For more than a century, Mars, Incorporated has been driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. This idea is at the center of who we have always been as a global, family-owned business. Today, Mars is transforming, innovating and evolving in ways that affirm our commitment to making a positive impact on the world around us.
5 years ago - At the One Planet Summit in Paris last week, a kid in the audience asked the question: “Isn’t it too late to make a difference in climate change?” The question certainly resonates. From the latest flurry of climate conferences and warnings from scientists, we tend to hear a lot of doom. Many say we’re not going fast enough, we’re missing the targets, or “we need action, we’ve had enough talk!”, as summed up Governor of California Jerry Brown at the One Planet Summit, a high-level event organized by French President Emmanuel Macron that convened leaders from all over the world to showcase and find solutions to our greatest problem.
5 years ago - As an issue putting nearly a trillion dollars at risk, deforestation has quickly become a front-of-mind concern for businesses dependent on forest-risk commodities, such as timber, palm oil and cocoa. However, new data released by the Forest 500 shows that the 250 companies with the greatest influence over forests are failing to adequately address deforestation risks, and will not meet 2020 goals to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains.
5 years ago - An estimated 750,000 farmers in India produce 80 percent of the world’s supply of mint and the oil derived from the crop — commonly referred to as “liquid gold” — is an important source of income for farmers.
5 years ago - At COP23, the largest cocoa-producing countries, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, announced far-reaching frameworks for action with leading chocolate and cocoa companies, including Cargill, General Mills, Hershey, Mars, Mondelēz International and Nestlé, to end deforestation and restore forest areas.
5 years ago - Soy and beef production have played significant roles in the exploitation of the Amazonian rainforest, but the rollout of regulations to protect these precious natural resources have had unexpected consequences, driving these activities into regions that have largely been left untouched, such as Brazil’s Cerrado, a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of 2 million square kilometers.
5 years ago - With 8 million tonnes of plastic entering the ocean each year, we urgently need to change the way we make and use plastics, so that they don’t become waste in the first place. A host of announcements from major CPG companies and NGOs today from the Our Ocean 2017 conference in Malta signal the ongoing momentum behind the issue.
5 years ago - A new survey from The Climate Group and change agency Futerra has revealed that a majority of people globally are optimistic about our ability to address climate change, with 64 percent of global citizens believing that climate change can be addressed if action is taken now.
5 years ago - Ahead of Climate Week NYC 2017, which runs from September 18–24, a surge of global companies announced their commitment to the Science Based Targets Initiative, driving the number of businesses committed to setting science-based emissions reductions targets upwards of 300. This year, more than 90 new companies have joined, demonstrating the private sector's commitment to aligning its efforts to tackle climate change with the Paris Agreement’s goal to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius.
5 years ago - Sustainability consulting group Quantis, in conjunction with a pre-competitive consortium of over 40 private companies, NGOs, governments and scientific institutions, has released the Land Use Change Guidance: Accounting for Emissions in the Supply Chain.
5 years ago - While it has widely been accepted that business-as-usual practices are not synonymous with a sustainable future, business still needs a nudge in the right direction, according to MARS CEO Grant F. Reid, who has called out the need for transformational, cross-industry collaboration to tackle the most pressing social and environmental challenges.
5 years ago - Only one month after 175 CEOs came together to launch the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™, nearly 100 additional CEOs have taken the pledge, committing themselves — and the organizations they lead — to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
5 years ago - We are excited to announce that The “Land Use Change Guidance: Accounting for GHG Emissions in the Supply Chain” project will soon enter a pilot phase. The Guidance is the fruit of a pre-competitive consortium, convened by Quantis, of over 40 private companies, governments, NGOs and experts to provide a reference document to guide accurate and reliable accounting for climate change impacts of land across supply chains. “{The Guidance} is a ground-breaking effort that will result in widely recognized and scientifically robust methodology,” according to Nicko Debenham, VP Global Cocoa Sustainability & MD Biolands for Barry Callebaut.
5 years ago - If there’s one group that’s basking in the long shadow cast by Donald Trump’s ill-fated decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, it’s business.
5 years ago - In a bid to eradicate forced labor in global supply chains, a problem that affects 21 million people worldwide, The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) has released a new report, Business Actions Against Forced Labor, highlighting best practices in tackling the issue.
5 years ago - In recent years, Unilever has distinguished itself both as a champion for sustainability and overcoming gender bias with campaigns, initiatives and internal actions that work to align the company’s products and purpose. Further building on this reputation, the consumer goods giant has launched a new global alliance aimed at eliminating stereotypical portrayals of gender in advertising and all brand-led content.
6 years ago - While telegraphed for days and choreographed down to the military band playing soft jazz in the background before the announcement, President Trump’s June 01, 2017 declaration that the U.S. will pull out of the Paris Agreement still jarred and dismayed.
6 years ago - To make it easier for companies to reduce their environmental impacts, businesses such as Kering, Interserve, Mars and Asda have banded together to develop a new healthy ecosystem metric designed to support companies as they make the transition to a more sustainable business model.
6 years ago - The problem of marine plastics continues to be a top priority across the globe, spurring even more businesses and organizations to dig in their heels and find create new solutions to the growing issue. Continuing its efforts to keep plastics out of the ocean, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has teamed up with The Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit to launch a $2 million New Plastics Economy Innovation Prize.
6 years ago - World-leading chemical company, BASF today announced its membership of the Circular Economy 100 (CE100). As the latest corporate member of the programme, BASF embarks on a three-year partnership to bring about opportunities for a circular economy within new business models and new solutions. BASF 'creates chemistry for a viable future'. In combining economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility, it enables its customers and its entire value chain to meet the current and future needs of society. Through science and innovation, BASF investigates techniques for decreasing material use while keeping function and durability at its highest utility.
6 years ago - Twelve of the world’s leading cocoa and chocolate companies have agreed to collectively work towards ending deforestation and forest degradation in the global cocoa supply chain, with an initial focus on Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. The agreement commits the participating companies to develop and present a joint public-private framework of action to address deforestation at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP23) meeting in Bonn, Germany in November 2017.