Frequently Asked
Questions
FAQ
Lindt & Sprüngli is one of the few chocolate manufacturers adopting a bean to bar approach, which allows us to oversee the entire production process.
It all starts with purchasing cocoa beans through our own sustainability program, the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program, continues with producing the cocoa mass in our own production facilities, and extends to processing the chocolate and ultimately marketing and distributing the quality products. The cocoa used is decisive for the quality and taste of the chocolate, which is why Lindt & Sprüngli has such high standards for raw materials used and processing start as early as with the cocoa.
An exception is our subsidiary Russell Stover which buys chocolate and chocolate products.
Visit this page to find out more about the steps in Lindt & Sprüngli’s chocolate production.
The Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program was launched in 2008 in Ghana. We have since expanded it to all six of our cocoa bean sourcing origins: Ghana, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, and Peru. With the extension of the Program to cocoa butter in 2021, the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program also includes the sourcing origin Côte d’Ivoire. In 2022, the Program was further expanded to cocoa powder. By 2025, we aim to source all cocoa products (beans, butter, powder, and chocolate mass) through our Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program or other sustainability programs.
Through the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program, we aim to contribute to creating decent and resilient livelihoods for cocoa farmers and their families and to encourage more sustainable farming practices.
Find out more about this in our latest Sustainability report.
In 2023, we invested almost CHF 30 million in cocoa sustainability, of which CHF 26.8 million was paid to cocoa suppliers for operating cocoa sustainability programs, mainly our Farming Program.
Yes, the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program, is in place in all countries we source cocoa beans from (Ghana, Ecuador, Madagascar, Dominican Republic, Papua New Guinea, and Peru). With the extension of the Farming Program to cocoa butter in 2021, the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program also includes Côte d’Ivoire as a sourcing origin.
Currently, the following Lindt & Sprüngli brands use cocoa beans sourced through our sustainability program, the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program: Lindt, Caffarel, Ghirardelli, Küfferle and Hofbauer.
Our main cocoa commitment: We aim to source 100% of cocoa products – beans, butter, powder, and chocolate mass – through the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program or other sustainability programs by 2025..
An important milestone was already reached: Since 2020, 100% of our cocoa beans have been sourced through the Farming Program. In 2023, a total of 68.2% of cocoa bean equivalents (beans, butter, powder, and chocolate mass) were sourced through our Farming Program.
See all of Lindt & Sprüngli's commitments in regard to sustainability here.
Cocoa is the heart of our chocolates. Knowing which of the many different origins of cocoa beans will best contribute to the distinctive taste of a product is a skill that we have perfected over time.
A fundamental distinction is made between consumer and fine flavor cocoa. Consumer cocoa is cocoa with a robust flavor. It accounts for the largest share (90-95%) of total global cocoa production and is farmed mainly in West Africa. Lindt & Sprüngli uses Forastero beans (consumer cocoa), exclusively from Ghana.
The remaining 5-10% of worldwide cocoa harvests are fine flavor cocoa. Fine flavor cocoa is a high-quality cocoa with nuanced, fine aroma. It is mainly farmed in Latin America and the Caribbean. Lindt & Sprüngli uses fine flavor cocoa beans (Criollo and Trinitario) from Ecuador, Madagascar, Dominican Republic, Papua New Guinea and Peru.
The Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program, is in place in all countries we source cocoa beans from. Since 2020, 100% of our cocoa beans have been sourced through our Farming Program.
Since the introduction of our Farming Program in 2008, physical traceability of cocoa has been the starting point of our responsible cocoa supply chain. Traceability is a key principle of our cocoa sourcing strategy. We aim to achieve first mile traceability for 100% of cocoa products – beans, butter, powder, and chocolate mass – by 2025.
Read more on our traceability approach here.
Lindt & Sprüngli shares the goals of the industry, governmental and non-governmental organizations (such as World Cocoa Foundation, Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, etc.) for sustainable cocoa production. Where meaningful and possible, we work with them as partners.
For cocoa butter for example, we are currently in the process of transitioning different sustainability programs to Rainforest Alliance certification. However, certification is not intended to replace our Program, but serves as a basis and external verification scheme.
We have decided to implement our own cocoa sustainability program for the following reasons:
- The Program allows us to have a better overview of the different cocoa supply chain steps and target our investments based on the needs identified.
- Our sourcing model targets our entire cocoa supply and is not limited to individual products or product groups.
- Farmers, their families and communities are at the center of our efforts. That is why we want to ensure that they benefit directly from our financial support wherever possible.
While we source some Rainforest Alliance certified volumes, we do not offer finished products with third-party certifications. An exception is Russell Stover, which buys chocolate as well as chocolate products and includes Fairtrade certified products (Russell Stover Joy Bites).
