Mars, Incorporated is one of the world’s largest privately held companies, with approximately $55 billion in annual net sales and a portfolio spanning chocolate confectionery (M&M’s, Snickers, Twix, Dove, Bounty), pet nutrition (Pedigree, Whiskas, Royal Canin, Sheba), gum and mints (Orbit, Extra), and rice and sauces (Ben’s Original, Dolmio). The company employs approximately 130,000 Associates across more than 80 countries and operates from its headquarters in McLean, Virginia. Its sustainability framework, Sustainable in a Generation, covers three pillars: Healthy Planet, Thriving People, and Nourishing Wellbeing, anchored by the Mars Net Zero Roadmap published in 2023.
Mars released its 2024 Sustainable in a Generation Report in July 2025, confirming a further 1.9% absolute GHG reduction in 2024, bringing the total reduction to 16.4% since the 2015 baseline. This has been achieved while growing by over 69% to approximately $55 billion in annual net sales, making it one of the most operationally validated examples of absolute decarbonisation during growth in the global food sector. Alongside the report, Mars launched the Mars Sustainability Investment Fund (MSIF), a $250 million capital commitment to advance breakthrough solutions in advanced agriculture, innovative ingredients, and next-generation packaging.
Chief Sustainability Officer Alastair Child stated that Mars is “firmly committed not just to targets in a distant future but to delivering progress now,” while acknowledging that “only large-scale change will deliver on our collective goals” and that systemic transformation across supply chains, governments, industry, and farming communities is required. Remaining challenges include the pace of Scope 3 agricultural emission reduction required to reach 50% by 2030, packaging recyclability still at 64.1% against a 100% target, and water stewardship progress at 36% gap reduction against a 50% target.
Key Highlights
- Total GHG emissions: approximately 29 million tonnes CO2e in 2024, a 16.4% absolute reduction vs 2015 baseline despite 69% net sales growth
- 1.9% absolute GHG reduction delivered in 2024 alone
- Over 70% of total GHG footprint from agriculture and ingredients
- Renewable electricity: 58% of global operational electricity from renewable sources in 2024, against a 100% target by 2040
- More than 60 climate-smart agriculture projects active across 29 countries spanning 13 crops
- SARI rice programme in Thailand: reached 1,445 farmers (66% women); boosted rice yields by up to 43%; reduced water usage by up to 56%
- Water stewardship: 36% reduction in the gap to sustainable water use since 2015, against a 50% target by 2025
- Consumer-facing packaging designed to be reusable, recyclable, or compostable: 64.1% in 2024 vs 61% in 2023, against 100% target by 2025
- Post-consumer recycled (PCR) content in packaging: 7% by weight in 2024 vs 1.5% in 2023, incorporating more than 14,000 metric tonnes of plastic PCR
- Cocoa for Generations programme covering more than 350,000 farmers globally; physically segregated cocoa supply chain target set for 2030
- Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation Systems (CLMRS) covering 58,000 farming households in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana
- Responsible Sourced Cocoa Programme with RSPO: 932 farmers certified; 2,031 hectares transitioned to sustainable practices; 8,000 hectares of forest protected through community conservation
- KIND Almond Acres Initiative: pilot acreage nearly doubled in 2024; 17% improvement in water use efficiency through subsurface irrigation
- RESTORE Project: landscape-level cocoa farming and forest restoration through conservation partnership
- 3.5 billion healthy meals delivered in 2024, including 309 million servings of fibre and 372 million servings of vegetables
- Sodium reduced by 5% across the portfolio since 2019 baseline
- More than 850,000 people’s lives improved across the value chain in 2024
- Long-term compensation for approximately 2,000 leaders tied to GHG emissions reduction progress from 2024
- $250 million Mars Sustainability Investment Fund (MSIF) launched July 2025
- Committed more than $1 billion in sustainability investment over three years (from 2023); ongoing until net zero is achieved
Source
https://www.mars.com/sustainability-plan/sustainability-report-progress
https://www.mars.com/news-and-stories/press-releases-statements/mars-releases-2024-sustainable-in-a-generation-report
https://www.esgdive.com/news/mars-unveils-emissions-reduction-progress-launches-msif-250m-green-investment-fund/752604/
https://www.mars.com/sustainability-plan/healthy-planet/net-zero-2050
Sustainability Strategy and Goals
Mars’s Sustainable in a Generation plan is structured around three strategic pillars: Healthy Planet (covering GHG emissions, water stewardship, and land use), Thriving People (covering human rights, livelihoods, and inclusion), and Nourishing Wellbeing (covering nutrition, healthy diets, and responsible marketing). All climate targets are validated by the Science Based Targets initiative, confirmed in 2023, covering a 50% full value chain GHG reduction by 2030 and net zero by 2050, both vs the 2015 baseline.
