Mars, a Mandate-endorsing company since 2016, has published a statement laying out its approach to water stewardship. Like many companies in the food industry, the vast majority of Mars’ water use lies in its agricultural supply chain. Thus, the company’s long-term goal is to ensure that water use in its value chain is “within annually renewable levels by watershed.”
Mars acknowledges that sustainable water management is not just about water use, but the context of water stress in the basins where its suppliers are withdrawing water. Accordingly, Mars is focusing its efforts in especially water-stressed regions, and are using context-based water targets to reduce water use in those areas. Through this approach Mars is hoping to better understand and address its impacts on water resources at the river basin level.
Mars is using the World Resource Institute (WRI) Aqueduct tool to assess water stress in the basins where its suppliers are operating. The company also recently collaborated with WRI on a report on setting science-based targets for climate, land, and water impacts, and continues to be involved with the CEO Water Mandate’s context-based water target work.