While independent comparisons place it among the stronger mass-market chocolate companies on sustainability, the industry still contends with farmer poverty, hazardous child labour, deforestation, and climate-driven supply shocks.
Achieving 98% is a milestone in its Responsibly Sourced Cocoa Programme in 2025, coming within two percentage points of its target to source all the cocoa used in its branded products
It is not, however, the same as proving that 98% of the cocoa physically contained in Mars products was sustainably produced. Nor does it show that the farmers supplying the company earn a living income.
That distinction runs through Mars’ latest Cocoa for Generations progress report. The company presents one of the more developed sustainability programmes among the world’s largest confectionery businesses: extensive traceability, third-party verification, child-labour monitoring, agroforestry programmes, support for women and investment in agricultural science. Independent benchmarking broadly supports that assessment.
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But the report is strongest when measuring systems and activities – farms mapped, households covered, trees distributed and people trained – and weaker when answering the question on which most other sustainability problems depend: are cocoa-growing families becoming durably better off?
A Stronger Mainstream Programme
Mars says suppliers purchased a volume of cocoa through its Responsibly Sourced Cocoa programme equivalent to 98% of the cocoa used in its branded products during 2025. It says the same volume was deforestation- and conversion-free after the relevant cut-off dates.