The strategy treats agriculture as the primary climate and human rights risk, with over 70% of the total GHG footprint originating from agriculture and ingredients and the majority of human rights exposure concentrated in cocoa, palm oil, and fisheries supply chains. Mars’s private ownership structure allows the company to make long-term capital commitments without quarterly earnings pressure, a structural advantage that it uses explicitly to justify its $1 billion-plus, three-year sustainability investment and the $250 million MSIF.
In 2024, Mars also tied long-term compensation for approximately 2,000 senior leaders to GHG reduction progress, embedding environmental accountability into executive incentive design across the global management structure.
Net Zero and Carbon Emissions
Mars targets a 50% absolute GHG reduction across the full value chain by 2030 and net zero by 2050, both vs the 2015 baseline. Scope 1 and 2 interim targets call for a 63% reduction by 2030; Scope 3 targets call for a 42% reduction in the same period. By end of 2024, total emissions across all scopes had fallen 16.4% since 2015, reaching approximately 29 million tonnes CO2e.
- Total GHG emissions: approximately 29 million tonnes CO2e in 2024, a 16.4% absolute reduction vs 2015 restated baseline
- 2024 annual reduction: 1.9% absolute reduction in a single year, bringing cumulative progress to 16.4%
- Progress achieved during a 69% growth in annual net sales since 2015, making this one of the clearest documented examples of absolute decarbonisation during commercial growth in the food sector
- Scope 1 and 2 interim target: 63% reduction by 2030 vs 2015; Scope 3 interim target: 42% reduction by 2030 vs 2015
- Renewable electricity: 58% of global operational electricity from renewable sources in 2024 vs significantly lower levels in prior years, against a 100% target by 2040
- More than 60 climate-smart agriculture projects active in 29 countries spanning 13 crops in 2024, addressing the agriculture and ingredients segment that drives approximately 70% of the total footprint
- SARI rice programme in Thailand: 1,445 farmers (66% women); rice yields improved by up to 43%; water usage reduced by up to 56%
- KIND Almond Acres Initiative: 17% water use efficiency improvement through subsurface irrigation; acreage nearly doubled in 2024
- Long-term executive compensation for approximately 2,000 leaders linked to GHG reduction progress from 2024 onward
- Mars committed more than $1 billion in sustainability investment over three years from 2023; Mars Sustainability Investment Fund (MSIF) of $250 million launched July 2025 to accelerate breakthrough solutions
- Baseline Restatement Policy applied; 2015 baseline has been restated to incorporate improved data and methodology, providing more accurate trajectory tracking
Water Stewardship
Mars’s water strategy targets a 50% reduction in the gap to sustainable water use across its full value chain by 2025, measured against the 2015 baseline using a gap-to-sustainability methodology that accounts for watershed stress levels rather than simple withdrawal volumes. The company has publicly acknowledged that it will fall short of the 50% target and instead reported a 36% reduction in the gap to sustainable water use by end of 2024.
- Gap to sustainable water use: 36% reduction vs 2015 baseline in 2024, against a 50% target by 2025
- Company has confirmed it anticipates falling short of the 50% target
- Four water efficiency projects expanded in 2024, with particular focus on rice and mint supply chains
- SARI rice programme in Thailand reduced water usage by up to 56% among 1,445 participating farmers, demonstrating the agricultural efficiency improvement possible at crop level
- KIND Almond Acres Initiative delivered 17% water use efficiency improvement through subsurface irrigation technology
- Water Stewardship Strategy focused on high-risk watersheds: includes improving manufacturing water efficiency, agriculture water management, and stakeholder collaboration
- Water efficiency index used to track progress at facility level, with high-risk watershed areas receiving prioritised investment
Regenerative Agriculture
Agriculture is Mars’s most material sustainability domain, driving approximately 70% of total GHG emissions and representing the primary landscape for both climate action and human rights risk. Mars operates the most extensive active regenerative and climate-smart agriculture programme of any confectionery and pet food company globally, covering more than 60 projects across 29 countries spanning 13 raw material crops.
