GHG Emissions, Industrial, Finance, Industrial, Sourcing Renewables  -  September 7, 2017

Mars pledges $1B investment in sustainability

Virginia-based Mars Inc. on Sept. 5 made a bold corporate sustainability commitment, pledging to invest $1 billion over the next few years on its initiatives, including efforts to meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets.  

 The giant chocolate and candy company, whose brands include M&Ms, Skittles and Twix, said it plans to reduce the carbon footprint of its business and supply chain by more than 60% by 2050. Speaking at the launch of the company's "Sustainable in a Generation" plan, Mars CEO Grant Reid said a huge step change was needed if the company wanted to help deliver on the targets agreed to in the Paris climate accord. 

"While many companies have been working on being more sustainable, the current level of progress is nowhere near enough," Reid said in a statement. "Mars has been in business for four generations and intends to be for the next four generations. The only way that will happen is if we do things differently to ensure that the planet is healthy and all people in our extended supply chain have the opportunity to thrive. We must work together, because the engine of global business — its extended supply chain — is broken, and requires transformational, cross-industry collaboration to fix it."

The company's extremely details climate action plan outlines how it plans to meet its GHG reduction targets, including investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects that will allow it to tackle emissions at scale. Mars said it is already purchasing renewable electricity to cover 100% of its operations in the U.S., Belgium, Brazil, Lithuania and the United Kingdom. In 2018, it said it will add Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Spain, Poland and Mexico to the list of countries where we use or fund renewable electricity to cover 100% of our operations.

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