2023 Sustainable Development Report

• The Chocolate Museum
• Conversion measures
• Commitment to sustainability
• Education for sustainable development (ESD)
• Our awards
• Our partners
• Appendix

Dear friends of the Chocolate Museum,

We are delighted to present the Sustainable Development Report for 2023. It was an eventful year full of challenges, but also full of successes. Despite the global instability that continues to be characterized by the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and its worldwide consequences, tourism activities in Cologne have increased significantly. We are particularly proud of the fact that the Chocolate Museum set a new visitor record of 665,000 guests. This success shows us that our commitment to sustainable development and education is reaching a wide audience.

With regard to the future of the Chocolate Museum, we are not only investing in our infrastructure, but also in the expansion of our permanent exhibition. The comprehensive redesign, which will be completed by mid-2025, is a key part of our efforts to establish the Chocolate Museum as an innovative educational venue that conveys both knowledge and emotions. In March 2023, the new exhibition area "World Cocoa Journey" was opened. It provides vivid information about the global supply chains of cocoa, the environmental and social challenges and possible solutions for achieving sustainable development in the cocoa sector.

We invite you to read our Sustainability Report 2023 and look forward to your feedback and suggestions.

Cologne, 2023

Yours sincerely,

Annette Imhoff and Dr. Christian Unterberg-Imhoff

Since its opening in 1993, the Chocolate Museum in Cologne has been a unique place dedicated to the history and culture of cocoa and chocolate. For over 30 years, the museum has delighted visitors with its extensive exhibition, which brings the entire process—from the cocoa harvest through processing to the final product, chocolate—to life in a vivid and interactive way. No other museum in the world offers such a comprehensive collection and presentation of the history of cocoa and chocolate.

The journey our visitors embark on here begins with the ancient cultures of Central and South America, where cacao was considered a sacred plant, and ends in the present day, when chocolate has become a globally popular industrial product. Our exhibition not only showcases the production of chocolate but also highlights the impact of cacao cultivation on the living conditions of people in the producing countries.

Of particular note is our permanent exhibition “The Global Journey of Cocoa,” newly opened in 2023, which is dedicated to the cultivation, harvesting, transportation, and processing of cocoa. The exhibition highlights global supply chains and addresses challenges such as child labor, poverty, and environmental degradation. At the same time, we present potential solutions through sustainable farming methods, livelihood-sustaining incomes for cocoa farmers, and the positive impact of transparent supply chains on global trade.

Guided tours such as “100% Chocolate,” “Unraveling the Mystery of Chocolate,” and “Sustainable and Fair—Chocolate and Cocoa!” give our visitors the opportunity to delve deeper into the world of chocolate. With delicious tastings and numerous interactive elements, we create a special connection between enjoyment and knowledge. Our goal is to show visitors that behind the sweet temptation of chocolate lies a complex, often challenging reality that intertwines social, environmental, and economic aspects. In 2023, approximately 75,000 visitors took part in a total of 3,100 museum tours. 

The renovation work at the Chocolate Museum, which will begin in 2022 and 2023 and continue until mid-2025, is a key part of our long-term vision to establish the museum as a leading educational venue. We have set ourselves the goal of presenting the topics surrounding cocoa and chocolate in a way that is not only vivid but also future-oriented.

A central component of this redesign is the "World Tour of Cocoa". Here, the entire journey of cocoa, from bean to chocolate, is presented in a multimedia and interactive way. It is particularly important to us to convey the complex interrelationships of the cocoa trade and cocoa cultivation to visitors in an understandable way. Topics such as the living conditions of cocoa farmers, the ecological challenges of cocoa cultivation and the influence of consumer decisions on global supply chains are covered in detail here.

State-of-the-art educational concepts and technologies are used to present these topics in an understandable and impressive way. A special focus is placed on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, which run as a common thread through the entire exhibition. Visitors can use interactive stations to find out how sustainable development can be implemented in their everyday lives and what role they themselves can play in the global context.

In addition, the themed room "How sustainable development can succeed" will focus on the realities of visitors' lives. Here, concrete measures for contributing to the sustainable development of our society are presented, for example by making conscious purchasing decisions, supporting fair trade products or reducing one's own carbon footprint. Sustainable development only works if this transfer to society is successful. We want to make our contribution to this.