- More than 60 climate-smart agriculture projects in 29 countries across 13 crops in 2024
- SARI programme, Thailand: 1,445 farmers reached, 66% women; rice yield improvement up to 43%; water use reduction up to 56%
- KIND Almond Acres Initiative: subsurface irrigation pilot; acreage nearly doubled in 2024; 17% water efficiency improvement
- Commitment to deliver more than 1 million acres of regenerative agriculture by 2030 globally across Mars product ingredient supply chains
- Cocoa for Generations programme: covering more than 350,000 farmers across origin markets in West Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia; 2030 target to physically segregate the entire cocoa supply chain
- CLMRS covering 58,000 farming households in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana for child labour monitoring and remediation
- Livelihoods Fund for Family Farmers (L3F): 932 farmers RSPO-certified; 2,031 hectares transitioned to sustainable practices; 8,000 hectares of forest protected through community conservation
- RESTORE Project: landscape-level cocoa farming and forest restoration through conservation partnerships
- Women for Change savings and loans programme with CARE: reached more than 77,000 people in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana; generated more than $7.4 million in collective savings and over $3.7 million in loans
- MSIF will specifically target advanced agriculture innovations including digital on-farm tools, efficient fertiliser tracking, satellite monitoring for land use, and data-driven yield forecasting
Deforestation and Biodiversity
Mars’s deforestation commitments centre on cocoa and palm oil, the two commodities with the highest deforestation risk in the portfolio. The company is a RSPO member and has committed to physically segregating its entire cocoa supply chain by 2030 to deliver full traceability and verifiable deforestation-free sourcing.
- 100% responsibly sourced cocoa target by 2025: trajectory not confirmed as achieved in the 2024 report, with physical segregation of the full supply chain targeted by 2030
- RSPO palm oil sourced: 77,253 metric tonnes in 2024, representing 59% of total palm oil volume at RSPO certified level
- Livelihoods Fund for Family Farmers (L3F): 8,000 hectares of forest protected through community conservation linked to RSPO certification programme
- RESTORE Project: supports cocoa farming and forest restoration through landscape-level conservation across origin markets
- Mars maintains a clear position against palm oil elimination, arguing that exiting palm oil would abandon farming communities and economies that depend on the crop, and that sustainable RSPO-certified production is the preferred pathway
- CLMRS systems in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana actively monitor deforestation risk at farm level as an integrated component of child labour and environmental monitoring
Packaging and Circular Economy
Mars’s packaging sustainability strategy is built on four pillars: eliminating unnecessary packaging, switching to recyclable materials, integrating recycled plastics, and promoting collection and recycling infrastructure. The company committed via the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Global Commitment to 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable (RRC) packaging by 2025 and 30% post-consumer recycled (PCR) content by 2025. Both targets will not be met on schedule; Mars acknowledged this publicly and shifted its primary metric to packaging “designed” for circularity rather than recyclable in practice.
- Consumer-facing packaging designed to be RRC: 64.1% in 2024 vs 61% in 2023 vs 45% in 2022, against 100% target by 2025
- PCR content in packaging portfolio by weight: 7% in 2024 vs 1.5% in 2023, against 30% target by 2025
- More than 14,000 metric tonnes of plastic PCR incorporated into packaging in 2024
- 350 tonnes of plastic eliminated through packaging format optimisation, including transition from pots to pouches for Whiskas cat food
- 60% PCR pouches launched for Schmackos pet food in Australia
- Paper-based compostable M&M’s bags expanded in China
- Bulk M&M’s dispensing programme expanded to reduce single-use packaging
- Reusable shipping container programme for veterinary clinics avoided 80 tonnes of waste in 2024
- 840,000-plus plastic pet food packages transformed into public installations (benches, playground features) in Thailand
- Skittles, Starburst, and M&M’s jars converted to incorporate PCR plastic
- MSIF will specifically target next-generation circular packaging solutions that are compostable or recyclable as alternatives to flexible plastics
Human Rights and Responsible Sourcing
Mars’s human rights framework is governed by its CARE Framework (Commit, Assess, Respond, Engage), built on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). The company has identified forced labour and child labour as the two most severe human rights risks in its extended supply chains, with primary exposure in cocoa (West Africa), palm oil (Southeast Asia), and fisheries (Southeast Asia).
- CARE Framework published and applied globally across all high-risk supply chains
- CLMRS covering 58,000 farming households in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, monitoring and remediating child labour risks at farm level
- Long-term partnership with Verité, a leading human rights nonprofit, covering three pillars: Action, Insight, and Dialogue across own operations, Tier 1 suppliers, and extended supply chains
- AIM-PROGRESS Leadership Team member, the manufacturing and supplier forum for responsible sourcing practices and forced labour awareness and training
- Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Forced Labour Priority Industry Principles adopted and applied for palm oil in Southeast Asia
- Thai Fish Supply Chain Human Rights Action Plan published and implemented
- Mars targets physically segregated responsibly sourced cocoa supply chain by 2030, requiring all suppliers to purchase exclusively from farms meeting the Responsibly Sourced Cocoa Programme standards
- Women for Change savings and loans programme: over 77,000 people reached in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana; $7.4 million in collective savings; $3.7 million in loans
Nutrition and Health
Mars’s Nourishing Wellbeing pillar covers responsible marketing, nutritional improvement, access to healthy food, and product reformulation across its confectionery, pet nutrition, and food brands.
