Scope of action: Environment
Preserving and enhancing ecosystems.
Strategic goals
Greenhouse gas emissions
We reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our business operations.
Biodivesity
We increase biodiversity at the company site and in the supply chain.
Emissions at our production site in Herford
We are aware that our chocolate production is an energy-intensive process and contributes to the greenhouse gas effect. With the help of our environmental and energy management (more information here), we endeavour to develop technical solutions to bring about improvements to protect the environment.
Offsetting through climate protection projects
The background to our compensation approach is the concept of climate justice. The Global South contributes the least to man-made climate change, but is the most affected by the effects of climate change and also has the least resources to protect itself from the negative effects. Due to our high cocoa sourcing from West Africa, we believe we have a responsibility to invest in climate protection projects in this region in particular. We made our 2022 climate contribution to the "Efficient cooking stoves in Nigeria" project, which is managed by the independent, non-profit climate protection organisation atmosfair. The amount represents the equivalent of our site emissions from 2022, including a 10% safety margin. The project produces efficient cooking stoves on site that use around 80% less wood than traditional stoves. This is resulting in decreasing deforestation in the country and on a health level cauces lung-damaging smoke vapours inhaled whilst cooking.
In our opinion, to fulfil our climate protection responsibilities, in the future it will no longer be enough to merely offset our emissions. For this reason we are currently devising new concepts for modiying our “offset payments” per tonne of CO₂e towards a more effective reduction of emissions at our company site or within our supply chains.
Emissions in our supply chain
Having primarily included the greenhouse gas emissions generated by production at the Herford site in our analyses in the past, we are now focusing more on the transparency of emissions in our supply chains in future. This is because most of the emissions from a chocolate bar are generated in the upstream supply chain, so we have great potential for positive change here in particular. So far, it is still challenging to determine the actual emissions, as we are mainly reliant on information from databases. In future, we will endeavour to work more closely with our suppliers and research institutes in this area.
Biodiversity
Protecting and restoring healthy soils and intact ecosystems is crucial to shaping a sustainable future. Native plants in particular make a valuable contribution to preserving biodiversity. In close cooperation with NABU (Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union) Herford, we have developed effective measures to make the green spaces at the company site flora and fauna-friendly. Instead of frequent mowing, we are focussing on a reduced maintenance cycle by only mowing the green areas on our company premises twice a year. This creates space for a natural diversity of plants and animals.
Our supply chains harbour our greatest potential for exerting a positive influence and promoting the ecologically sustainable cultivation of agricultural commodities: Diversified farms, the reduction of pesticide use through the use of organic farming methods and the integration of agroforestry systems (combining trees and shrubs with agricultural raw materials) are decisive measures.
You can find more information on the topics from the environment scope of action in our sustainability report.
Back to the sustainability strategy.