• Mars suppliers sourced cocoa equivalent to 98% of the company’s 2025 volume through its Responsibly Sourced Cocoa Program.
• An equivalent volume was deforestation and conversion-free after applicable cut-off dates.
• Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation Systems covered all relevant 2025 cocoa volumes from participating farmers in West Africa.

Mars approaches its responsible sourcing target

Mars has reached 98% of its responsible cocoa sourcing goal, according to its Cocoa for Generations 2025 Progress Report.

The achievement moves the food group closer to the objectives it set in 2018. Those goals form part of a 10-year, $1 billion commitment to improve conditions across cocoa supply chains.

Mars said its suppliers sourced an annual volume through the Responsibly Sourced Cocoa Program equivalent to 98% of its 2025 cocoa use. An equivalent volume was also deforestation and conversion-free after the relevant cut-off dates.

The figures carry growing regulatory and commercial importance. Cocoa buyers face pressure to improve traceability, protect forests and demonstrate stronger oversight of human rights risks. Supply disruptions and climate pressures have also raised the financial cost of weak agricultural resilience.

“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.”

Child labour safeguards reach full coverage

Mars reported that Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation Systems were in place for 100% of the cocoa produced and purchased in 2025 from participating farmers in West Africa.

These systems are designed to identify children at risk, support remediation and improve accountability within cocoa-growing communities. Their full coverage across the relevant volume strengthens Mars’ governance framework, although persistent poverty means monitoring alone cannot eliminate child labour risks.

Income and gender equality remain central to that challenge. Mars’ Women for Change programme, implemented with CARE from 2016 to 2025, reached 106,239 savings group members. Women accounted for 77% of participants. The groups generated $26.56 million in savings and issued $17.68 million in loans.

Mars is carrying those lessons into Journey to Thrive, established in late 2024. The Côte d’Ivoire programme combines agronomy support with conditional cash incentives, subsidised professional farm labour and village savings and loan associations. It had reached more than 9,334 cocoa-farming households by the end of 2025.

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Science targets productivity and climate risk

The company is also investing in crop science and digital tools to strengthen cocoa production.

In Indonesia, Mars and the National Research and Innovation Agency released two cocoa clones, ISC1 and SCC11. In Brazil, the company registered 37 high-productivity, disease-resistant clones with the Ministry of Agriculture.

Its Cocoascan tool helps Latin American farmers identify visual indicators of Witches’ Broom, Frosty Pod and Black Pod diseases. A second tool, Cocoa Fresh AI, is intended to modernise wet and dry bean supply chains that still rely on slow manual processes.

Mars also launched its first climate-smart agriculture programme with suppliers in Latin America. The initiative involved 430 farmers managing 3,541 hectares. Participating farms applied measures intended to improve soil health and crop yields while supporting land-use and emissions goals.

Resilience becomes the next strategic test

Mars will now concentrate on farm professionalisation and a more diversified cocoa supply. Its plans include stronger farm management, improved productivity and more reliable farmer income. It also intends to expand climate-smart and regenerative practices that protect soil, biodiversity and long-term output.

For executives and investors, the report shows that responsible sourcing is becoming part of core supply-chain management. Traceability, farmer livelihoods and climate adaptation increasingly affect regulatory exposure, input security and brand value.

Mars has nearly reached its headline sourcing target. The harder test is whether its interventions can deliver lasting income gains while protecting forests and stabilising cocoa production. The outcome will matter well beyond one company, particularly as the global chocolate industry confronts climate risk and structural fragility across its most important sourcing regions.