Mars Wrigley UK has announced that Mars bars sold in the UK and Ireland will be certified as carbon neutral by Jan 1, 2023.
This move will make the Mars bar, which has annual sales of over 200 million bars in the UK alone, the first carbon neutral chocolate bar to appear on British and Irish shelves that is produced by a top 5 confectionery company.
The new pledge, which also includes Mars bars sold in Canada, represents tangible climate action less than a month after Mars Incorporated, Mars Wrigley’s parent company, announcedits commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions across its full value chain by 2050.
Mars Wrigley is committed to doing more and aims to reduce the Mars bar carbon footprint by over 20 per cent in the UK and Ireland by 2023. This will be a result of the company supercharging its efforts to sustainably transform supply chain agricultural practices, including using satellite data to geo-map cocoa farms and accelerated partnerships with suppliers to produce dairy more sustainably.
Mars Wrigley UK has also announced that the Mars bar will be trialed in fully recyclable paper packaging starting in 2022.
The greenhouse gas reductions and high-quality offsets used for Mars bar to go carbon neutral in 2023 are expected to be roughly equivalent to charging more than 13 billion smartphones, or the same amount of carbon sequestered by around 135,000 acres of forest in a year.
Adam Grant, Mars Wrigley UK General Manager said:“At Mars, we believe that actions speak louder than words and, to create a world tomorrow where our planet is healthy, we are clear that bold action must be taken today. Our pledge to deliver a certified carbon neutral Mars bar in the UK and Ireland by January 1st, 2023, supported by significant reductions in the near term, is the kind of immediate climate protection intervention needed to deliver a sustainable tomorrow.”
Mars has been driving climate action for more than a decade. The Mars bar, which has been manufactured in Slough for nearly 90 years, is already produced in a factory that sources 100 per cen renewable electricity.
