Biodiversity and ecosystems

In our endeavors concerning the protection and conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems, we focus on deforestation in our supply chains. Conserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems is also one of the main objectives of the Farming Program for cocoa.

Impact, risk, and opportunity management

We address our biodiversity impacts, risks and opportunities through our Deforestation Policy and other related documents and by taking actions to achieve the target in our Sustainability Plan.

Our material impacts, risks, and opportunities

According to our Double Materiality Assessment (DMA), “Biodiversity and ecosystems” is a material topic. We have identified material impacts, risks, and opportunities in our own operations as well as the upstream and downstream value chain in relation to this topic.

Lindt & Sprüngli’s primary impact on biodiversity and ecosystems is linked to land use and land-use change associated with the sourcing of raw commodities, including cocoa, palm oil, and packaging materials. In the agriculture sector, land use, and land-use change are primary impact drivers of deforestation, climate change, ecosystem degradation, and biodiversity loss.

A lack of biodiversity and healthily functioning ecosystems can put the production of cocoa and other agricultural ingredients that our business depends on at risk. This can lead to increased commodity prices and supply chain disruption. Stricter regulatory requirements to support the production of deforestation-free food commodities may lead to increasing compliance-related costs. Furthermore, Lindt & Sprüngli production facilities could be located in or near areas of important local biodiversity. This presents a moderate risk of damage potential from production and office facilities.

Addressing our impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems can play a crucial role for our ability to avoid or mitigate the risks in our supply chain. The prevention of agriculture-driven land-use change is one of the main means for us to reach our science-based targets (scope 3) and decarbonization commitments.

Increasing our investments in additional Science-BasedTargets-initiative (SBTi) decarbonization pathways and initiatives designed to support farmers around agroforestry adoption and cocoa production present further opportunities to enable farmers to improve and diversify their income sources.

EU Deforestation Regulation

The reporting year marked an important transition year for the cocoa sector as it prepares for the European Union Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR).

The EUDR mandates traceability for sourcing and control measures to ensure relevant in-scope commodities are sourced deforestation-free and in compliance with local regulations. Lindt & Sprüngli will be required to perform due diligence when sourcing these specific materials destined for EU markets. As part of this process, Lindt & Sprüngli has started the development of governance structures and oversight, the implementation of an in-bound supply chain IT system, and the integration of sourcing data with our manufacturing and downstream supply chain for the handling of our downstream due diligence statement submissions and transfer of relevant information to our customers.

Our related policies and documents

Our Deforestation Policy sets out Lindt & Sprüngli’s aspirations and approach in addressing deforestation in supply chains. It was introduced in 2023 and covers our raw material supply chains for our primary deforestation-linked commodities: cocoa, palm oil, soy, and pulp- and paper-based packaging (see exact scope for each material and governance details in the Deforestation Policy). It relates to the matter “land-use change” specified under ESRS E4 AR4 and addresses physical and transitional risks. The Deforestation Policy applies to our global operations, including our subsidiaries.

We aim to deliver on our commitments for the in-scope materials set out in the Lindt & Sprüngli Deforestation Policy through the implementation of a deforestation due diligence approach that includes:

• Gathering supply chain transparency and traceability information
• Assessing deforestation risks in sourcing origins
• Taking actions to mitigate the risk of deforestation linked to our supply chains, such as sourcing certified volumes, engaging our suppliers, and investing in production landscape initiatives
• Monitoring to detect cases of non-compliance in our supply chains and providing access to our grievance mechanism, the Lindt & Sprüngli Speak Up Line
• Engaging with our suppliers in support of effective remediation where and when cases of non-compliance with our standards have occurred in our supply chain
• Regularly measuring and reporting progress in meeting our commitments

Group Procurement is responsible for guiding the company’s deforestation due diligence strategy, as specified in the Deforestation Policy, driving its implementation and supporting efforts to embed it in our supply chain. The Group Sustainability department oversees the Deforestation Policy, guides appropriate implementation plans and actions in response to deforestation risks, and reviews the performance.

The requirements detailed in the Deforestation Policy include the description of our approach to the following certifications and initiatives: Rainforest Alliance, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, high carbon stock areas, high conservation value areas, ProTerra, and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

We recognize that eliminating deforestation in commodity supply chains cannot be achieved by Lindt & Sprüngli alone. It requires ongoing collaboration within the sector with our suppliers, as well as peers and other stakeholders, to address systemic issues and develop common solutions.

Other relevant documents:

• Supplier Code of Conduct
• Cocoa No-Deforestation & Agroforestry Action Plan

Conserving biodiversity and ecosystems in the cocoa supply chain

The majority of Lindt & Sprüngli’s cocoa beans and cocoa butter is sourced from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, specifically within the ecoregion of the Upper Guinean Forests located in West Africa¹. This ecoregion holds more than 30 Key Biodiversity Areas (for definition, see Glossary) across both countries. In addition to their environmental significance, these forests are a source of cultural heritage and a source of livelihoods to approximately two million cocoa farmers. However, forests in this region face multiple threats, including deforestation from agricultural expansion, timber logging, and the extraction of minerals, fuel wood, and charcoal for energy.

