Water and waste

Impact, risk, and opportunity management

We address our water related impacts, risks, and opportunities by taking action to achieve the target in our Sustainability Plan.

Our material impacts, risks, and opportunities

According to our Double Materiality Assessment (DMA), “Water management” and “Resource use and circular economy” are material topics.

In relation to water, we have identified material impacts in our own operations and in the upstream value chain. Lindt & Sprüngli’s own operations directly impact water withdrawal in the countries where we produce chocolate, as each production facility requires a steady supply of potable water for production processes and cleaning. The efficient use of water (by using less water per unit of production volume) and the appropriate handling of wastewater within our production processes are important to reducing or avoiding negative environmental and financial impacts at a local level. Overall, our impact from wastewater on water ecosystems is currently estimated to be low.

In relation to waste (as part of “Resource use and circular economy”), we have identified material impacts and risks mainly in our own operations. Wasting raw materials, semi-finished product, or packaging can have negative impacts on the environment. Reducing waste can help decrease GHG emissions, pollution, and pressure on land and water resources while increasing cost efficiency. The incorrect handling and disposal of waste produced can harbor financial, environmental, and reputational risks. We are currently working on semi-finished product losses in order to reduce those negative environmental impacts and bring financial benefits, such as partially offsetting increasing material prices.

Our related policies and documents

Our Environmental Policy describes the overarching principles of reducing negative impacts our business may have on the environment. The Environmental Policy applies to all manufacturing and distribution subsidiaries of the Lindt & Sprüngli Group.

Water management

We assess our water withdrawal volumes twice a year in all of our production facilities globally and are working to continuously optimize our processes and systems in order to reduce municipal water withdrawal. This includes fixing leaks, finding alternative sources, water recycling, and improving our data quality. Where needed, we install equipment to improve our measurement of water withdrawal. Decisions on capital projects and investments, such as installing new production lines, are required to incorporate estimated water usage and impacts.

Reduction and recycling

Regarding water scarcity, our producing operations do not have a material impact on water availability. This is because only a very small part of our production takes place in water-stressed areas. Nevertheless, we aim to further limit our impact by implementing measures to reduce wastewater generation.

All actions implemented are identified, designed, and tracked locally. Their effectiveness is also assessed at a local level.

Beyond our operating activities

Our priority suppliers are required to adhere to Lindt & Sprüngli’s Supplier Code of Conduct, which outlines the basic requirements for water stewardship. We additionally consider water stewardship in the selection of responsible sourcing standards for relevant raw materials. For example, regarding to the cane sugar we use, the Bonsucro standard (see Responsible sourcing) requires producers to have water stewardship plans and to consider the water risk to, and water rights of, local communities. Through the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program, we also finance the development, improvement, and/or maintenance of water infrastructure in our cocoa bean origin countries to facilitate access to water.

Waste

As far as waste is concerned, we focus mainly on the loss of semi-finished product in our production. In 2024, we carried out an initial analysis of all relevant waste streams across the Group. Based on this analysis, we will review our approach to other types of waste in the coming years. This includes reviewing our internal data reporting to align with regulatory requirements of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and defining a Group-wide strategy to support our approach.

Loss of semi-finished products

In our production processes, we transform cocoa beans and ingredients step by step into chocolate products. The output of each step is the input into the next. We refer to the product before it reaches the final step as a semi-finished product. Our chocolate mass is a semi-finished product as it represents the output of the chocolate manufacturing process step and the input for the molding process. Chocolate mass waste is weighed to show inefficiencies in the production process and to facilitate identification of measures for improvement. There are other operational processes, such as cleaning, where it is more difficult to identify the exact amount of waste loss. In 2024, semi-finished product waste per ton of chocolate produced was reduced through improvement initiatives and roll-out of best practices at our production sites.

Metrics and targets

Compared to the 2019 baseline, the volume of municipal water withdrawn in our production processes per ton of chocolate produced was down –11.4%. Our absolute municipal water withdrawal also decreased. The main drivers for this were decreased production in our Russell Stover facilities and the replacement of two industrial-sized dishwashers in one of the Russell Stover facilities.

Municipal water withdrawal

Water withdrawal per metric ton of chocolate produced (2019 = 100%)

We aim to gain further insights into potential local risks and opportunities with the development and execution of an integrated water roadmap by 2025.