While many businesses have been working on becoming more sustainable, the current level of progress is nowhere near enough, according to the CEO of Mars.
"Mars has been in business for four generations and intends to be for the next four generations," Grant F. Reid, the food company's chief, said on Wednesday.
"The only way that will happen is if we do things differently to ensure that the planet is healthy and all people in our extended supply chains have the opportunity to thrive," he added.
A collaborative effort was needed, he argued, because the engine of global business, its supply chain, was broken. Transformational, cross-industry collaboration was required to fix it.
Reid's comments came as the producer of brands such as Snickers and Uncle Ben's said it would invest approximately $1 billion in its "Sustainable in a Generation Plan."
The plan, Mars said, would focus on a range of goals. By 2050, it wants to slash greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain by 67 percent.
In addition, the business said it wanted to "meaningfully improve the working lives" of one million people in its value chain by focusing on boosting income, unlocking opportunities for women and "respecting human rights."
"We're doing this because it's the right thing to do but also because it's good business," Reid said.
"We expect to have a competitive advantage from a more resource efficient supply chain, and from ensuring that everyone in our supply chain is doing well," he added.
Mars is the latest big business to try and boost its green credentials. Earlier this year, for example, brewing powerhouse Anheuser-Busch InBev committed to secure all of its purchased electricity from renewable sources by 2025.