Based on a comprehensive risk assessment, we defined twelve priority materials we want to source or start sourcing responsibly by 2025. Our Responsible Sourcing Roadmap includes almonds, cocoa, coconut oil, coffee, dairy, eggs (own production), Turkish hazelnuts, palm oil, pulp- and paper-based packaging materials, soy lecithin, raw sugar (cane and beet), and vanilla.
Over the past few years, we have made significant progress on advancing the sustainability of our supply chain. We have introduced responsible sourcing standards for eight materials, including hazelnuts, eggs, soy lecithin and palm oil/palm kernel oil. We purchase our palm oil RSPO-certified; for soy, we rely on the ProTerra standard; and we have introduced other certifications, such as Rainforest Alliance for vanilla or FSC for packaging materials. In 2020, we also reached our milestone target of sourcing 100% of our cocoa beans through the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program or other sustainability programs. We will define a responsible sourcing approach for the remaining materials, allowing us to gradually reach our overall responsible sourcing goal by 2025.
While sustainability programs and third-party sustainability certifications represent enhanced approaches compared to conventional material sourcing, we recognize that further efforts are needed from various stakeholders to resolve the underlying causes of the many social and environmental topics of potential concern. For cocoa, our most important raw material, we have chosen to operate our own program, but in 2023 we also sourced the first volumes of our cocoa powder through Rainforest Alliance certification.
Chocolate mass and cocoa powder will be sourced with a minimum of Rainforest Alliance “mass balance” certification, as will all cocoa butter not covered by the Farming Program. Once all our subsidiaries hold the Rainforest Alliance certification, we will switch to this new minimum requirement. However, where long-term agreements are in place and our Program is being implemented, certification is not intended to replace our Program, but serves as a basis and external verification scheme.
Lindt & Sprüngli decided to build up its own sustainability program for cocoa, the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program, mainly for the following reasons:
- Our direct involvement and overview enables strategic supplier engagement and capacity building, flexibility to adapt the Program to local needs and contexts, and insights and learning to inform continuous improvement.
- Our sourcing model targets all our cocoa and is not limited to single end-consumer products or product groups.
- The farmers, their families and the communities are a focus of our efforts. We want to ensure that wherever feasible they benefit directly from our financial support.
Our Farming Program builds on the principle of continuous improvement. Our monitoring and evaluation approach is based on multiple complementary elements including monitoring of outputs, a review of Program quality and verification of Program implementation, and periodic impact assessments. We assess these elements related to both the farm and implementation partner, and carry out checks to verify traceability documents.
We publish our progress annually. All of our cocoa sourcing under our Farming Program and other sustainability programs is subject to external verification annually by an independent third-party. For cocoa beans, external verification is conducted by the Earthworm Foundation. For cocoa butter, we are currently in the process of transitioning different sustainability programs to Rainforest Alliance certification. Where long-term agreements are in place and our Program is being implemented, certification is not intended to replace our Program, but serves as a basis and external verification scheme.
We print the logo of the Farming Program including a link to this website on many of our products (except white chocolate products) and are integrating this continuously. This allows interested consumers to learn more about our Program and our efforts aimed at increasing the resilience of farming households.
The cocoa sector faces a multitude of challenges related to human rights and environmental protection, such as child labor, deforestation, and persistent low incomes and poverty among cocoa farmers. We are committed to advancing effective solutions and strengthening our own contributions to address these issues and by partnering with relevant stakeholders.
Through the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program, we aim to create decent and resilient livelihoods for cocoa farmers and their families and to encourage more sustainable farming practices.
We take a holistic approach to increasing farming household incomes. We are addressing this through a combination of measures, with the aim of improving the income situation overall, being aware that poverty among cocoa households is one of the underlying root causes of the cocoa sector’s sustainability challenges. Such measures include, for example, increasing cocoa productivity and profitability, cash and in-kind premiums for farmers, income diversification, access to finance, community development and infrastructure investments, and women’s empowerment.
In 2023, we invested approximately CHF30 million in cocoa sustainability programs and 131’000 farmers in seven origin countries participate in the Farming Program.
We support the efforts of the governments in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana to improve livelihoods of cocoa farmers with a Living Income Differential (LID) of USD 400 per ton. We have purchased our cocoa from Ghana and Côte d’ Ivoire with LID pricing since its introduction and will continue to do so.
We recognize that the price of cocoa is an important element to a sustainable cocoa sector. The price of cocoa that we pay is determined by the market price.
In addition to paying the market price and the LID, Lindt & Sprüngli invests in its own cocoa sustainability program, the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program. Through our suppliers, we provide cash or in-kind premiums to farmers in the Program as part of our cocoa sustainability investments. In 2023, we invested more than CHF30 million in cocoa sustainability, of which CHF26.8 million was paid to cocoa suppliers for operating cocoa sustainability programs.
