Originally published on LinkedIn by Andy Pharoah(Opens a new window), Vice President, Corporate Affairs & Sustainability at Mars
In honor of the 50th Earth Day 2020, my Mars colleagues found creative ways to honor the planet while at home, drawing inspiration from the sense of community and desire for collective action we are feeling during COVID-19. Reflecting on this reminds me of the importance of our ongoing work at Mars to deliver our Sustainable in a Generation Plan. Despite the challenges we face as a business from coronavirus, we aren’t wavering from our key sustainability commitments. We’re applying The Five Principles and Purpose as a privately held, family business to guide our response – doing our part to keep Mars Associates safe, flatten the curve and support communities.
We’re drawing on these principles to make progress¬ against our sustainability ambitions – building critical partnerships and new approaches, like working with United Nations Development Programme(Opens a new window) and others to support The Lion’s Share Fund(Opens a new window), to address the shocking decrease in biodiversity.
Accelerating what is already in our Palm Positive Plan to deliver 100% deforestation-free palm oil by the end of 2020 and advance respect for human rights across our suppliers’ extended supply chains.
Reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions across our value chain by 27% by 2025 and 67% by 2050 because, based on the science, that’s what needed for us to do our part to keep the planet from warming beyond 2 degrees Celsius.
We’re making progress, but there is still more to do. And COVID-19 is further revealing the critical connection between the planet’s health and human health.
During the pandemic, and beyond, we remain 100% committed to doing business in a way that positively impacts people and our planet. Our climate actions in this next decade will define us as a generation of leaders and the future of the generations that follow us.