- 3.5 billion healthy meals delivered in 2024, including 309 million servings of fibre and 372 million servings of vegetables
- Sodium reduced by 5% across the portfolio since 2019 baseline
- MSIF will target innovative ingredients including lower-emission and healthier alternatives to traditional inputs
- Ben’s Original and Dolmio brands embedded in Mars’s healthy meals delivery framework; active in addressing food access and nutrition in underserved communities
Community and Social Impact
Mars’s community programmes are predominantly embedded in supply chain investment: the Cocoa for Generations programme, SARI, Women for Change, and L3F all deliver community outcomes as co-benefits of supply chain sustainability investments. The company has directly improved more than 850,000 people’s lives across the value chain in 2024.
- More than 850,000 people’s lives improved across the value chain in 2024
- Women for Change: 77,000-plus people reached; over $7.4 million in collective savings and $3.7 million in loans in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana
- SARI programme: 1,445 farmers, 66% women, reached in Thailand with productivity and water efficiency improvements
- Reusable shipping container programme for veterinary clinics: 80 tonnes of packaging waste avoided, benefiting community infrastructure
- RESTORE Project: landscape-level conservation delivering community co-benefits through forest protection
Governance and Transparency
Mars reports against the GHG Protocol, SBTi methodology, UN Global Compact, and GRI Standards, with independent third-party assurance of key sustainability metrics. As a privately held company, Mars does not face the same public investor scrutiny as listed peers, but it voluntarily submits to SBTi validation, CDP disclosure, and third-party assurance.
- SBTi validation of 50% by 2030 and net zero by 2050 targets confirmed in 2023
- Baseline Restatement Policy applied to the 2015 baseline to incorporate improved data and methodology, confirming 16.4% absolute reduction against the restated baseline
- Long-term executive compensation for approximately 2,000 leaders linked to GHG progress from 2024
- Annual Sustainable in a Generation Report published with third-party assurance of environmental data
- RSPO Annual Communication of Progress published separately for palm oil performance
- Cocoa for Generations Progress Report published annually as a standalone document
Technology and Innovation
Mars’s technology strategy for sustainability is being accelerated through the $250 million MSIF, which targets advanced agriculture, innovative ingredients, and next-generation circular packaging as the three domains where breakthrough solutions are most needed to close the gap to the 2030 and 2050 targets.
- Mars Sustainability Investment Fund (MSIF): $250 million capital commitment launched July 2025; structured to deploy through direct investments and fund partnerships; three focus areas: advanced agriculture (digital on-farm tools, fertiliser efficiency, satellite land monitoring, yield forecasting), innovative ingredients (lower-emission and healthier raw material alternatives), and next-generation packaging (compostable and recyclable solutions for flexible plastics)
- $1 billion-plus three-year sustainability investment programme: committed from 2023; ongoing until net zero is achieved; covers supply chain transformation, manufacturing decarbonisation, and regenerative agriculture scaling
- Subsurface irrigation technology (KIND Almond Acres Initiative): delivered 17% water use efficiency improvement; pilot acreage nearly doubled in 2024; technology designed for scaling across almond and other nut supply chains
- SARI digital farming platform (Thailand): precision agriculture technology supporting 1,445 rice farmers; delivered 43% yield improvement and 56% water use reduction
- Renewable electricity programme: 58% operational renewable electricity in 2024; projects active globally toward 100% by 2040
- Satellite land monitoring for cocoa: integrated into CLMRS and deforestation risk assessment for cocoa farms in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana as part of the physically segregated supply chain programme
- 60% PCR pet food pouches (Schmackos, Australia): post-consumer recycled plastic integrated into flexible pet food packaging, a technically challenging format for recycled content
- Compostable paper-based M&M’s bags (China): bio-benign packaging alternative to conventional plastic flexible wrappers
- Bulk M&M’s dispensing programme: scaled in retail environments to replace single-use format packaging with refill dispensing systems
Global Partnerships and Advocacy
Mars’s partnership model is the most extensive of any global confectionery and pet food company, spanning human rights NGOs, agricultural development institutions, conservation organisations, and industry coalitions.
