Mars has officially published its 2023 Mars Sustainable in a Generation Report, which reveals the company’s notable progress towards its goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. According to certain reports, Mars has achieve a record 8% GHG emissions reduction against a 2015 baseline, doing so across its full value chain in 2023 alone. More on the same would reveal how, since 2015, Mars has been able to reduce GHG emissions in its value chain by 16% (or 5.7 million metric tons — the equivalent GHG emissions generated by more than 1.3 million gasoline-powered automobiles in a year), while simultaneously growing the business more than 60% to over $50 billion. These findings, on their part, deliver a rather interesting follow-up to the company’s Net Zero Roadmap, a plan under which Mars committed more than $1 billion over three years towards carbon offset. Taking a more specific view of the company’s plans in this area, they include working with partners to establish a grower-centric program. You see, the stated program will support 1,900 farmers in four US States and Poland, enabling them to deploy climate smart agriculture methods and focus on crops, such as corn, soy, and wheat across more than 1.2 million acres of cropland. The yield expected to be generated here will be used to help Mars; pet food brands, including PEDIGREE® and IAMS®, achieve environment-friendly products. Next up, the company aims to extend partnership with Royal Canin and Soil Capital. This it will do for the purpose of supplying financial assistance to more than 250 farmers. To give you some context, the partnership in question has, thus far, supported farming-centered options across 300,000 hectares of farmland.
“Last year, we published our Net Zero Roadmap promising to accelerate our carbon reductions, and with this year’s results, we are delivering on our business strategy to continue to grow while reducing our carbon emissions. We still have a long way to go, but we will continue to follow the science and show how a responsible business can both do well and do good,” said Poul Weihrauch, CEO of Mars.
Another detail worth a mention here is how the company will continue to sustain, as well as enhance the Next Generation Soil program on an international scale. In case you weren’t aware, the stated program has already empowered more than 100 corn producers with resources to increase productivity, optimize outcomes, and respond to the consequences of climate change, such as water scarcity and lower crop yields. On top of that, the program also preaches new regenerative agriculture practices. Making the whole initiative even bigger would be Mars’ recently announced sustainable dairy plan i.e. Moov’ing Dairy Forward. In essence, this plan commits a sum worth $47 million investment as part the company’s new climate-first approach to dairy sourcing which is going to reduce the carbon footprint of dairy with partners Fonterra, Land O’Lakes, Interfood, and FrieslandCampina.
“Our latest carbon reductions show we are on track to deliver a 50% reduction by 2030. While we’re proud of this progress, we know we have more work to do, and we look forward to continuing to scale our progress,” said Barry Parkin, Chief Sustainability and Procurement Officer at Mars.
Founded in, Mars is today a $50bn+ family-owned business that provides leading pet care products and veterinary services all around the world. Apart from it, the company also brings forth quality snacking and food products. In regards to the former, Mars’ international networks of pet hospitals, including BANFIELD™, BLUEPEARL™, VCA™ and ANICURA™ currently span preventive, general, specialty, and emergency veterinary care, whereas its global veterinary diagnostics business ANTECH® offers breakthrough capabilities in pet diagnostics. As for the latter, it has seen the company establish various industry-leading brands, such as PEDIGREE®, WHISKAS®, CESAR®, DOVE®, EXTRA®, M&M’s®, SNICKERS® and BEN’S ORIGINAL™.
