and Nutrition and Responsible Marketing.

In 2025 Ben & Jerry's co-founder Jerry Greenfield left the ice cream brand after 47 years, saying that the independence it once had to speak up on social issues has been stifled by parent company Unilever. When Unilever spun off its ice cream business including Ben & Jerry's into a stand-alone company called The Magnum Ice Cream Company, Ben & Jerry's founders renewed their push for Ben & Jerry's to be allowed to become an independently owned company again, saying in a letter to Magnum's board that they don't believe the brand should be part of a corporation that doesn't support its founding mission. However Magnum CEO said "The business is not for sale. It's fully integrated in Unilever, in the Magnum Ice Cream Company." Unilever and Ben & Jerry's have been at odds since at least 2021 when the ice cream maker said it would stop selling in the Israel-occupied West Bank.