Lindt & Sprüngli strongly condemns all forms of child labor. At Lindt & Sprüngli, tackling child labor is a priority and we are firmly committed to avoiding it whenever possible. Child labor in cocoa is a systemic issue rooted in poverty, lack of awareness, a shortage of adult labor, and poor infrastructure such as an absence of educational facilities in cocoa-producing villages. We are aware that we do not have all the answers on how to prevent abuses of children’s rights in our supply chains. We are however fully engaged in working to continuously enhance the effectiveness of our systems in order to address this risk in our cocoa supply chain and beyond.
We are addressing this through a combination of measures, with the aim of improving the income situation overall, recognizing that poverty among cocoa households is one of the underlying root causes of the cocoa sector’s sustainability challenges including child labor. .
We are convinced that addressing child labor in the cocoa sector effectively starts with having clearly defined processes and good management systems in place. We therefore developed a CLMRS Guidance Document for suppliers implementing the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program. The document was launched in 2021 and describes more specifically our expectations of, and proposed approach to, the prevention, monitoring, and remediation of child labor. Since the start of the implementation in 2022, supplier awareness has been increased through training and capacity building of field staff. Furthermore, the risk assessment required as part of the CLMRS enabled unannounced visits to target high-risk households. As a result, we have observed better identification of child labor risks and respective remediation actions. This demonstrates the enhanced effectiveness of the system adopted by suppliers. The more efficient and effective our identification system, the better we can work with suppliers on remediation and prevention.
To strengthen our collective action on child labor prevention, we joined the Child Learning and Education Facility (CLEF), a partnership between the Ivorian government, cocoa and chocolate industry companies, and philanthropic partners aiming to tackle the root causes of child labor and improve the quality of education through a systemic approach in Côte d’Ivoire. Joining CLEF includes a financial commitment to invest 1.25 million CHF into the initiative.
For more information, see our latest Sustainability Report.
Lindt & Sprüngli monitors its raw materials through extensive laboratory testing of cocoa beans to detect possible residues of more than 570 different types of pesticides. As part of the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program, our supplier provides training to the farmers, to encourage more sustainable farming practices. These practices have the aim to reduce the need for pesticides in cocoa production and control pests using natural methods. Additionally, farmers are educated about the correct application of inputs. As part of our cocoa sustainability investments, farmers receive solely organic inputs for their cocoa plantations.
Cocoa cultivation has a high risk of biodiversity loss through deforestation or harmful farming practices. Conserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems is one of the Farming Program’s main objectives.
Our aim is for no deforestation in cocoa with a target date of December 31, 2025, and to work towards the elimination of deforestation in our other key deforestation linked supply chains (palm oil, soy, and paper and pulp-based packaging). To address deforestation in our Farming Program, we have defined three core intervention areas in our Cocoa No-Deforestation & Agroforestry Action Plan. These include activities to address deforestation in the supply chain, promote agroforestry systems for cocoa, and support community forest conservation and restoration.
The primary objectives of our 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 (HCS) Approach or equivalent
- Agroforestry systems for cocoa production
- Supporting community forest protection and restoration
Additionally, we support agroforestry systems for cocoa and forest conservation and restoration.
For more Information, our “No-Deforestation & Agroforestry Action Plan” and annual progress can be found here.
Lindt & Sprüngli has analyzed the scope of its procurement of raw materials and set responsible sourcing targets for twelve priority raw materials (including cocoa). More information on the progress towards our targets can be found in our latest Sustainability Report.
In 2023, we invested a total of CHF30 million in cocoa sustainability, of which CHF 26.8 million was paid to cocoa suppliers for operating cocoa sustainability programs, mainly our Farming Program. Sustainability program costs include operations costs for staff, equipment, farm investments, community development and volume based cash- and in-kind premiums for farmers and farmer groups. These investments are made in addition to the market price and the Living Income Differential (LID) of USD 400 per ton, which was introduced by the governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. The Lindt Cocoa Foundation contributes an additional CHF 2–3 million annually in investments for farmers and communities in line with its mission to achieve social and ecological sustainability in the cultivation and processing of cocoa products used in chocolate production. In one supply chain in Ghana, the Farming Program is additionally co-funded by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs in Switzerland (SECO) with a payment pf CHF 100,000 in the reporting year (SECO fact sheet).
We invest in other third-party projects beyond our Farming Program.
Our total greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1, 2 and 3) reached 3.7 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent in 2023. Our footprint was externally audited by a third party and achieved limited assurance. Emissions from our value chain (Scope 3) represent about 96% of our carbon footprint: cocoa (including the impacts from land use change such as deforestation), other raw materials (such as dairy), transport, and packaging being the biggest contributors. To reduce our carbon emissions, we have committed to science-based targets.
See more information in our latest Sustainability Report.