Chocolate giant Mars pledges to spend $1bn to fight climate change

Chocolate giant Mars has pledged to spend more than $1 billion in the next few years to fight the climate change.

The chocolate maker plans to launch a 'Sustainability in a Generation’ drive, which will target investments in food sourcing, cross-industry action groups, renewable energy, and farmers.

Maker of globally popular confectionery products such as Twix, M&Ms, and Snickers, Mars aims to reduce the carbon footprint of its business and supply chain by more than 60 percent by 2050.

While speaking with the Business Insider, its chief sustainability officer, Barry Parkin, said,

We've been increasingly worried about overall progress on the big issues, whether that's climate change or solving poverty. There are obviously commitments the world is leaning into but, frankly, we don't think we're getting there fast enough collectively. We're trying to go all in here.

This is not the first time that the candy-maker has espoused sustainability. It has made several efforts in the past towards this goal. Eighty-two Mars facilities, including all 12 in the United Kingdom and 70 in the US are run entirely with power generated by wind farms in Texas and Scotland. The company has also committed to utilise solar and wind energy farms to power its operations in another nine countries by 2018.

Mars was also one of the biggest corporations to sign a petition against Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.

Fox News quoted Mars CEO Grant F. Reid as saying in a press statement,

Mars has been in business for four generations and intends to be for the next four generations. We're doing this because it's the right thing to do but also because it's good business.

Parkin further said, "We're a food business, which is based on agriculture, so we care a lot about the farmers who supply us around the world. Climate science says many of those are going to be challenged as the world gets warmer. We care about this, both on a societal level but also on a business level."

This announcement comes ahead of the September 18 start of the United Nations General Assembly and Climate Week in New York City.

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