Snacking giant Mars, Incorporated recently published its 2025 Sustainable in a Generation report, outlining the progress made across areas such as renewable energy – where it recently achieved 100% renewable electricity across its US operations – emissions reduction, agriculture and investment.
At the recent Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit in Vienna, SustainabilityOnline had the chance to catch up with Melanie Bednar, general manager for Mars Snacking in Austria and Switzerland, to discuss how Mars is seeking to ensure that sustainability and business growth can progress together. As she explains, Mars’ longstanding family-owned business model encourages decisions that support future generations.
“Mars generates around €55 billion in revenue, and has around 170,000 associates,” she says. “If I think about my area in particular – snacking – every second of every day, around a thousand Mars snacks are consumed around the globe. So, we are huge. And, with that, comes huge responsibility.
“For us, it’s really important that we think in generations, because we’re a family-owned business in its fourth and fifth generations. We really want the business to be sustainable, but also to help create a sustainable planet and environment so that our kids can live on a healthy and thriving planet.”
Mars has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2050, and according to its latest progress report, since 2015, the company has reduced emissions by 16.9% while growing the business by 75% over the same period.
“That’s a very good example of our approach,” says Bednar.
Sustainable investment
All ten Mars Snacking facilities in Europe now operate using renewable electricity or biogas, while four in five products sold in Europe are manufactured locally, reflecting the business’s efforts to optimise its supply chain. The company is also running 77 smart agriculture projects across 26 countries, covering 10 crops, including initiatives to develop more climate-resilient and sustainable commodities.
“For example, we’ve been investing in developing peanuts that are more resilient to drought and other climate-related challenges,” says Bednar. “We’ve also been working with farmers on how to grow rice in a more sustainable way going forward – how to grow rice ‘right’, if you like.
“Elsewhere, we’ve been training farmers and working with them on how to collaborate better across the industry so that their crops are more resilient. And for our pet nutrition products, we’re looking at how we can grow more resilient wheat to support that. So, these are some very tangible areas in which we have made progress.”
She adds that long-term partnerships with farmers are central to Mars’ approach, combining training, technical support and ongoing commercial relationships to build more resilient agricultural supply chains.
“When you train farmers in how to make their agricultural practices more sustainable, it becomes very clear that you’re not only interested in doing business, but also in supporting them and their local communities, and in helping them build more sustainable livelihoods,” she says.
Sustainable behaviours
Mars adopts a ‘whole of value chain’ approach to encourage more sustainable behaviours – working with retailers to improve how products are presented and delivered in stores, with a view to make more sustainable options part of consumers’ shopping experience. Bednar cites the use of retail displays made from renewable materials, including cocoa bean by-products and bamboo, as one example of this in action.
“With this in mind, we’re able to reach consumers without necessarily asking them, ‘Do you want to be more sustainable?’ We’re literally putting those options in their hands. That’s really what we’re working on, from packaging to ingredients, across the entire value chain.”
Bednar also notes that Mars’ sustainability strategy is driven by internal accountability – along with measuring progress through its annual Sustainable in a Generation reports, it adheres to the Mars Compass, an internal framework that includes sustainability targets within the performance objectives of senior global leaders.
“That gets really personal, because our senior global leaders have sustainability metrics built into their KPIs,” she says. “They are measured on how much they’re contributing towards our sustainability goals.
“At the same time, that’s not something we necessarily go out and market, or promote. It’s something we embed throughout our value chain.”
The role of collaboration
Looking ahead, Bednar believes that collaboration offers the greatest opportunity to accelerate sustainability progress across the food industry, and align efforts to drive positive change.
“I think we need to talk to each other more and collaborate more – both within the industry and across the entire end-to-end value chain,” she says. “That’s the approach we try to take, working closely with retailers and considering every stage, from farmers right through to consumers.
“Looking at the whole chain is key. When you collaborate together and when you exchange ideas, that’s how you make the fastest progress.”
Learn more about Mars’ latest Sustainable in a Generation report here.
