Mars Launches $250 Million Fund to Drive Sustainability Innovation

Mars, Incorporated has launched the Mars Sustainability Investment Fund (MSIF), a US$250 million initiative to accelerate innovation in sustainable agriculture, low-carbon ingredients, and next-generation packaging. The investment initiative is one of the key elements of the company's overall sustainability plan under its Sustainable in a Generation business plan.

MSIF will directly invest and invest in investment funds. It will invest in start-ups and established companies that are creating technology and solutions addressing environmental issues along Mars' global value chain and product offering.

The three-pillar structuring of the fund is centered on Advanced Agriculture, Innovative Ingredients and Raw Materials, as articulated as Next Generation Packaging. These three are centered around Mars' strategic imperative to facilitate transformation in agriculture, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and minimize environmental footprint from packaging.

Mars had a 1.9% decrease in greenhouse gases in 2024 relative to its 2015 baseline as the company achieved unprecedented business growth. During the same timeframe, net sales increased by 69% to nearly US$55 billion a year. The achievement shows Mars' effort to break the correlation between business expansion and carbon footprint expansion.

The firm today oversees more than 60 climate-smart agriculture initiatives across the world. They cover 13 crops and 29 nations and are aimed at implementing sustainable practices in priority sourcing areas. In Indonesia's North Sumatra, for instance, Mars has helped palm oil smallholders transition to certification to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) standard, safeguarding 8,000 hectares of forest.

Other major agricultural initiatives include KIND Almond Acres Initiative that has contributed to a 17% increase in water efficiency and Sustainable Aromatic Rice Initiative (SARI) in Thailand that has improved rice yield with a major cut in water consumption.

Mars in the dairy industry is implementing its Moo'ving Dairy Forward Sustainable Dairy Plan. The company has invested more than US$47 million over the course of three years to assist in lowering greenhouse gas emissions from its dairy supply chain. This is consistent with wider industry movements towards sustainable sourcing and greenhouse gas reduction in high-impact sectors of food production.

MSIF initiative facilitates the organisation's broader strategic move towards embedding climate performance within operational responsibility. Mars has expanded the scope of senior leaders whose remuneration is now tied to reducing emissions—from 400 to almost 2,000. This action is intended to make action on climate a normal business responsibility throughout the organisation.

Mars has set up this fund as an out-and-out long-term approach to handling environmental risk, and to release potential competitive benefit. By investing ahead of time in sustainable technologies and materials, the business aims to create future strength and push the innovation towards environmental and economic performance.

Mars also aims to create climate-smart routes to successful business, embedding sustainability into its core as a reality of competitive business today, rather than a regulatory issue. The investment fund is an extension of this comprehensive approach to transforming businesses by marrying money with strategic, focused intervention to make a tangible environmental impact.

The creation of the MSIF is evidence of an increased awareness on the part of global businesses that long-term profitability hinges on going green. In response to regulators, customers, and investors, corporations are increasingly putting climate-oriented goals on investment and business strategy.
As Mars keeps building agriculture, packaging, and ingredient-making investments, the fund will likely be more focused on making more opportunities for collaboration with outside innovators and tech builders. It has said that it is confident that it will keep moving forward, even as it knows full well that some of its projects will run into obstacles along the way.

By linking financial strategy to sustainability objectives, Mars is committed to growth without hurting the planet. MSIF is a model of how big businesses can use capital investment in promoting the uptake of sustainable practices through value chains.

Source and Credits:

According to company statements and reports released on 7 July 2025. Image and content credit: Mars, Incorporated.