Mars, a global leader in snacking, food, and pet care products, has announced a bold commitment to achieve a physically segregated global cocoa supply chain by 2030. This ambitious goal builds on the company’s existing efforts to only use responsibly sourced cocoa in its products, aiming to create greater transparency and sustainability within its cocoa sourcing practices. This is part of a broader strategy for Mars to address the sustainability challenges inherent in the cocoa supply chain, including environmental and human rights concerns.
As one of the largest users of cocoa, Mars is linked through its supply chain to over 350,000 farmers worldwide. Over time, cocoa sourcing has been linked with various risks in the environment that include deforestation, ecosystem, and climate changes. Other associated human rights factors are child labor, forced labor, and extreme poverty in different regions of its production. Noting these various challenges, Mars is looking for a way of revamping their cocoa sourcing systems to make supply chains more sustainable and ethical.
The segregated global cocoa supply chain plan for Mars means that all its products, by 2030, will be cocoa produced and sourced from farms that participate in the Mars Responsibly Sourced Cocoa Program or will meet the certification standards of recognized certification bodies, such as Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, and others approved by Mars. This is expected to bring greater visibility to the cocoa sourcing process, enabling Mars to trace its cocoa directly to the farms and farming organizations that supply it.
Mars will segregate cocoa from different sources in order to maintain a higher level of transparency and control over its cocoa supply chain. This would allow the company to provide much-needed support to the suppliers, the farming organizations, and the farmers directly. The help will be more targeted on developing human rights, labor conditions, and environmentally sound practices. On the other hand, the separate supply chain shall also aid Mars in its further sustainability efforts because the cocoa it sources will be traceable, right from the first point of purchase.
This program expands on the company’s commitment to responsible sourcing, which has been a cornerstone of its sustainability strategy for many years. Mars’ existing Responsibly Sourced Cocoa Program ensures that 100% of the cocoa used in its products is responsibly sourced and traceable to its origin. The company has invested heavily in this program, striving to improve the livelihoods of farmers and mitigate environmental risks in cocoa-producing regions. With the new segregated supply chain, Mars is going to take this commitment one step further by physically separating cocoa that meets its standards from cocoa from other sources. The company will also segregate cocoa ingredients from other ingredients during processing, ensuring that only certified and traceable cocoa is used in its products.
According to Harper McConnell, Mars’ Global Vice President of Cocoa Sustainability, an integrated supply chain for cocoa is a huge undertaking. McConnell maintains the move is part of the long-term, holistic approach to creating a modern and sustainable cocoa ecosystem, helping Mars to better concentrate its interventions where the communities will be needing it most – in support of cocoa-growing communities. The visibility and traceability of its sourcing will be improved as Mars will deal effectively with the challenges facing the cocoa industry, including environmental degradation and human rights abuses.
Mars has already invested heavily in cocoa sustainability. In 2018, it made the public announcement that it was committing an additional $1 billion USD to its ‘Cocoa for Generations’ strategy, which looks at some of the key issues in the cocoa industry. It targets enhancing environmental sustainability, improving the well-being of farmers, and making a more inclusive and equitable cocoa industry. One of the broader goals that Mars has committed to is a Net Zero target for all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its whole value chain by 2050. The company set an interim target to reduce half the emissions by 2030 with specific focuses on areas where it has issues, such as deforestation.
The introduction of a segregated cocoa supply chain is one of the significant steps Mars is taking in creating a more transparent, sustainable, and ethical model for sourcing cocoa. This move will help Mars make a positive contribution to the global effort of addressing the environmental and human rights challenges associated with cocoa production. The company aims to establish a cocoa industry that is inclusive, sustainable, and able to sustain the needs of both the farmers and consumers.