- SBTi: climate target validation partner for 2030 and 2050 net zero goals
- CARE partnership with CARE International: Women for Change programme implementation in West Africa
- Verité: strategic human rights partnership covering Action, Insight, and Dialogue across supply chains
- The Nature Conservancy (TNC): RESTORE Project landscape conservation partner
- International Cocoa Initiative (ICI): board member; partner for child labour monitoring and remediation systems
- AIM-PROGRESS Leadership Team: responsible sourcing and forced labour training network
- Consumer Goods Forum (CGF): Forced Labour Priority Industry Principles
- RSPO: member for palm oil sustainable sourcing; Livelihoods Fund for Family Farmers (L3F) programme
- Ellen MacArthur Foundation: Global Commitment signatory for packaging circularity
- Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP): SARI programme implementation partner in Thailand
Source
https://www.mars.com/sustainability-plan/sustainability-report-progress
https://www.mars.com/news-and-stories/press-releases-statements/mars-releases-2024-sustainable-in-a-generation-report
https://www.esgdive.com/news/mars-unveils-emissions-reduction-progress-launches-msif-250m-green-investment-fund/752604/
https://www.sdgnews.com/mars-launches-250-million-sustainability-investment-fund-to-accelerate-climate-solutions/
https://www.packagingdive.com/news/mars-2024-sustainability-report-pcr-postconsumer-recycled-content/752198/
https://www.supplychainbrain.com/articles/40855-mars-carves-path-toward-responsibly-sourced-cocoa
https://www.esgtoday.com/mars-targets-segregated-responsibly-sourced-cocoa-supply-chain-by-2030/
https://www.mars.com/sustainability-plan/healthy-planet/sustainable-packaging
https://www.mars.com/about/policies-and-practices/human-rights
https://www.cocoainitiative.org/news/news-partners/mars-publishes-human-rights-cocoa-supply-chain-report
https://trellis.net/article/mars-sustainability-report-three-takeaways/
https://globalaginvesting.com/snack-brand-mars-launches-250m-sustainability-fund-to-reduce-ag-input-emissions/
Progress vs. Target Tracker
Source
https://www.mars.com/sustainability-plan/sustainability-report-progress
https://www.packagingdive.com/news/mars-2024-sustainability-report-pcr-postconsumer-recycled-content/752198/
https://www.esgdive.com/news/mars-unveils-emissions-reduction-progress-launches-msif-250m-green-investment-fund/752604/
https://palmoilscorecard.panda.org/scores/310/
https://trellis.net/article/mars-sustainability-report-three-takeaways/
Key Sustainability Innovations and Technologies
Mars’s sustainability technology investment is the most capital-intensive of any privately held food company globally, combining the $1 billion-plus three-year investment programme with the new $250 million MSIF. The approach treats agricultural technology as the primary decarbonisation lever, given that over 70% of the total footprint originates from farming inputs and land use.
- Mars Sustainability Investment Fund (MSIF), $250 million: launched July 2025; structured for both direct investments and fund partnerships; targets advanced agriculture (digital on-farm tools, fertiliser tracking, satellite land monitoring, yield forecasting), innovative ingredients (lower-emission and healthier raw material alternatives), and next-generation circular packaging (compostable and recyclable solutions for flexible plastics)
- $1 billion-plus sustainability investment programme (from 2023): ongoing until net zero is achieved; covers supply chain transformation, manufacturing decarbonisation, regenerative agriculture scaling, and biodiversity conservation
- SARI digital farming platform (Thailand): precision agriculture platform combining agronomy support, water management protocols, and market linkage; delivered 43% yield improvement and 56% water use reduction among 1,445 participating rice farmers; 66% women
- KIND Almond Acres Initiative: subsurface drip irrigation technology deployed to almond farms in the US; 17% water use efficiency improvement confirmed; pilot acreage nearly doubled in 2024; designed for scaling across perennial crop supply chains
- Satellite-based deforestation and farm monitoring: integrated into CLMRS and Cocoa for Generations programme; enables farm-level deforestation detection and child labour risk mapping across 58,000 households in West Africa
- Cocoa physical segregation infrastructure: multi-year supply chain infrastructure investment to enable 100% traceability from farm to factory by 2030; includes supplier purchasing system redesign, certification platform integration, and third-party audit infrastructure
- 60% PCR pet food pouches (Schmackos, Australia): post-consumer recycled plastic integrated into flexible pet food packaging; technically one of the highest recycled content applications in the global pet food packaging sector
- Compostable paper-based M&M’s bags (China): commercially scaled compostable packaging alternative for confectionery; contributing to the 64.1% RRC packaging figure
- Bulk M&M’s dispensing programme: retail refill model deployed to reduce single-use flexible packaging across confectionery formats
- Reusable shipping container programme for veterinary clinics: avoided 80 tonnes of packaging waste in 2024 through a closed-loop container system for Mars Pet Nutrition product distribution
- Renewable electricity programme: 58% operational renewable electricity in 2024; trajectory toward 100% by 2040 through PPAs, on-site generation, and energy attribute certificates
Source
https://www.sdgnews.com/mars-launches-250-million-sustainability-investment-fund-to-accelerate-climate-solutions/
https://globalaginvesting.com/snack-brand-mars-launches-250m-sustainability-fund-to-reduce-ag-input-emissions/
https://www.esgdive.com/news/mars-unveils-emissions-reduction-progress-launches-msif-250m-green-investment-fund/752604/
https://carboncredits.com/mars-invests-250m-in-sustainable-innovations-to-boost-net-zero-journey/
https://trellis.net/article/mars-sustainability-report-three-takeaways/
https://www.packagingdive.com/news/mars-2024-sustainability-report-pcr-postconsumer-recycled-content/752198/
Measurable Impacts
Mars’s 2024 Sustainable in a Generation Report provides multi-year performance data against the 2015 and 2019 baselines across all pillars. The standout result is 16.4% absolute GHG reduction achieved while growing by 69% in net sales, making this the most analytically compelling decoupling of growth and emissions in the global confectionery and pet food sector. Progress gaps are most visible in packaging circularity, water stewardship, and the pace of Scope 3 agricultural emission reduction against the 2030 target trajectory.
