Mars, Incorporated Awarded 2016’s Climate Leadership Award for Organizational Leadership by EPA

At Mars, sustainability is central to delivering growth we can be proud of. Striving for the highest environmental standards across all our operations ensures the Mars. Inc. family of brands can thrive for generations to come. That’s why we’re honored to be recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the recipient of this year’s Climate Leadership Award for Organizational Leadership. The award, presented in partnership with the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) and The Climate Registry, was received by Mars Global Sustainability Director Kevin Rabinovich at the EPA’s Climate Leadership Conference last night in Seattle, WA.

"It was an honor to receive this award on behalf of all the associates at Mars who work on the Sustainable in a Generation program. External recognition like this and the moving words of Administrator McCarthy inspires us to continue our efforts." - Kevin Rabinovitch – Global Sustainability Director, Mars, Incorporated

This is an important recognition for us and confirms our effort to set aspirational goals that enable us to do more. We’ve been tracking our operations and supply chain impacts against planetary and societal boundaries since 2009 – basing our decisions on the best available scientific data, collaborating with a broad variety of partners and stakeholders, and working directly with suppliers to achieve lasting results. Below are highlights from some of our recent efforts:

• Absolute emissions goal: We set an absolute GHG emissions reduction goal of 25 percent by 2015 – from 2007 levels – for global operations and are on track to achieve that. Next: eliminating 100 percent of our GHG emissions by 2040.
• Sustainable in a Generation (SiG): Through SiG, our operations sustainability program, we are working to achieve our climate, water and waste targets via three work streams:
  • Efficiency improvement through operational changes and capital investment;
  • Breakthrough technology centered on finding more sustainable ways to manufacture and formulate products; and
  • Use of renewable energy.
• Energy footprint: We’re implementing energy efficiency measures as well as increasing our use of renewable energy. For example, Mars Chocolate in Haguenau, France, uses steam generated from a nearby waste energy facility to meet 90 percent of the site’s heating needs and lower energy-related GHG emissions by 60 percent. Additionally, in 2015, we set a 20-year commitment to purchase power from a wind farm in Mesquite Creek, TX, that provides the equivalent of 12 percent of our global energy requirements – or all our U.S. power needs – and eliminates 24 percent of our global GHG emissions.
• Combating deforestation: Our Deforestation Policy, launched in 2014, recognizes the need to protect forests and biodiversity, minimize the carbon footprint of our supply chain and respect human rights. To combat deforestation in our supply chain, we are only sourcing raw materials with the greatest impact on forests (beef, palm oil, pulp and paper, and soy) from producers and suppliers who comply with the highest possible standards.

While we are proud of our efforts, we recognize that we can’t address many of these issues alone. They require the strength of collective action, and we are partnering with stakeholders such as the World Resources Institute (WRI) and taking leadership positions in collaborative organizations such as We Mean Business’ RE100 initiative and The Sustainability Consortium.

• We joined several other leading companies to draft and sign WWF and WRI’s Renewable Energy Buyers’ Principles to simplify operating within the renewable energy market.
• We contributed to the development of the new GHG Protocol Scope 2 reporting standard and the Science Based Target setting initiative developed jointly by WRI, WWF and CDP.
• With the University of California-Davis, University of Arkansas, and the USDA Agricultural Research Service, we are working to develop an alternate wetting and drying irrigation approach that saves water and reduces methane emissions from rice fields, given agriculture’s high carbon footprint.

While we are proud of our efforts, we recognize that we can’t address many of these issues alone. They require the strength of collective action, and we are partnering with stakeholders such as the World Resources Institute (WRI) and taking leadership positions in collaborative organizations such as We Mean Business’ RE100 initiative and The Sustainability Consortium.