In order to also do justice to the historical perspective and show which developments are still noticeable today, the new permanent exhibition "Time travel of cocoa" will be created by mid-2025. This exhibition begins with the first verifiable use of cocoa in South America and follows the history of cocoa through to industrialization. An important didactic approach of the new exhibition is to causally link past and present and to show that the cocoa trade is also part of the colonial history of subjugation and exploitation. The new exhibition takes a look at the subjugation of American cultures as well as the transatlantic slave trade, which was intended to supply sugar and cocoa plantations with cheap labor.

The heyday of European imperialism began at the same time as industrialization. Our main cocoa-growing regions today are all located in former European colonies. This part of history continues to have an impact today. It is important to the Chocolate Museum to show these historical connections.

As a museum committed not only to the history but also to the future of cocoa and chocolate, the issue of sustainability has always been—and remains—of central importance. We see ourselves as advocates for sharing knowledge about sustainable development and consider it our responsibility to actively contribute to addressing global challenges such as climate change.

For the year 2023, we have quantified the greenhouse gas emissions from our museum operations and significantly reduced them through mitigation measures. Unavoidable residual emissions were offset through certified climate protection projects. Together with our partner Plant-for-the-Planet, we offset remaining, currently unavoidable emissions by purchasing emission reduction certificates (Gold Standard). Additional tree plantings in Mexico complement these measures (5 trees per metric ton of CO₂), supported by our guests, who have planted a large number of trees through our “Climate Chocolate Tree” donation machine.

By the end of 2023, thanks to our commitment and the support of our visitors, over 50,000 trees had been planted, which are intended to contribute to long-term carbon sequestration while also providing habitat for endangered animal and plant species.

In addition, in collaboration with various organizations and NGOs, we have supported numerous projects that raise awareness of sustainability and improve the living conditions of people in cocoa-growing regions. 

Climate change remains one of the greatest global challenges of our time. Protecting the climate is also a key priority for the Chocolate Museum. We have therefore set ourselves the goal of making all our activities climate-neutral. Since it is not yet possible to avoid all CO₂ emissions, we are relying on a combination of emission reduction and offsetting.

In 2023, we implemented numerous measures to reduce our carbon footprint. These include, among other things, optimizing our energy consumption and switching to more resource-efficient packaging in our Glass Chocolate Factory; in particular, our internal logistics now use reusable transport packaging that has a lower environmental impact and is compostable according to relevant standards. In 2023, we began implementing measures that will reduce the Chocolate Museum’s energy consumption in the long term while also utilizing sustainable energy sources. 

By using district heating, we are already employing a technology that enables a heat supply with lower greenhouse gas emissions. We expect our utility provider to deliver climate-neutral heat by 2035. Even today, heat is generated via a highly energy-efficient combined heat and power plant.

In 2023, we began planning and implementing a comprehensive renovation and upgrade of the ventilation and air conditioning systems for the entire exhibition. The addition of smart control technology ensures that indoor air quality is adjusted to visitor traffic. 

In addition, all glass surfaces will be fitted with highly effective thermal insulation films to significantly reduce heat gain during the summer months and, consequently, the energy required for cooling. The goal of these measures is to further reduce our energy consumption so that we can contribute, to the best of our ability, to achieving sustainability goals.

Calculation of Our CO2 Emissions

The emissions inventory required for offsetting was conducted in accordance with the recognized principles of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GGP). To this end, all relevant greenhouse gas emissions within the Chocolate Museum’s value chain were analyzed and converted into CO₂ equivalents using recognized factors (Federal Environment Agency, DEFRA—UK). This process took into account all Scope 1 and 2 emissions, as well as portions of Scope 3. In particular, the chocolate produced at the Chocolate Museum for our visitors was fully accounted for, and its remaining emissions were offset.

Scope 1 (direct emissions):
These emissions originate from sources within an organization (consumption of petroleum, natural gas, coal, etc., for heating buildings, operating the vehicle fleet, and emissions from refrigerants).

Scope 1: 75.8 metric tons of CO₂

Scope 2 (indirect emissions)
These emissions result from the generation of energy sourced from outside the organization (purchase of energy from external energy suppliers, e.g., all electricity purchased).

Scope 2: 95.3 metric tons of CO₂

Scope 3 (other indirect emissions)

These are all other emissions caused by a company’s business activities (employees’ commutes to and from work, business travel, events, and the consumption of auxiliary materials).

Scope 3: 383.4 metric tons of CO₂

Total: 610 metric tons of CO₂ (including a 10% allowance for miscellaneous)

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is a central concern of the Chocolate Museum. As part of our educational mission, we have set ourselves the task of informing our visitors about the global challenges in the cocoa sector and at the same time showing them ways in which they themselves can contribute to sustainable development.

