MCLEAN, VA. — Mars, Incorporated released its “2023 Sustainable in a Generation Report” on July 24, which highlighted the company’s progress toward its goal of achieving net zero by 2050. The company recorded an 8% reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its full value chain in 2023 against its 2015 baseline. Since Mars set its baseline in 2015, GHG emissions throughout the company’s value chain have been reduced by a total of 16%.
In 2023, Mars published its Mars Net Zero Roadmap in 2023, in which it committed to investing more than $1 billion over three years toward reaching its net zero goal.
“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,” said Poul Weihrauch, Mars chief executive officer. “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.”
Included in the company’s efforts to reduce its GHG footprint is reformulating its pet food recipes by switching to lower carbon intensity ingredients. Mars Petcare’s Climate Reformulation Team has already carried out reformulations across several products. ROYAL CANIN® has lowered rice usage in its Kitten and Puppy Programs’ formulas when not essential, because the company learned that rice had a bigger impact on carbon emissions than other cereals.
Almost 60% of Mars’ value chain GHG footprint comes from agricultural ingredients, which has led the company to increase its climate smart agriculture initiatives that aim to improve soil health and farm resilience. The company also provides financial support and training for farmers working toward adopting regenerative agriculture practices.
Some of the company’s recent investments toward climate smart agriculture include:
- Establishing a grower-centric program to support 1,900 farmers in four US states and Poland to deploy climate smart agriculture methods. The program focuses on producing crops including corn, soy and wheat across more than 1.2 million acres of cropland, for use in Mars pet food brands such as PEDIGREE® and IAMS®.
- Providing financial support to around 250 farmers in France and Belgium through a partnership between ROYAL CANIN and Soil Capital. To date, the partnership has provided support to farmers across 300,000 hectares of farmland.
- Continuing to support the Next Generation Soil program in Mexico and Brazil in collaboration with Mexico’s International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and Brazil’s Producing Right program. The program has provided 100 corn producers with the tools and knowledge to increase productivity, optimize resources, and respond to water scarcity and lower crop yields.
- Mars’ new sustainable dairy plan, Moov’ing Dairy Forward, which commits the company to a $47 million investment over three years as part of its new climate-first approach to dairy sourcing 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,” said Barry Parkin, chief sustainability and procurement officer for Mars. “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. It is critically important to strengthen our programs with farmers to help the transition to climate smart and regenerative agriculture.”
Learn more about how Mars is working toward its sustainability goals in its “2023 Sustainable in a Generation Report”.
Read more about sustainability efforts across the pet food and treat industry.
