Mars releases Cocoa for Generations 2025 Progress Report, achieving 98% Responsibly Sourced Cocoa Program milestone

In 2018, Mars set goals for 2025 as part of its vision to help create a more modern, inclusive and sustainable cocoa ecosystem.

Achieving sourcing milestones: Mars suppliers sourced an annual volume of cocoa under the company's Responsibly Sourced Cocoa (RSC) Program equivalent to 98% of its 2025 cocoa volume.
That same volume was also deforestation- and conversion-free (DCF) after relevant cut-off dates.¹²³
Helping protect children: 100% of cocoa volume produced and purchased in 2025 from farmers participating in the RSC Program in West Africa had Child Labor Monitoring & Remediation Systems (CLMRS) in place.

CHICAGO, IL (September 17, 2026) – Mars, Incorporated today released its Cocoa for Generations 2025 Progress Report(Opens a new window), highlighting progress toward helping create a more modern, inclusive and sustainable cocoa ecosystem.

Among several milestones, Mars proudly shares that its suppliers sourced an annual volume of deforestation and conversion-free cocoa under its Responsibly Sourced Cocoa (RSC) Program equivalent to 98% of its 2025 annual cocoa volume.

The report marks an important milestone in the company's 10-year, $1 billion USD Cocoa for Generations commitment (2018-2028) to help strengthen cocoa-growing communities and protect the environment. As several long-running programs concluded in 2025, Mars is incorporating key learnings and best practices into the next phase of its work, including the Mars Journey to Thrive Program.⁴

"2025 was a landmark year for Cocoa for Generations, signifying a turning point in our efforts to help address the industry's most deep-rooted, interconnected challenges," said Benjamin Guilbert, Global Senior Vice President, Cocoa Enterprise at Mars. "These challenges require collaboration and collective efforts among the stakeholders in the cocoa sector; the development and implementation of integrated, scalable and sustainable solutions; and transparency from companies on progress made."

The report also features highlights from the three pillars of Modern, Inclusive and Sustainable of the Cocoa for Generations strategy, such as:

New cocoa clones: Mars released improved cocoa planting materials in Brazil and Indonesia: releasing two new clones ISC1 and SCC11 in collaboration with the Indonesia National Research and Innovation Agency, and registering 37 high-productivity, disease-resistant cocoa clones with the Brazil Ministry of Agriculture.
Novel AI tools: Mars is developing and deploying AI-powered tools to help elevate capabilities across the cocoa supply chain. This includes Cocoascan, a tool to help Latin American farmers detect potential visual indicators of three infectious diseases (Witches’ Broom, Frosty Pod and Black Pod), and Cocoa Fresh AI, a mobile app that helps modernize wet and dry bean supply chains from a slow, manual process.
Climate-focused interventions: Mars launched its first climate-smart agriculture program with suppliers in Latin America, engaging 430 farmers across 3,541 hectares. The cohort applied climate-smart agriculture interventions to enhance soil health and cocoa crop yields — while advancing the company’s land use and emissions reduction objectives.
Women for Change: After a decade of the program, Mars exceeded its goal tied to VSLAs through the Women for Change Program (2016-2025) with CARE.⁵In total, Women for Change reached 106,239 VSLA members, 77% of whom are women, and generated $26.56 million USD in savings and $17.68 million in loans.

Mars is evolving its approach through programs like Journey to Thrive, which was established in late 2024. The program, designed by Mars and implemented by suppliers and other organizations, combines agronomy and community-level interventions — including conditional cash incentives, professional subsidized farm labor and VSLAs — to help improve and advance economic resilience and well-being, equality within households and education in cocoa-growing communities in Côte d'Ivoire. Funded alongside leading suppliers and nonprofit organizations, the program impacted 9,334+ cocoa farmer households by the end of 2025.

Looking ahead: Helping deliver positive impact for people and the planet

The progress in this report reflects years of collaboration, investment and learning in our cocoa supply chain. While Mars has achieved important milestones, the challenges facing the cocoa sector continue to evolve. Moving forward in 2026 and beyond, Mars is committed to helping strengthen the cocoa supply chain and drive much-needed structural change and generational resilience. The company is focusing its efforts on two strategic priorities in the next phase of its Cocoa for Generations strategy:

Professionalization: Mars is supporting farms of all sizes to improve productivity, adopt better farming practices, strengthen farm management capabilities and build more reliable income streams.
Cocoa supply: To build a supply chain that’s more resilient by design, Mars is diversifying where cocoa is sourced while improving how it’s grown today. Its focus will include investing in initiatives that help farmers adopt more climate-smart and regenerative approaches — helping restore soil health, protect biodiversity and make farms more adaptable over time.

Leveraging science and technology across these areas enables Mars to help boost yield and incomes, build a more resilient, sustainable supply chain and ensure the world can enjoy chocolate for generations to come.

To learn more, read the full Cocoa for Generations 2025 Progress Report(Opens a new window).

About Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated is driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. Based on combined Mars and Kellanova 2025 net sales, we are now a $65bn+ family-owned business, with a diverse portfolio of quality snacking and food products that delight millions of people every day, and leading pet care products and veterinary services that support pets all around the world. We produce some of the world’s best-loved brands including ROYAL CANIN®, PEDIGREE®, WHISKAS®, CESAR®, M&M’S®, SNICKERS®, EXTRA®, Pringles®, Cheez-It®, and BEN’S ORIGINAL™. Our international networks of pet hospitals, including BANFIELD™, BLUEPEARL™, VCA™ and ANICURA™ span preventive, general, specialty, and emergency veterinary care, and our global veterinary diagnostics business ANTECH® offers breakthrough capabilities in pet diagnostics. The Mars Five Principles — Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom — inspire our approximately 170,000 Associates to act every day to help create a better world for people, pets and the planet.

For more information about Mars, please visit www.mars.com. Join us on Facebook(Opens a new window), Instagram(Opens a new window), LinkedIn(Opens a new window) and YouTube(Opens a new window).

Media Contacts:
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marscocoateam@webershandwick.com

1. When we say ‘Responsibly Sourced Cocoa’, we mean cocoa that has been produced, delivered, and sold in compliance with Mars Responsibly Sourced Cocoa Specification. This specification requires, among other things, that suppliers of cocoa have:

Third-party verification: Independent third-party auditors review the cocoa supply chains of the suppliers and their farming organizations participating in the Responsibly Sourced Cocoa Program to determine whether they meet the certification standards of Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade or another certification body approved by Mars or comply with the Responsibly Sourced Cocoa Specification.

CLMRS: For high-risk origins in West Africa, suppliers must implement child labor monitoring and remediation systems (CLMRS) for any at-risk households of farmers who are participating in the Responsibly Sourced Cocoa Program.

2. This figure excludes the volume of cocoa ingredients used by licensees who are authorized to manufacture and sell products under one of our brands and cocoa ingredients used by businesses that we acquired within the current and prior two calendar.

3. Deforestation and conversion-free status is based on third-party certification or verification where cocoa is purchased under a mass balance supply chain model.

4. See page 9 of the 2025 report for more details on the Mars Journey to Thrive Program.

5. VSLAs are Village Savings and Loan Associations, which help women take control of their money and build better futures for themselves and their communities.