- Total GHG across all scopes: approximately 29 million tCO2e in 2024, a 16.4% absolute reduction vs 2015 restated baseline
- Annual GHG reduction in 2024: 1.9% absolute
- Renewable electricity: 58% of operational electricity in 2024
- Water stewardship: 36% reduction in gap to sustainable use since 2015, against 50% target
- Consumer-facing packaging designed to be RRC: 64.1% in 2024 vs 61% in 2023 vs 45% in 2022
- PCR content in packaging by weight: 7% in 2024 vs 1.5% in 2023
- Plastic PCR incorporated: more than 14,000 metric tonnes in 2024
- Plastic eliminated through packaging optimisation: 350 tonnes
- RSPO palm oil: 77,253 metric tonnes certified, 59% of total volume
- CLMRS: 58,000 farming households covered in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana
- Healthy meals delivered: 3.5 billion in 2024 including 309 million fibre servings
- Sodium reduction: 5% since 2019 baseline
- People supported across value chain: more than 850,000 in 2024
- Women for Change: 77,000-plus people reached; $7.4 million in savings; $3.7 million in loans
- Executive compensation linked to GHG: approximately 2,000 leaders
Source
https://trellis.net/article/mars-sustainability-report-three-takeaways/
https://www.packagingdive.com/news/mars-2024-sustainability-report-pcr-postconsumer-recycled-content/752198/
https://www.esgdive.com/news/mars-unveils-emissions-reduction-progress-launches-msif-250m-green-investment-fund/752604/
https://www.mars.com/sustainability-plan/sustainability-report-progress
https://palmoilscorecard.panda.org/scores/310/
Challenges and Areas for Improvement
The most significant structural challenge is the pace of Scope 3 agricultural emission reduction against the 2030 target. With approximately 70% of total GHG originating from agriculture and ingredients, the 16.4% cumulative reduction since 2015 at the midpoint of the decade means Mars must accelerate its annual reduction rate substantially to reach the 50% target by 2030. At the 2024 annual pace of 1.9% per year, the company would reach approximately 27% cumulative reduction by 2030, well short of the 50% goal.
Packaging circularity represents the most publicly visible target failure. Mars shifted its primary packaging metric from recyclable in practice to recyclable by design, a methodological move that inflated the headline figure from approximately 20% (in practice) to 64.1% (by design) without any change in real-world circularity. The gap between design intent and infrastructure reality, which Mars itself has acknowledged in its reports, means the 100% target by 2025 is both formally missed and structurally dependent on waste collection and sorting infrastructure development that is outside Mars’s direct control.
Water stewardship at 36% gap reduction against a 50% target by 2025 was formally acknowledged as a miss by the company itself. The gap methodology used by Mars is more rigorous than simple withdrawal volume reduction metrics used by peers, making direct comparison difficult, but the confirmed shortfall in the 2024 report means two of Mars’s three flagship environmental targets (packaging and water) have been missed at their 2025 deadlines.
- Full value chain 50% GHG reduction: 16.4% achieved by 2024; requires approximately 33.6 more percentage points in six years at a pace of nearly 5.6% per year
- Annual GHG reduction rate: 1.9% in 2024; must increase approximately threefold annually to meet 2030 target at consistent pace
- Packaging RRC by design: 64.1% vs 100% by 2025; real-world recyclability substantially below 64.1% due to infrastructure absence
- PCR content: 7% vs 30% target by 2025
- Water stewardship: 36% gap reduction vs 50% target by 2025; confirmed miss
- 100% responsibly sourced cocoa: target by 2025 not achieved; physical segregation of supply chain now targeted by 2030
- Scope 3 agricultural trajectory: approximately 70% of footprint in agriculture with no separately quantified Scope 3 reduction series published against the 2015 baseline
- RSPO palm oil: 59% certified in 2024; 41% of volume not yet at RSPO physical certification level
Source
https://trellis.net/article/mars-sustainability-report-three-takeaways/
https://www.packagingdive.com/news/mars-2024-sustainability-report-pcr-postconsumer-recycled-content/752198/
https://supplychaindigital.com/news/reduced-emissions-how-mars-promotes-sustainability
https://www.esgdive.com/news/mars-unveils-emissions-reduction-progress-launches-msif-250m-green-investment-fund/752604/
Future Plans and Long-Term Goals
Mars’s 2030 and 2050 goals govern all forward-looking sustainability planning, with the MSIF representing the most significant new capital commitment to accelerating the trajectory. The physical segregation of the full cocoa supply chain by 2030 is the single most operationally complex long-term commitment, requiring multi-year infrastructure redesign across all origin markets.
