Mars, a prominent provider of snacks, food, and pet care products, has announced the launch of Renewable Acceleration, a programme designed to expedite the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy throughout its operations and global value chain.
Mars has partnered with Enel North America as the inaugural energy collaborator for this initiative. This partnership includes Enel Group’s largest power purchase agreement (PPA) transaction with a commercial and industrial customer globally, marking a significant milestone for Mars as well.
This programme follows Mars’ introduction of several climate-related objectives in 2023, such as the aim to reduce carbon emissions across its entire value chain by 50% by 2030. Mars plans to invest over $1 billion over three years to propel climate action, focusing on transitioning the value chain to renewable energy. This includes addressing energy use by farmers and customers as pivotal steps towards achieving these goals.
Mars anticipates that the Renewable Acceleration initiative will lead to a 10% reduction in its total carbon footprint by 2030, equating to approximately 3 million tonnes of carbon emissions being cut from its full value chain.
Kevin Rabinovitch, Global VP of Sustainability at Mars, highlighted the broader impact of the initiative: “Many large companies are well on their way to sourcing renewable electricity for their own operations, but that’s just a part of the picture. For Mars, Renewable Acceleration is a performance accelerator, cutting emissions at a scale and speed we could never achieve through traditional value chain engagement approaches. It lets us bring demand for all the electricity used in our value chain to the clean energy market in a highly efficient manner. The more demand we create together, the faster we can build the future we all want. And clean energy means cleaner air for our communities, our people, and our partners.”
Mars reports that while its direct operations consume approximately 2 TWh of electricity annually, the broader value chain significantly increases this figure to around 8-9 TWh. The agreement with Enel will see Mars’ value chain benefit from the full output of Enel’s three solar plants in Texas, generating a combined 1.8 TWh annually and avoiding approximately 700ktCO₂e per year.
Further global agreements are in progress, with these contracts supporting the development of renewable energy projects to serve both Mars and its suppliers.
Michele Di Murro, CEO of Enel North America, commented on the initiative: “Renewable Acceleration is a bold initiative to support the buildout of more clean energy capacity, which we know is among the fastest and most economical ways to decarbonize. Mars is raising the bar for corporate sustainability strategies, taking a comprehensive and direct approach to addressing emissions across its entire value chain. Enel is proud to partner with Mars in launching this new programme.”
