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Mars partner World Cocoa Foundation launches Climate Smart Cocoa Program

New Jersey, USA (June 1, 2016) – Exactly one year after the launch of our Women’s Empowerment Plan, Mars Chocolate is proud to support another new development in cocoa. The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) has announced a new program to address the threat climate change poses to the cocoa sector.

Together with ACDI/VOCA, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the world's leading chocolate and cocoa companies, WCF will develop a common strategy to address the impact of climate change on cocoa, and find innovations to support farmers to adapt to changing weather patterns. The announcement was made by WCF's Acting President Tim McCoy during a presentation at Penn State's Frontiers in Science and Technology for Cacao Quality, Productivity and Sustainability meeting.

Mars is a long-term supporter of WCF and we are excited to be involved in the partnership. Barry Parkin, our Chief Sustainability and Health & Wellbeing Officer is Chairman of the Board of WCF; and we are a founding member of CocoaAction, an industry-wide strategy to transform the cocoa sector.

Mars’ Sustainable Cocoa Initiative aligns closely with WCF’s priorities. Our aim is to ensure that cocoa is a sustainable crop that farmers want to continue growing – produced in ways that ensure its long-term availability and deliver mutual benefits among stakeholders. We do this by working to build a sustainable supply chain, innovating to enhance farmers’ prosperity, and scaling up through industry using collaboration and partnership.

Much of our work is specifically linked to climate change. Together with the United States Department of Agriculture, the Mars Center for Cocoa Science in Brazil sequenced and annotated the cocoa genome, enabling scientists and farmers to develop high-yielding, climate-resilient varieties. This research is publically available so that the whole industry can benefit from climate-proof cocoa.

We put scientific research into practice by working directly with farmers, their families and communities. Through our Vision for Change Project, we’ve set up a network of Cocoa Development Centers (CDCs) and Cocoa Village Centers (CVCs) in key cocoa-growing regions. CDCs serve as a distribution and training hub for farmers to learn about climate-resilient agriculture; while CVCs sell fertilizer and high-quality planting materials. Increasing farmers’ yields and incomes can lead a more profitable, professional cocoa sector; resulting in greater investment into improved planting materials and research to combat climate change.

Mars, Incorporated is committed to tackling climate change on a global scale. We’ve set ourselves the ambitious target to decarbonize our direct operations by 2040 to become Sustainable in a Generation; successfully reaching our 2015 milestone to cut GHG emissions by 25% compared to 2007. Our new wind farm in Scotland will generate renewable electricity equivalent to all our UK sites, joining the Mesquite Creek Wind Farm in Texas, which creates enough electricity to power all our US sites. We’re also committed to understanding and mitigating the causes of climate change in our broader supply chains, starting by mapping the most significant environmental impacts across our key raw materials.

About Mars, Incorporated

Mars, Incorporated is a private, family-owned business with more than a century of history and some of the best-loved brands in the world including M&M’S®, PEDIGREE®, DOUBLEMINT® and UNCLE BEN’S®. Headquartered in McLean, VA, Mars has more than $33 billion in sales from six diverse business segments: Petcare, Chocolate, Wrigley, Food, Drinks and Symbioscience. More than 75,000 Associates across 73 countries are united by the company’s Five Principles: Quality, Efficiency, Responsibility, Mutuality and Freedom and strive every day to create relationships with stakeholders that deliver growth we are proud of as a company.

For more information about Mars, Incorporated, please visit www.mars.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

About WCF

The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) promotes sustainability in the cocoa sector by providing cocoa farmers with the support they need to grow more quality cocoa and strengthen their communities. For more information, visit www.worldcocoafoundation.org or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

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