For its 18th year, the Pastry World Cup accompanies and encourages changes in the sector, facing current ecological and societal issues. For 2023, the World Cup theme for its candidates is "climate change."

The grand finale, taking place January 20–21, 2023 in Lyon, France, will allow the 20 selected international teams to present their know-how, creativity, and culture around this theme.

The Pastry World Cup makes it a point of honor to promote a more sustainable, responsible, and environmentally friendly pastry. This approach is reflected in the ban on using additives and coloring agents in all tests; the choice of raw materials selected from partners who are concerned about controlling their origins and production methods; and also by the evaluation during the competition of the consistency between the weighing and the recipes sent by the teams. Waste sorting is mandatory and all the products processed and used during the two days of competition will be donated to associations.

The teams must, as soon as they start training, implement concrete actions and communicate them to the International Organizing Committee (I.O.C.) which will then award one of them the eco-responsible prize.

“The world pastry industry is at a crossroads. It has arguably never been more attentive about taste than it is about appearances," said Pierre Hermé, president, Pastry World Cup. "To successfully navigate this change of era and paradigm—and at the exact same instant when confectionery is reaching the height of popularity on social networks and prime time TV shows—the Pastry World Cup needed to embrace a more socially and environmentally responsible approach,"

The candidate tests for 2023 include:

• An ice-cream maker – have 10 hours to create the 42 tasting desserts and 3 artistic pieces before presenting them to a discerning jury
  • 3 whole desserts to share with Pure Origin Valrhona chocolates + 1 dummy.
  • 3 frozen desserts with Capfruit fruit puree + 1 dummy.
  • 26 frozen lollipops (new test introduced in 2022) + 10 dummies, for which the only constraint is to stay within the finger food concept so that they can be eaten in a single bite.
  • 10 restaurant style desserts (new test introduced for the 2021 Finale) including Debic dairy products.
  • 1 chocolate artistic piece, 165 cm base included.
  • 1 sugar artistic piece, 165 cm base included.
  • 1 sculpted water ice creation, 50 cm base included (same as the 2022 edition, but with a new twist).