The consequences of climate change, such as changing temperatures and rainfall patterns, floods, droughts, and the spread of pests and diseases, are putting whole habitats and communities at risk.
This is relevant to Mars because climate change is likely to affect farmers’ ability to grow crucial crops for Mars, from corn to cocoa – threatening the livelihoods of farmers as well as our business. According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global greenhouse gas emissions must be cut by approximately 80 percent by 2050 to keep mean global temperatures within two degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels and prevent dangerous consequences.
We are committed to reducing our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in absolute terms, because this is the right thing to do. As climate change has implications for the production of agricultural ingredients, addressing it requires changes to the way we source materials and manufacture our products.
Mars, Incorporated Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Meaningful emissions-reduction strategies and targets must address GHGs across our value chain. Using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol1, and other relevant data sources, we have calculated our GHG emissions as follows:
~6%: scope 1 emissions from direct energy and fuel consumption in our factories, offices and vehicles
~8%: scope 2 emissions from purchased electricity used in our factories and offices
~86%: scope 3 emissions from purchased raw materials2, packaging3 and other goods and services, plus other aspects of our value chain, such as transportation of raw materials and products, business travel, our products in use and waste generated in our operations4.
Tackling scope 1 and 2 emissions
Based on the IPCC estimates of what is necessary to prevent dangerous levels of climate change, we have committed to eliminating GHG emissions from our factories and offices (our operations) by 2040. We have set an interim target to reduce operational emissions by 25 percent by 2015 in absolute terms, from a 2007 baseline. These targets do not yet cover scope 1 emissions from the company cars Mars owns or leases, though we are working to reduce these emissions through better route planning to reduce mileage, for example. Read about our strategy for achieving these targets in Our Operations.
Tackling scope 3 emissions
Approximately 65 percent of our scope 3 emissions and 56 percent of our total GHG emissions relate to the production of the goods and services we purchase, and agricultural raw materials in particular. Agriculture releases GHG emissions in many ways, including energy used during farming and the production of pesticides, fertilizers and animal feeds, methane and/or nitrous oxide from livestock, crops and fertilizer use, and land use changes, such as forest clearance.
To find lasting and scalable ways to reduce emissions in our supply chain, we must collaborate with scientific experts and others. We are working with partners, including the University of California, Davis, The Sustainability Consortium, the Sustainable Food Lab, the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform and the University of Cambridge to develop a strategy for fostering sustainable agriculture in our supply chain. Reducing GHG emissions is central to this program.
See Our Supply Chain for more about how we are reducing the impacts of sourcing our key raw materials.
1 Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standards and Corporate Value Chain Accounting and Reporting Standard
2 Emissions from raw materials sourced based on usage of 102 raw materials and global emissions factors from LCA database or commissioned analyses.
3 Packaging calculated in collaboration with Sustainable Packaging Alliance’s Packaging Impact Quick Evaluation Tool (PIQET) and their LCA based modeling with unique emissions factors for 11 countries and including impacts of recycled content and end-of-life scenarios.