Our approach

As part of our Deforestation Policy, direct suppliers of cocoa must ensure that volumes supplied to Lindt & Sprüngli are either sourced through the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program, or certified under a certification standard approved by Lindt & Sprüngli, e.g., Rainforest Alliance, by the end of 2025.

Since commodity-driven deforestation has been identified as the most significant biodiversity and natural ecosystems risk in our supply chain, addressing these through the Farming Program is one of the program’s main objectives. For more information about our responsible sourcing approach for cocoa, see the Rural development chapter.

The design of the Farming Program is guided by our No-Deforestation & Agroforestry Action Plan for cocoa. This plan describes our actions towards no deforestation and promoting agroforestry, as well as our commitment as part of the Cocoa & Forests Initiative (CFI). The primary objectives of our No-Deforestation & Agroforestry Action Plan for cocoa include:

• No cocoa sourcing from protected areas as per local laws
• No expansion of land for cocoa cultivation into areas defined by the High Carbon Stock Approach or equivalent
• Agroforestry systems for cocoa production
• Supporting community forest protection and restoration

The No-Deforestation & Agroforestry Action Plan applies to all suppliers implementing the Farming Program and it remains an integral part of the program activities, including monitoring, evaluation, and external verification. For more information regarding monitoring and external verification, see Continuously improving our responsible sourcing programs for cocoa based on monitoring and external verification in the Rural development chapter and Risk assessments and satellite monitoring within this chapter.

In 2024, we started to review our climate and biodiversity approach for cocoa and to adapt it to internal and external contextual developments, such as EUDR requirements and our commitment to science-based targets (SBTs).

Partnerships and collective action through multi-stakeholder initiatives

We recognize the importance of partnerships and collective action to address deforestation. We strive to collaborate with multiple partners who are supporting us with the implementation of the program at the farm, community, and landscape level.

Collaboration between governments and the private sector is essential to addressing deforestation challenges beyond the individual supply chain. We are therefore an active member of the Cocoa and Forest Initiative (CFI). The CFI is a public private partnership based on frameworks for action and action plans for the private and public sector. It is focused on Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

For more information on our partnerships, see the Rural development chapter.

Actions and progress

The Farming Program aims to contribute to the conservation of natural resources and ecosystems through a combination of on-farm as well as off-farm activities at the farmer, community, and landscape level. This combined approach is important to address systemic issues like deforestation.

We have defined three core intervention areas in our Cocoa No-Deforestation & Agroforestry Action Plan in alignment with the mitigation hierarchy principles. These principles include activities relating to

• deforestation in the supply chain to work to avoid conversion of forested areas;
• the impacts of existing agriculture through the promotion of agroforestry systems and sustainable farming practices to improve cocoa production while reducing potential negative impacts; and
• forest restoration and conservation focusing on community-managed forests and protected areas near our cocoa sourcing areas. At present, we are not using any biodiversity offsets in our action plan.

Addressing deforestation

Farm mapping, farmer registration process, and traceability

Farm mapping, farmer registration, and establishing traceability from farm to first point of purchasing are the initial steps when suppliers start implementing the Farming Program. As part of the program, all farmers are registered, farm GPS point coordinates are taken, and baseline data about the farm and household is collected. When registering a new farmer, we require at least GPS points of all farm plots under four hectares, as well as GPS polygons of the same plots six months after registration. For farm plots over four hectares, we require GPS polygons before the first cocoa delivery. Once farms are mapped, their boundaries are updated through on-site visits by Farming Program staff if needed. Suppliers are required to make participating farmers aware of local laws and issues related to deforestation. As of 2024, 118,000 farms have been registered in the Farming Program. Around 115,000 of which, representing 97.6%, had been GPS point or polygon mapped with mapping ongoing for the remaining farms.

For more information, see Establishing traceable and transparent supply chains in the Rural development chapter.

Risk assessments and satellite monitoring

Since 2020, we have carried out land-use change assessments using primary data (polygons and GPS points of farm locations) from the farmers in the Farming Program. This analysis of tree-cover loss has enabled us to calculate our carbon footprint from land-use change in our mapped supply chain over the past 20 years.

In 2023, we started using a high-resolution satellite monitoring tool provided by Satelligence to more accurately monitor and detect deforestation within or around the mapped Farming Program farms. This tool provides deforestation detection data, deforestation risk assessments (with transparent and externally audited methodology), and carbon emission quantification as a result of land-use change. We also actively participated in the review and industry alignment of farm plot level risk assessment methods through technical working groups led by the World Cocoa Foundation and Satelligence.

In 2024, we adapted our processes and protocols in preparation for the EUDR. Potentially non-compliant farms, including those that are within a minimum threshold of a protected area boundary or with cases of deforestation, were flagged for suppliers to further verify on the ground.

