Mars has accomplished its awaited deforestation free palm oil supply chain under its much anticipated initiative “Palm Positive” owing the shift towards the suppliers who provided much raw materials costing least to the nature.
Mars started the programme “Palm positive” yesteryear and till then company strived to tlreduce the number of supply chain and the supply contracts were being awarded to only those who were in concordance with the ethical, environmental and sustainability policies of the company.
The target is achieved by the stepwise reduction of the mills from 1500 to fewer than 100 till 2021. Further, company acclaimed that it would be easier to keep a check if the number of mills will be low.
Company is also employing geo-location techniques such as satellite maps to locate the proper source to obtain raw materials from. Sustainable consultancy firm, Aidenvironment, and its Indonesian spin-off, Earth Equalizer are also being roped in to attain Sustainability.
Mars gives an example of its supply chain to its Asia-Pacific businesses, where it is now sourcing from UniFuji which has reduced operations from 780 mills to just one. This has reportedly been met through a 1:1:1 model, meaning that palm is grown on one plantation, processed through one mill and one refinery before reaching Mars.
“By radically simplifying our palm supply chain, partnering with a smaller cohort of suppliers and rigorously applying the three M’s of Mapping, Management and Monitoring, we can eliminate deforestation and advance respect for human rights,” said Barry Parkin, chief procurement and sustainability officer at Mars.
He added: “The journey can’t stop here. We at Mars have reached a significant milestone – but in order to extend this impact beyond our own supply, we are asking our suppliers that they apply these principles to all the palm oil that they source, not just the material they supply to us. Through this action, and if adopted by others, we can reach a tipping point to drive systemic change across the entire palm industry.”