Gabriel Guzman, VP Procurement LATAM, and Ana Milena Zambrano, Climate & Sustainable Sourcing Head LATAM, are leading a major ongoing evolution within Mars Pet Nutrition LATAM. Guzman has worked in some of the world’s largest organisations over 25 years, spearheading many high-profile projects during this time. Zambrano’s career spans 15 years across consumer goods and supply chains, with sustainability as a core lifelong passion.
A focus on sustainability, nutrition, and the environment is nothing new for Mars – it’s part of the culture. It’s a business with firm ESG pillars and a clear concept of what sustainability means to the organisation. “We believe the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today,” says Guzman. “It is the vision at the heart of our Sustainable in a Generation Plan – one where the planet is healthy, people and their pets are thriving, and society is inclusive.”
“Mars is a family- and principle-based company, so sustainability is particularly important to us,” Zambrano continues. “As a private business, we’re always thinking generations ahead.”
Net zero goal
One of Mars’s major goals is to achieve net zero by 2050. Organisations around the world are attempting similar challenges, and for one as large as Mars, it has the potential to make an enormous environmental difference in nutrition. “We stepped up our commitment following findings in 2021’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report,” says Guzman, “which reinforced the urgency of achieving net zero worldwide in order to prevent the worst impacts of global warming.”
Thus, working towards this goal became a natural progression for Mars. It joined the Science Based Targets Initiative’s Business Ambition for 1.5C pledge, along with the Race to Zero. “We are focusing on absolute emissions reduction across our entire GHG footprint. This includes all scope 3 emissions (such as indirect ones), and setting five-year milestones to drive action and track progress,” Zambrano explains.
Deforestation and the soy industry
Beef is not the only ingredient that the Mars Pet Nutrition business is improving. The organisation also has a very similar soy action plan in place: stopping deforestation and natural ecosystems conversion in the soy ingredients in Mars supply chains by 2025. As with beef, the goal is to build a transparent and verifiable soy supply chain that preserves and protects natural ecosystems.
To do this, Mars has in place a Map Manage Monitor approach.
- Map: Mars, in partnership with Proforest, traces the supply chain to assess deforestation risks, and engage suppliers to improve traceability.
- Manage: Communicating clear requirements to suppliers and ensuring those requirements are implemented
- Monitor: Scanning for ongoing supply chain compliance in the supply base at all times. Communicating to our suppliers any non-compliances identified during the mapping stage