To keep methods for deforestation monitoring, assessments of land-use change, and carbon emission quantification consistent, we are using Satelligence data from our mapped supply chain in our scope 3 carbon emission monitoring and reporting. For more information on our SBTs, see the Climate chapter.

Supporting resilience of farming households aiming to reduce deforestation risk

Deforestation caused by land-use change for agricultural production is a complex, systemic issue, often with farmer poverty as one of its root causes. With the Farming Program, we aim to increase the overall resilience of farming households by supporting farmers to increase productivity, implementing activities targeting the diversification of household incomes, and improving community infrastructure. For more information on the Farming Program principles and activities, see the Rural development chapter.

Promoting agroforestry systems for cocoa production

We are committed to promoting sustainable farming practices and Climate-Smart agriculture. For cocoa production, this involves supporting farmers in transitioning to agroforestry systems by incorporating different species of shade trees, shrubs, and other complementary food crops into the farms. The objectives of those practices are to diversify farmers’ incomes and promote farms which are more resistant and resilient to climate change, to reduce both agriculture-related carbon emissions and contribute to conservation of biodiversity. The Farming Program supports farmers through training and individual coaching and provides in-kind contributions including seedlings to facilitate agroforestry adoption.

In 2024, suppliers continued to distribute tree seedlings, with an emphasis on species used in locally adapted agroforestry models. We worked with suppliers to improve monitoring measures with the aim of increasing tree seedling survival rates. As a result, we reduced the scale of the seedlings distribution initiatives in 2023 and started to direct more resources into ensuring that farmers are appropriately supported and monitored. To date, 5,032,000 multi-purpose shade trees have been distributed across all Farming Program origins, 552,000 of these in 2024.

With the exception of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, due to national regulations, the agroforestry support has been combined with farm rehabilitation and renovation activities in areas where farmers have old or diseased cocoa trees. In 2024, a total of 366,000 cocoa seedlings were supplied through suppliers. This brought the overall number of cocoa seedlings distributed since the start of the Farming Program to 8,040,000.

As part of our SBTi targets, we developed a decarbonization plan 2030 for cocoa, with new actions aimed at reducing carbon emissions in our cocoa value chain. This plan includes implementing a new agroforestry program which incorporates additional farmer incentives and GHG monitoring, reporting, and verification. In 2024, we laid the groundwork for the first agroforestry pilot projects: Firstly, Earthshot Labs carried out a global remote sensing carbon feasibility assessment with our mapped cocoa farms within the Farming Program. This was followed by agroforestry feasibility studies by Nitidae in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Finally, the first pilot site in Côte d’Ivoire was selected. The project implementation is scheduled to start at the beginning of 2025.

Supporting community forest protection and reforestation

We are an active member of CFI, a multi-stakeholder initiative to address deforestation. Beyond our participation in the CFI, we support collective action at landscape level in three countries: Ghana, Madagascar, and Peru. In 2024, in Ghana, we supported through the Nature Conservation Research Centre the creation and capacity development of landscape governance bodies in two landscapes (Kakum and Juabeso-Bia). We also supported building capacity and the establishment of new income streams for natural resource management groups within the landscape. In Madagascar (Sambirano Valley) and in Peru (San Martin), we provided in-kind funding to two multi-stakeholder projects led by Helvetas (co-funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO). The project in Madagascar focuses on strengthening local management systems and landscape governance.

Outlook

We will continue to work towards deforestation-free supply chains, promote agroforestry systems for cocoa production, as well as engage in key priority landscapes with the aim of protecting and restoring forests and conserving biodiversity.

In 2025, we plan to review our climate and biodiversity approach for on-farm and off-farm actions in the Farming Program. Further, we will start the implementation of our first agroforestry insetting pilot project in Côte d’Ivoire to help achieve our science-based targets.

We will continue to be engaged within the CFI and in other sustainability platforms in the interests of promoting sector-based initiatives that we consider essential for enabling positive change.

Conserving biodiversity and ecosystems in other priority material supply chains

Our Responsible Sourcing Roadmap outlines responsible sourcing criteria for the remaining priority materials. The certifications through which we source our palm oil, soy, and pulp- and paper-based packaging are aligned with our deforestation target. For further details, refer to the Responsible sourcing chapter of this report.

Metrics and targets

In 2024, Lindt & Sprüngli made further progress in implementing the commitments set out in its Deforestation Policy. For more details on progress made in responsible sourcing of our in-scope raw materials, refer to the Responsible sourcing chapter. In light of upcoming regulatory changes, we are updating our methodology for identifying deforestation-free volumes and developing relevant metrics.

¹According to Ecosystem Profile Guinean Forests of West Africa Biodiversity Hotspot.

²The World Cocoa Foundation defines CSC as an approach that aims to mitigate carbon emissions from cocoa agriculture and help farmers to adapt to the negative impact of climate change on cocoa production and to adapt agricultural practices if necessary.