Mars credits sustainable farming focus for continued emissions reduction

Mars says agricultural partnerships to increase farming sustainability and resilience have been instrumental in decoupling emissions from growth – and is doubling down on this focus with a new US$250 million fund.

The food company has reported a 1.9% reduction in absolute greenhouse gas emissions in 2024 – all the while continuing to grow its business. In total since 2015, Mars has cut its carbon footprint by 16.4% while increasing sales by 69% to US$55 billion per year.

The company credits its more than 60 sustainable agriculture projects in 29 countries as the main reason for this success: current initiatives include the Livelihoods Fund for Family Farmers, which has helped 932 farmers in North Sumatra receive Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification, a US$47 million investment over three years to help reduce GHG emissions in its dairy supply chain, and a sustainable rice project that has increased yield while reducing water use in Thailand.

Launch of the Mars Sustainability Investment Fund

To spur further progress, Mars has launched the US$250 million Mars Sustainability Investment Fund (MSIF) to invest in advanced agriculture, innovative ingredients and raw materials, and next-generation packaging.

In the first category, capital will be allocated to technologies that reduce the emissions associated with agricultural inputs in our products; in the second, Mars will support the development of lower-emissions and healthy alternatives to traditional ingredients; and in the third, the firm will back packaging solutions designed for circularity. (Mars is also one of the businesses pushing for a legally binding Global Plastics Treaty.)

Alastair Child, Mars Chief Sustainability Officer, said: “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.”  

Sustainability-linked compensation

Linking bonuses to sustainability performance is an effective lever to deliver a company’s climate strategy, and Mars is one of many companies using it. 

In 2024, it expanded the number of leaders who have their long-term compensation tied to GHG emissions reductions from the top 400 to around 2,000, in order to further embed responsible practices across the business.

Poul Weihrauch, Mars CEO, added: “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 advance 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.”