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Mars investing $1bn to clean cocoa supply chain

Written by: Supply Chain Online
Published on: 21 Sep 2018

MARS NEWS

Mars investing $1bn to clean cocoa supply chain

Mars has announced that it is investing up to $1bn to improve the sustainability and ethics of its cocoa supply chain. Mars, which has a popular range of chocolate products around the world, aims to achieve significant inroads within the next ten years.

This news comes as Mars says that it will look to ensure that it has responsibly sourced supply lines of cocoa in all its products by 2025. Its responsible sourcing criteria includes making sure that it doesn’t contribute to child labour or deforestation, and paying the farmers more if they engage in sustainable practices.

Mars said that despite being a part of both the Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance certification schemes, it feels that these have not moved with the times and are insufficient for what is needed to protect vital world resources that form key parts of its product lines.

The company believes that its own intentions are better placed to deliver fair wages for farmers, alongside sustainable practices. Farmers’ wages have been dropping as a whole despite a rise in demand for cocoa, and Mars has decided to act.

In 2017, Mars and 12 other major companies closely linked with cocoa producers launched the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF). This aims to prevent deforestation where possible, as well as any degradation of the forests already there in regions growing cocoa.

Mars acknowledges that although it and others have been working on this in the past, not enough has happened. With consumers and companies both being more concerned about the impact of production on the planet, Mars aims to use technological advances to find solutions.

These include improving traceability in its supply chain, with GPS mapping to track where each shipment of cocoa comes from. It will also work with 75,000 farmers directly to help improve their sustainable output, become more productive, and also find new ways to diversify crop streams.