Food giant Mars is buying electricity generated by a Highland windfarm to meet the energy requirements of all 12 of its UK production sites.
Mars, whose products range from chocolate bars and chewing gum to pet food, said yesterday power supplied through the 10-year deal with windfarm operator Eneco UK would make enough of its Maltesers to fill about 1,660 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
It added the partnership with Eneco’s new windfarm on the Moy estate near Inverness was part of a drive to be “sustainable in a generation” by making all of its global operations carbon neutral by 2040.
Last year, the company met its target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% from a 2007 baseline.
The 60-megawatt, 20-turbine site at Moy has its official opening tomorrow.
Mars’ deal to buy up most of its output follows the April 2014 launch of a large-scale wind farm in Texas which now generates the equivalent of 100% of the electricity required to power the company’s entire US operations.
Barry Parkin, chief sustainability, health and wellbeing officer, Mars, said: “The UK has been home to Mars for 84 years.
“We’re proud that the brands that we make here will now be manufactured using renewable electricity, and that we are reducing our carbon footprint in the UK and around the world.
“As with our wind farm in Lamesa, Texas, Moy will contribute significantly to our effort to eliminate fossil fuel energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
“We’re not there yet, but we recognise all businesses have a responsibility to tackle climate change, and we hope our partnership with Eneco at Moy will encourage other companies to take steps to reduce their own carbon footprint through renewable-energy.
“Working together, government and industry can move the needle on climate change.”
Mars employs more than 75,000 people globally, including nearly 4,000 at its 12 English production plants.
The company has operated in the UK since 1932, when Forrest Mars crossed the Atlantic to expand a confectionery empire founded by his father, Frank Mars, in Tacoma, Washington, in 1911.
Eneco UK director Zoisa Walton said: “We are proud to be supplying Mars UK and to be working with them to create a more sustainable future.”
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