What does the ‘greening’ of business at Mars look like today?
This is a very important issue for Mars both globally and locally. Globally, we have a clear roadmap for achieving carbon neutrality. It was announced last year. We want to reduce emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. We have already achieved success in this area. We have reduced our carbon footprint by 16 per cent since 2015, and at the same time increased turnover by 60 per cent. Mars takes this issue very seriously. A significant percentage of managers' bonuses depends on achieving sustainability goals.
We have great success in this area in Poland as well. Our five factories making sweets, snacks and chewing gum, as well as pet food, supply almost 80 markets. We have office employees and two shared service centres. All our factories operate entirely on renewable energy.
Do customers in Poland pay attention to environmental issues in the production of goods?
Our ‘customers’ are retail chains. Large retail chains are often large companies that also have sustainability goals. We offer specific partnerships to parties that are open to it. We carry out joint projects to save cardboard and recycle packaging. We have put 100 per cent recycled frames and racks in the checkout area in one of our customers' shops.
Consumers also pay attention to this – they want sustainably made products. They want companies to support sustainability, but they also want to buy products at a fair price. They see it as something we should provide to the planet, to children and to our communities. And that's a task we share with all market participants.
What are your investment plans for the coming quarters?
I cannot talk about the details yet, but our history shows that Mars has been investing heavily in Poland. We are one of the top five markets in Europe in terms of production and number of associates. We have invested over USD 1 billion in Poland to date. We have the five factories I have mentioned, which we continue to expand and upgrade. We have specific plans for the next two years – we want to launch new production lines.