Our exhibitions and educational programs are aimed at a wide audience - from school classes and families to individual visitors. Our educational programs for school classes in particular, such as the guided tour "Sustainable & Fair - Chocolate and Cocoa!", are becoming increasingly popular. In 2023, we recorded a significant increase in bookings for our sustainability tours, which underlines the growing interest in ESD topics. In total, around 350 ESD tours for school classes took place with almost 9,000 participants.

In addition, we regularly offer free training courses for teachers on topics relevant to school lessons, such as fair trade, sustainable cocoa farming and climate change. These training courses help to expand teachers' knowledge and skills in the field of sustainable development and integrate them into the classroom. The topic of cocoa and chocolate can be used as teaching material in a wide range of school subjects. For example, it can be covered in subjects such as geography, politics, but also biology or chemistry.

Our educational team consists of two full-time museum educators and over 30 freelance staff who receive regular training on the latest developments in ESD. In 2023, 20 employees were trained as "SDG Scouts" to further strengthen our educational offering and ensure that the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations are firmly anchored in our educational work. In addition, SDG Scouts should also work within an organization to ensure that sustainable development measures are considered and implemented in all areas of the organization. It was therefore very important that the 20 participants in the training course came from different departments within the museum.

Awards and certifications

The Chocolate Museum has received several awards in recent years for its educational and sustainability work:

• NUA Nature and Environment Academy NRW: Following its first certification in 2018, the Chocolate Museum was recognized as an ESD-certified learning location for a further three years in 2021. The next recertification is planned for 2024.
• UNESCO World Action Program on Education for Sustainable Development: The German Commission for UNESCO has once again recognized the Chocolate Museum for its outstanding work in the field of education for sustainable development for the years 2022/2023.

These awards confirm that we are on the right track and motivate us to continuously develop and improve our work.

The Chocolate Museum has been cooperating with the chocolate manufacturer Lindt & Sprüngli since 2006. The company is characterized by its high ethical and sustainability standards in the procurement of raw materials and in the processing of high-quality chocolate. Cocoa is the most important basis for premium chocolate. This is why Lindt invests in preserving the environment and improving the living standards of cocoa farmers, as this is the only way to take responsibility for the future.

The Chocolate Museum has been a member of the German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa since 2012. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), the German confectionery industry, the German food trade and various civil society organizations have joined forces here. Together, they are pursuing the goal of improving the living conditions of cocoa farmers and their families and increasing the cultivation and marketing of sustainable cocoa.

The Chocolate Museum also cooperates in the field of education with various state and private institutions and organizations that are committed to sustainable development. It is also important to the museum to support smaller initiatives. Together with the Institute for Teacher Training at the University of Cologne, the "Weichenstellung" project is being implemented. This project supports pupils with special educational needs and enables them to visit the museum under professional supervision. In order to meet our aim of not excluding any target groups, we offer a special guided tour for people suffering from dementia in cooperation with Diakonie Michaelshoven.

Lindt & Sprüngli and the Cocoa Farming Program[1]

High-quality cocoa beans are the heart of our chocolates. At Lindt & Sprüngli, we take responsibility from the selection of the cocoa beans to the production of the finished chocolate products - from "bean to bar". Lindt & Sprüngli has therefore set up its own sustainability program for cocoa beans: the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program. The program enables us to trace our cocoa beans back to their place of origin and thus support farmers and their communities according to their specific needs. It empowers farmers to manage their farms according to good agricultural, social, environmental and economic practices. Local partners implement the program on the ground with a team of dedicated staff. The commitment helps farmers to increase their yields and consequently their income, shows them how to ensure the long-term agricultural use of the land and promotes access to cultivation equipment and infrastructure.

This is how we take responsibility

All products that leave our company ultimately meet our commitment to sustainability along the entire value chain. In our countries of origin, cocoa production faces major challenges. Small farms, old and diseased cocoa trees and limited agricultural practices can lead to low yields and insufficient income for farmers and their families. Poor infrastructure and a lack of access to agricultural equipment make production even more difficult. Finally, environmental challenges such as climate change and deforestation are also key issues. It is our priority to tackle these hurdles and take responsibility for sustainable cocoa farming.

