Mars Inc has committed to building a “traceable” and “sustainable” palm oil supply chain.
In an announcement yesterday (10 March), Mars said that it was committing to both “industry leading standards” and the development of a “fully traceable pipeline” back to “known” palm oil processing mills by the end of the year.
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The move is further supported by the launch of Mars’ new deforestation policy, the Snickers maker said. In addition to palm oil, Mars will initially focus on its other raw materials that have the greatest impact on forests: beef, pulp and paper, and soy.
Barry Parkin, Mars’ chief sustainability officer, said: “We have recognised that even though we have already implemented a 100% certified supply of palm oil this is not enough. We believe that these additional measures will not only help build a genuinely sustainable pipeline for Mars, but will also help accelerate change across the industry by encouraging our suppliers to only source from companies whose plantations and farms are responsibly run.”
As part of the policy, Mars has introduced a new sourcing charter that will require all its suppliers to have a fully sustainable and traceable palm oil supply across all their operations by the end of 2015.
Click here for an interview with Barry Parkin, published as part of our Sustainability Watch series in September.
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