Renewable electricity progress from 58% in 2024 toward 100% by 2040 is the most achievable long-term operational target, given the pace of PPA contracting and on-site generation deployment in the sector. The MSIF’s agricultural focus, targeting digital on-farm tools, fertiliser efficiency, and satellite monitoring, addresses the emissions domain where breakthrough is most needed and where existing tools are insufficient to close the gap to 2030 at the required pace.
- 2025: 50% reduction in gap to sustainable water use globally (confirmed miss; ongoing improvement toward 2030 successor target)
- 2025: 100% packaging RRC by design (confirmed miss; continuing toward 100% goal with revised timeline)
- 2030: 50% full value chain GHG reduction vs 2015 baseline
- 2030: physically segregated cocoa supply chain with full traceability from farm to factory
- 2030: more than 1 million acres of regenerative agriculture active globally
- 2040: 100% renewable electricity at operations
- 2050: net zero across Scopes 1, 2, and 3
- MSIF deployment: $250 million to be invested through direct investments and fund partnerships in advanced agriculture, innovative ingredients, and next-generation packaging from 2025 onward
- Post-2025 water target: new framework expected following the confirmed 2025 shortfall, likely incorporating watershed-level stewardship targets
- Cocoa Responsibly Sourced Programme: full supplier coverage through physically segregated supply chain by 2030
Source
https://www.mars.com/sustainability-plan/healthy-planet/net-zero-2050
https://www.esgtoday.com/mars-targets-segregated-responsibly-sourced-cocoa-supply-chain-by-2030/
https://www.sdgnews.com/mars-launches-250-million-sustainability-investment-fund-to-accelerate-climate-solutions/
https://carboncredits.com/mars-invests-250m-in-sustainable-innovations-to-boost-net-zero-journey/
https://www.mars.com/sustainability-plan/sustainability-report-progress
Comparisons to Industry Competitors
Mars, Mondelēz, and Nestlé are the three largest global confectionery companies with SBTi-validated climate commitments, published annual sustainability reports, and comparable cocoa and agricultural supply chain exposure.
Mars leads all three on capital commitment transparency, having publicly stated both the $1 billion-plus three-year investment and the new $250 million MSIF in absolute terms with defined use-of-capital descriptions. Mondelēz leads on packaging design-for-recyclability at 96% vs Mars’s 64.1%, though both figures represent design intent rather than real-world recyclability. Nestlé leads all three on operational renewable electricity at 91.9% vs Mars’s 58% and Mondelēz’s 54%. Mars’s absolute GHG reduction of 16.4% since 2015 during 69% revenue growth is the most analytically significant decoupling result across the three companies. Mars’s privately held status means its agricultural sourcing disclosures are voluntarily published without stock market disclosure obligations, which gives them different transparency dynamics compared to the listed companies.
Source
https://trellis.net/article/mars-sustainability-report-three-takeaways/
https://www.mars.com/sustainability-plan/sustainability-report-progress
https://csrwire.com/press-release/mondelez-2024-snacking-made-right-report-climate-change/
https://www.nestle.com/sites/default/files/2025-02/non-financial-statement-2024.pdf
What to Watch: 12 to 18 Month Indicators
Three signals will determine whether Mars’s sustainability standing strengthens or weakens between mid-2026 and end-2027.
First, the GHG annual reduction rate against the 2030 trajectory. At 1.9% annual reduction in 2024, Mars must increase its annual pace to approximately 5.5% per year to reach the 50% cumulative target by 2030. The 2025 and 2026 Sustainable in a Generation Reports will confirm whether the MSIF and the 60-plus agricultural projects are beginning to accelerate the rate. Watch specifically for whether annual reduction in 2025 and 2026 exceeds 3% per year, which would indicate that the agricultural project portfolio is delivering measurable scale-up in emissions reduction. If the pace remains at 1.9% or below, the 2030 target becomes credibly unachievable without a significant structural intervention in the agricultural sourcing base.
