ESG-Engagement bei TBF
Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG
Im Rahmen unserer ESG-Analyse ergaben sich Fragen, die wir im März 2021 in einer Mail an das Unternehmen stellten. Der Corporate Sustainability Manager von Lindt & Sprüngli AG beantwortet unsere Fragen schriftlich in einer Mail am 25.03.2021 wie folgt:
Im Oktober 2020 wurde Lindt &Sprüngli lt. Medienberichten von der gemeinnützigen Organisation Green Amerika kritisiert, nicht genug gegen Kinderarbeit entlang der Lieferkette zu tun.
Das widerspricht Ihrer eigenen Darstellung. Uns interessiert, ob die Überprüfung der Lieferkette, insbesondere im Hinblick auf Kinderarbeit, auch während der Corona Pandemie gewährleistet wird, wie geprüft wird und wer prüft?
Lindt & Sprüngli strongly condemns all forms of child labor. We have therefore stepped up our activities in the fight against child labor to work towards ensuring that our cocoa production is free of child labor. The basis of our efforts towards ensuring that our cocoa production is free of child labor is the traceability of cocoa beans, which we ensure through the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program in all five of our sourcing countries. The goal of the Program is to create decent and resilient livelihoods for today’s and future cocoa farmers and their families, and a sustainable intensification
of agriculture. The Farming Program remained active during the Covid-19 pandemic, although certain Program activities were adapted, like shifting from group trainings to farmer coaching or providing remote support for farmers through digital means or hotlines.
All the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program farms are covered by our Child Labor Monitoring & Remediation System (CLMRS) which includes training and awareness raising for farmers as well as monitoring and elimination of child labor. This includes a combination of unannounced, risk-based visits focused on child labor on and off farms with annual internal monitoring visits on farms performed by the local implementing partner.
In order to ensure the Program’s effectiveness and provide verification, a structured internal and external program evaluation is carried out annually. The external assessor, Earthworm Foundation (www.earthworm.org), visits and assesses each Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program minimum once a year. The progress is published on their website on a regular basis. Based on the data gathered and recommendations, remedial measures are introduced if necessary. Updates and 2020 progress on the Farming Program will be reported in our forthcoming Sustainability Report in May. Earthworm’s assessment will also be available later this year.
Ethylenoxid im Sesam:
Wie häufig wird Sesam auf Pestizidbelastung kontrolliert und kann eine Belastung der Produkte nach dem Rückruf ausgeschlossen werden?
General Approach on monitoring:
Lindt & Sprüngli checks goods on pesticides, as well as other contaminants, on a risk basis when they are received. The monitoring plan is thus dynamic and is continuously evaluated and, if necessary, adjusted through a variety of information sources. Results from incoming goods, supplier evaluation, audits, literature sources, but also the continuous and systematic monitoring of global rapid alert systems are just a few examples of our measures. Additionally, we try to focus on preventive measure wherever possible. One example is the training of our farmers in the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming
Program, who receive special trainings on the use of inputs and creation of organic plant protections.
Special actions taken for ethylene oxide:
With regards to ethylene oxides, Lindt & Sprüngli took comprehensive measures to prevent contaminated sesame form entering our supply chain. We immediately stopped production after learning of the unauthorized use of ethylene oxide in the origin, blocked all products and initiated the recall. In parallel, we initiated upstream traceability with our supplier to find the cause. In order to prevent another deviation, Lindt & Sprüngli temporarily blocked sesame from India, stepped up the monitoring activities and analytics at our supplier, as well as adjusting and strengthening the analytical
verification program at the incoming goods department.
Was plant Lindt & Sprüngli um den Wasserverbrauch entlang der Lieferkette weiter zu reduzieren?
As part of the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program we are taking initial steps to further extend our water commitment into our supply chain. Our activities are centered around sustainable water management and the protection of cocoa farms, but also focus on finding solutions for improving access to clean drinking water. Over the coming years, our approach will increasingly focus on environmental topics, in particular environmentally friendly agricultural practices, agroforestry and no-deforestation, as well as improved protection of water resources and water management.
Wird die Managementvergütung an die Erreichung bestimmter ESG Ziele geknüpft? Falls nicht, warum nicht?
The realization of short-term performance-based compensation is tied to the achievement of clearly defined targets–on the one hand corporate financial targets, and on the other hand individual, qualitative targets for the respective financial year. For the CEO and the members of Group Management, the target achievement degree largely depends on the achievement of corporate financial targets for the financial year (65%) and to a smaller extend, on the achievement of annual personal qualitative targets (35%), which are set by the CNC at its discretion.
For those members of Group Management who have responsibility on regional or country level, respectively, financial targets on regional or country level, respectively, are also taken into account, along with Group targets. Non-financial targets depend on the individual function and refer to the implementation of the strategy and to defined leadership and conduct criteria, including promotion of Environment Social Governance (ESG) and Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) efforts.
Additional details on compensation are available in the Compensation Report section of the Annual Report (pages 51 - 62).
Beurteilung der Antwort durch TBF
Lindt & Sprüngli AG engagiert sich über das Farming Program für die Vermeidung von Kinderarbeit und bessere Bedingungen entlang der Lieferkette. Das Engagement ist zu begrüßen, der Erfolg hinsichtlich der Vermeidung von Kinderarbeit wird weiter beobachtet.
Im Unternehmen bemüht sich Lindt & Sprüngli den Wasserverbrauch zu optimieren, entlang der Lieferkette ist dagegen weiteres Engagement notwendig. Hier gibt es erste positive Ansätze. Eine Umsetzung werden wir weiter überprüfen.
Der Verwaltungsrat von Lindt & Sprüngli ist aufgrund der hohen Anzahl langjähriger Verwaltungsratsmitglieder und des Fehlens einer unabhängigen Mehrheit im Verwaltungsrat möglicherweise in der unabhängigen Überwachung eingeschränkt. Ob ESG-Ziele im Rahmen der Vergütung in der Zukunft Beachtung finden, bleibt abzuwarten.