• The company works with over 60 climate-smart agriculture projects in 29 countries.
• Grew its sales by 69% without compromising the environment.
• Launched a $250 million Sustainability Investment Fund.

The leading confectionery producer, Mars, has achieved additional greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction in 2024 while expanding its global sales.

Over the last decade, the global food products manufacturer reduced its carbon footprint by 16.4%, while its yearly sales have grown to about $55 billion, an increase of approximately 69%. And, in the last year alone, they achieved an extra emissions reduction of 1.9%.

The company largely attributes this achievement to its efforts in sustainable agriculture and forest protection, and it is running more than 60 climate-smart agriculture projects in 29 countries, covering 13 important crops.

These projects will help farmers make their land more resilient to pests, droughts, and floods. In Indonesia, for instance, Mars supported farmers to adopt sustainable palm oil practices and helped protect 8,000 hectares of forest. In Thailand, working with over 1,400 rice farmers led to an improvement in rice yields and a reduction in water use.

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To drive sustainability, the company has launched the Mars Sustainability Investment Fund (MSIF), worth up to $250 million, to support businesses developing innovative agricultural technologies, low-emission ingredients, and next-generation packaging that is recyclable or compostable, to reduce the environmental impact of the food manufacturing industry.

Poul Weihrauch, Mars CEO, said: “I’m pleased to see our continued ability to decouple our business growth from our carbon footprint while simultaneously investing in innovation and getting behind start-ups that will be creating new solutions and advancing breakthroughs to help companies address resilience challenges.

"These are important areas to make meaningful progress in helping us to reduce exposure to future environmental risks, and eventually, turn it into profit and competitive advantage. Looking ahead, there will be setbacks – and we must be unafraid to say so – but we will stay focused on making progress, growing our business and reducing the impact we have on the planet by helping everyone thrive.”

The American company is not backing off from incorporating sustainability into its operations amid political setbacks for ESG markets in the US. It has increased the number of leaders from 400 to almost 2,000, whose long-term pay is linked to cutting emissions, to uphold its belief that business success should be measured alongside environmental protection.

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Mars also believes that large-scale change is only possible if there is cohesion among industries, governments, and farming communities in working together towards climate goals, and subsequently reducing the risks faced by the global food systems.

Alastair Child, Mars Chief Sustainability Officer, commented: “We’re firmly committed not just to targets in a distant future but to delivering progress now. In order to do this, societal impact goals have to be built into business decision-making.

"And to continue to deliver progress consistently, we need systemic change across our supply chains, with governments, industry and farmers all playing a role. We know we can’t do this alone and so we want to bring our partners and peers along, as only large-scale change will deliver on our collective goals.”

For information on their sustainability goals and progress, visit their website or click here to access their 2024 Mars Sustainable in a Generation Report.

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Source: Mars