Our commitment to a better future

Sustainability is an integral part of Lindt & Sprüngli's business model. Our mission is to produce premium products and combine our high quality standards with equally high ethical and sustainable standards in every aspect of our business. This is reflected in our commitment to sustainability along the entire value chain. The Lindt & Sprüngli Sustainability Plan forms the strategy for the sustainability area of our business model. With the Sustainability Plan, we focus on areas that are most relevant to our stakeholders and have the greatest impact on the environment, society and the economy. Our intention is to promote successful cooperation within the company, improve the livelihoods of our suppliers in the countries of origin, contribute to an intact environment and inspire our consumers.

[1] Excerpt from the Lindt & Sprüngli Sustainability Report. Sustainability Plan - Our Commitment for a Better Tomorrow | Lindt & Sprüngli(https://www.lindt-spruengli.com/sustainability/sustainability-strategy)

The Chocolate Museum Cologne strives for long-term partnerships with external organizations and initiatives in the field of education. Intensive cooperation with all those who are committed to the topic of sustainable development is a matter of course for us.

In 2023, joint projects were realized with the following organizations, among others

German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

The BMZ is responsible for coordinating the Federal Republic of Germany's international development cooperation and is committed, among other things, to the worldwide realization of human rights and the fight against hunger and poverty.

The Chocolate Museum has been working with the BMZ in the field of education for many years.

www.bmz.de

Engagement Global. Service for development initiatives

Engagement Global informs and advises individuals, civil society, municipalities, schools, businesses and foundations in Germany on development policy projects and provides them with financial support.

Since 2018, the Chocolate Museum and Engagement Global have been cooperating successfully as part of the Sustainable Development Week, which takes place annually to mark European Sustainability Week. Engagement Global also supports the training of the museum's educational staff and information events for teachers. At the turn of the year 2022 to 2023, 20 permanent and freelance employees were trained and certified as "SDG scouts" in a two-day workshop, supported by Engagement Global.

www.engagement-global.de

Plant-for-the-Planet

The foundation was established in 2011 by Felix Finkbeiner and his father Frithjof Finkbeiner. The two have set themselves the goal of raising awareness of climate change and global justice among children and adults. Planting trees directly counteracts global warming.

To this end, they produce a high-quality chocolate, "Die Gute Schokolade", the sale of which also supports tree planting.

Through events, Plant-for-the-Planet tries to raise awareness of the ecological and social consequences of climate change. The Chocolate Museum supports these measures with joint events. The Chocolate Museum and Plant-for-the-Planet work closely together in the field of education. During the annual Sustainability Week at the Chocolate Museum, regular workshops and lectures are held on topics relating to global justice and the impact of tree planting campaigns. There are also regular academies where children between the ages of 9 and 12 are trained as climate ambassadors. The Chocolate Museum has already hosted these inspiring events several times.

Last but not least, visitors to the Chocolate Museum support the tree planting activities of Plant-for-the-Planet by donating money to the "Climate Chocolate Tree".

www.plant-for-the-planet.org

Südwind Institute

Together with the Südwind Institute and the GIZ (German Society for International Cooperation), the Chocolate Museum organizes an annual conference on the topic of sustainability in cocoa cultivation. The Chocolate Museum has already hosted this conference six times, including in 2023 with the topic "Sustainable cocoa supply chain in times of crisis - how can it succeed?". The SÜDWIND Institute is committed to economic and social justice worldwide. It researches and analyzes global issues such as humane working conditions, fair trade structures, sustainable development and the impact of corporate activities on people and the environment. A particular focus is on living and working conditions in countries of the Global South. SÜDWIND publishes studies, organizes events and campaigns for political change in order to strengthen the rights of disadvantaged groups and promote fairer global economic structures.

www.suedwind-institut.de/

GIZ (German Society for International Cooperation)

GIZ promotes sustainable development worldwide through projects in areas such as education, health, climate protection and economic development. It works on behalf of the German government and other partners to develop solutions to global challenges, particularly in developing countries. The aim is to improve living conditions and create sustainable structures.

www.giz.de/de/html/index.html

In conclusion, it can be said that 2023 was a step forward for the Cologne Chocolate Museum on the path to greater sustainability and climate protection. Through extensive renovations, the integration of education for sustainable development, and our commitment, we are making an important contribution to sustainable development within the scope of our capabilities. We would like to thank all our visitors and partners who have supported us on this journey.

Together, we are committed not only to telling the story of cacao but also to shaping a more sustainable future. We look forward to the coming years and the continued advancement of our sustainability goals.

Appendix

The 2023 Sustainable Development Report will be published on the Chocolate Museum’s website and can be downloaded free of charge.