Impact, risk, and opportunity management
We regularly reassess the priorities of our Sustainability Plan to ensure that we focus on the topics that are most critical to our business and the societies, environments, and economies in which we are present.
We annually conduct or update a Double Materiality Assessment (DMA) to identify or reconfirm material topics relevant to Lindt & Sprüngli. A DMA considers both the company’s impact on people and the environment as well as external factors impacting our business. This aligns with the requirements under the Swiss Code of Obligations (Swiss CO) as well as the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), which mandate companies to base their sustainability reporting on the double materiality principle, and is planned to apply to Lindt & Sprüngli upon application of the CSRD.
Double Materiality Assessment
Lindt & Sprüngli conducted its first DMA in line with the ESRS exposure drafts in 2022. In 2024, we updated this DMA. We applied the final version of the ESRS (as published in the Official Journal on December 22, 2023) and further refined the boundaries of the different areas within our value chain with the support of experts within Lindt & Sprüngli. The results of the updated DMA were approved by the Board of Directors in June 2024. The post-2025 sustainability strategy development process will include the definition of metrics as stipulated by the Swiss CO relevant topics. For more information on the relevant topics according to the Swiss CO, see the chapter references in the Swiss Code of Obligations Article 964b disclosure index in the Appendix.
The Lindt & Sprüngli Sustainability Plan will continue to apply until the end of 2025 and forms the basis of the structure of our Sustainability Report 2024. All material topics identified in the DMA have been mapped to the topics defined in the Sustainability Plan. The corresponding DMA topics are stated at the beginning of each chapter.
Our material topics
A topic met the criteria of double materiality if it was material from the impact perspective, the financial perspective, or both. The materiality for most topics assessed in the 2022 DMA remains unchanged in the DMA update conducted in 2024. The material topic “Resource use and circular economy” with impacts and risks of food waste, non-food waste, and resource inflow, was further examined, resulting in a new impact materiality for resource inflow. This led to an increase in the overall materiality of this topic.
Materiality matrix
Click on a pillar to see the relevant material topics
4 Child and forced labor in the supply chain
10 Emissions
1 Company governance
2 Regulatory environment
3 Business ethics and integrity
13 Employee satisfaction and develoment in own operations
15 Equality, diversity and inclusion in own operations
5 Employment and labor relations in the supply chain
7 Employee health, safety and wellbeing in the supply chain
12 Resource use and circular economy
16 Employee health, safety and wellbeing in own operations
17 Product quality and product safety
18 Consumer health and nutrition
9 Biodiversity and ecosystems
0 Agricultural practices
0 Animal welfare
0 Energy consumption
0 Privacy at work
0 Employee satisfaction and development in supply chain
0 Sustainable finance, technology and innovation
6 Engaging with affected communities
8 Equality, diversity and inclusion in the supply chain
11 Water management
14 Employment and labor relations in own operations
Financial materiality (Environmental and social risks and opportunities for the company)
Not material
Significant
Critical
Impact materiality (impact of business activities on people and the environment)
Not material
Important
Significant
Critical
Information on our material topics can be found in the following chapter:
Our Double Materiality Assessment process
Lindt & Sprüngli followed a five-step approach to determine its material topics and integrate them into its reporting and corporate strategy.
Identification of impacts, risks, and opportunities
The identification of impacts, risks and opportunities (IROs) started with a longlist of topics identified through desk research from internal and external resources, amongst others, internationally recognized reporting standards like the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), news and academic articles, peer publications, legal regulations, rating agencies, previous Lindt & Sprüngli sustainability reports, and Lindt & Sprüngli’s risk management process. All IROs were classified either as positive, negative, actual, or potential, and linked with specific part(s) of the value chain (upstream, downstream, or direct operations). The assessment included impacts that were caused by, or contributed or directly linked to, Lindt & Sprüngli’s own operations as well as its business relationships.
Process of the impact, risk, opportunity and materiality assessment
The process for assessing the IROs was divided into two steps: the assessment of impacts and the assessment of risks and opportunities. Stakeholders were involved in both steps to assess the scale, scope, and, if applicable, irremediability.
Key considerations in the selection of the involved stakeholders were the representativeness, topic expertise, and the feasibility of the engagement. Stakeholders included in the DMA process were civil organizations and NGOs, industry associations, internal stakeholders (Group Management and department heads), investors/brokers, retailers/distributors/customers, suppliers, and works councils (as representatives of employees).
Process for the assessment of the impacts
Representatives of all relevant stakeholder groups were asked to assess the scale, scope, and irremediable character of each impact, as well as the relevance for each part of the value chain. For every impact, the weighted average of scale, scope, and (ir)remediability was calculated based on the importance of each stakeholder. The preliminary impact materiality scores of the topics were determined based on the highest score of the underlying impacts. Matters with an impact score higher than our defined threshold were considered material and therefore prioritized. The results were presented to the Sustainability Leadership Team and Executive Sustainability Committee of Lindt & Sprüngli which took the final decision on the rating of each impact-related sustainability matter. Finally, the overall outcome of the assessment was validated by the Executive Sustainability Committee and approved by the Board of Directors.
Process for the assessment of risks and opportunities
For each actual and potential financial risk and opportunity, selected internal stakeholders assessed how it could affect the continuation of use of resources and the reliance on relationships. In addition, every stakeholder determined which stage of the value chain the matter was relevant to.
For the assessment of the continuation of use of resources, Lindt & Sprüngli considered pricing and margins, the market for the resource and available supply, the degradation and remaining useful life of the resources, the possibility, and the cost of maintaining or recreating, as well as policy/regulatory constraints. For the assessment on the continuation of relationships, Lindt & Sprüngli considered financial institutions and providers of financial capital, the supply chain, customers, external stakeholders, and broader society/communities.
For each risk and opportunity, the average of all stakeholder scores for “reliance on relationships” and “continuation of use of resources,” respectively, was calculated. To consolidate the scores, the higher score of “reliance on relationships” or “continuation of use of resources” was multiplied with the likelihood of each matter. A matter was considered material and therefore prioritized if its score was above our defined threshold. The results were then presented to the Sustainability Leadership Team and Executive Sustainability Committee, which made the final decision over the rating of each risk- and opportunity-related sustainability matter. Together with the findings from the impact assessment, the overall outcome of the financial assessment was validated by the Executive Sustainability Committee and approved by the Board of Directors.