Second, MSIF deployment and first investee disclosures. The $250 million Mars Sustainability Investment Fund was announced in July 2025 with no disclosed investee companies, fund structures, or committed capital allocations. The 2025 Sustainable in a Generation Report (due July 2026) should confirm the first direct investments and fund partnerships, the specific agricultural, ingredient, and packaging technologies receiving capital, and any measurable emissions reduction or circularity outcomes attributable to MSIF investees. If the 2026 report provides only programme descriptions without measurable first-year outcomes, the MSIF will be treated as an announcement rather than an operational programme. Given the 2030 target gap, first-year impact data from MSIF investments is material information, not just supplementary context.
Third, cocoa physical segregation programme progress and CLMRS expansion. Mars has committed to physically segregating its entire cocoa supply chain by 2030, covering more than 350,000 farmers. The CLMRS currently covers 58,000 farming households, representing approximately 17% of the total farmer base. In the 12 to 18 month window, watch for the Cocoa for Generations 2025 Progress Report (expected late 2025) to confirm the rate of CLMRS household expansion, the number of farms enrolled in the Responsibly Sourced Cocoa Programme, and the progress of supply chain infrastructure redesign enabling physical segregation. If CLMRS coverage is not on a trajectory to reach the full 350,000 farmer base by 2028 to 2029 at the latest, the 2030 physical segregation target will require a step change in programme investment and execution capacity.
Source
https://www.mars.com/sustainability-plan/sustainability-report-progress
https://www.esgdive.com/news/mars-unveils-emissions-reduction-progress-launches-msif-250m-green-investment-fund/752604/
https://www.esgtoday.com/mars-targets-segregated-responsibly-sourced-cocoa-supply-chain-by-2030/
https://www.cocoainitiative.org/news/news-partners/mars-publishes-human-rights-cocoa-supply-chain-report
https://carboncredits.com/mars-invests-250m-in-sustainable-innovations-to-boost-net-zero-journey/
Mars has delivered the most analytically compelling decarbonisation result in the global confectionery and pet food sector: 16.4% absolute GHG reduction while growing by 69% in net sales since 2015. This is not an intensity-based result normalised per unit of production; it is an absolute reduction in total tonnes emitted across the full value chain during sustained commercial growth. The $1 billion-plus three-year investment programme and the $250 million MSIF signal that the company is deploying its private ownership balance sheet advantage in a way that listed peers constrained by quarterly earnings pressure cannot easily replicate.
The challenge is the arithmetic of the 2030 target. At 16.4% cumulative reduction over nine years, reaching 50% by 2030 requires the annual pace to accelerate from the 2024 rate of 1.9% to approximately 5.5% per year for six consecutive years. The agricultural sourcing base, which drives approximately 70% of total emissions, does not respond to procurement decisions or energy contracts in the same way that operational electricity does. Changing farming practices at scale, across 350,000-plus cocoa farmers, 1,445 SARI rice farmers, and almond growers in the US, requires sustained multi-year agronomic support, financial incentives, and government coordination that no single company’s investment programme can deliver unilaterally.
Three strategic takeaways for practitioners benchmarking or replicating this approach:
- Private ownership is a structural sustainability advantage that should be actively deployed. Mars’s ability to commit more than $1 billion in sustainability investment without announcing a return timeline or per-share earnings impact is a direct function of its private ownership. Practitioners advising sustainability strategy at family-owned or private equity-backed food companies should treat this structural flexibility as a genuine competitive asset for long-term supply chain transformation, not just a disclosure advantage.
- Agricultural emissions require venture capital logic, not procurement compliance logic. Mars’s MSIF deployment in digital on-farm tools, fertiliser efficiency, and satellite monitoring treats the agricultural decarbonisation problem as requiring breakthrough technology solutions, not just better supplier codes of conduct. Practitioners designing Scope 3 agricultural reduction programmes should adopt a portfolio investment approach to agricultural technology, accepting that some investments will fail while seeking the 3 to 5 breakthrough solutions that can scale to millions of hectares.
- Packaging design-for-recyclability and real-world recyclability are not the same metric, and conflating them reduces ESG credibility. Mars’s shift from measuring recyclable in practice (approximately 20%) to recyclable by design (64.1%) inflated the headline figure without any change in real-world circularity. Practitioners reporting packaging sustainability should publish both the design-intent figure and the infrastructure-verified recyclability figure, and invest in the collection, sorting, and recycling infrastructure partnerships that close the gap between them.
Source
https://trellis.net/article/mars-sustainability-report-three-takeaways/
https://www.esgdive.com/news/mars-unveils-emissions-reduction-progress-launches-msif-250m-green-investment-fund/752604/
https://globalaginvesting.com/snack-brand-mars-launches-250m-sustainability-fund-to-reduce-ag-input-emissions/
https://www.packagingdive.com/news/mars-2024-sustainability-report-pcr-postconsumer-recycled-content/752198/
https://www.mars.com/sustainability-plan/healthy-planet/net-zero-2050
