Mars Wrigley UK has announced that Mars bars sold in the UK and Ireland will be certified as carbon neutral by 1 January, 2023.

The supplier says this move will make the Mars bar the first carbon neutral chocolate bar produced by a top five confectionery company to appear on British and Irish shelves.

Additionally, the bar will be trialled in fully recyclable paper packing starting in 2022.

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The move comes as part of Mars Wrigley’s attempt to reduce the Mars bar carbon footprint by over 20% in the UK and Ireland by 2023.

Any emissions that cannot be eliminated will be offset by carbon removal credits based on processes such as reforestation and land restoration. The greenhouse gas reductions and offsets used in making the Mars bar go carbon neutral are expected to be roughly equivalent to charging more than 13 billion smartphones, or the same amount of carbon sequestered by around 135,000 acres of forest in a year.

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Mars Wrigley will work with an independent auditor to certify the bar as carbon neutral.

Adam Grant, Mars Wrigley UK general manager, said: “Our pledge to deliver a certified carbon neutral Mars bar in the UK and Ireland by January 1st, 2023, supported by significant reductions in the near term, is the kind of immediate climate protection intervention needed to deliver a sustainable tomorrow.”

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