The Hershey Co. has announced it will join the Advisory Council of the newly founded Sustainability Accounting Standards Board as part of Hershey's commitment to reporting on its expanding sustainability practices.

As a member of the Advisory Council, Hershey will help develop reporting standards for the food and beverage industry that will support greater transparency, according to a news release.

The board, a newly formed nonprofit organization, aims to develop and disseminate sustainability accounting standards for 89 industries, which will give investors, companies and stakeholders a comprehensive view of a company's sustainability risks and opportunities, the release states.

"We are committed to being transparent with our stakeholders on a growing range of socially responsible and environmentally sustainable programs and initiatives at The Hershey Company," Todd Camp, the company's director of corporate social responsibility, said in the release. "We support SASB's mission to create industry-specific standards that will increase transparency and ease of comparison across the food and beverage industry. We look forward to collaborating with our peers to help drive enhanced innovation and sustainability across our industry."

Recently, the company announced its 2020 cocoa certification goals, a substantial commitment to addressing cocoa-sustainability issues in the cocoa-supply chain, the release states. Hershey will source 100 percent certified cocoa for its chocolate product lines globally by 2020 and accelerate its sustainability programs in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.