Sucden and Mars announce five-year collaboration for advancing low-carbon, climate-resilient cocoa production on participating farms in the Dominican Republic and Ecuador
By implementing innovative multi-year partnership projects, Sucden enables its clients to turn their climate ambitions into concrete results, while strengthening its own ability to measure, manage and mitigate emissions across its value chains.
Sucden (General Cocoa) and Mars, Incorporated, are pleased to announce the launch of a five-year collaboration (2025-2029) aimed at advancing low-carbon, climate-resilient cocoa production in participating farms in the Dominican Republic and Ecuador. The project aims to bring together innovation, science-based reductions, and farmer-centered approaches to drive meaningful greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions across the participating farms in the cocoa supply chain.
Collaboration on this project builds on a shared commitment between the companies to help minimize the environmental footprint of cocoa production while helping farmers improve their yields. The program activities will encourage participating farmers to adopt climate-smart agricultural practices such as use of improved planting materials, low carbon fertilizers, aerobic composting and other agroforestry practices which are aimed at helping enhance productivity and soil health, reduce GHG emissions, and increase yields for cocoa farmers.
Sucden’s technical partners will support the project’s design and monitoring through advanced modeling tools and field-based assessments to quantify emission reductions and measure long-term environmental impact.
Over the next five years, the program aims to help hundreds of farmers across priority regions in the Dominican Republic and Ecuador produce cocoa on 5,250 of hectares using improved agroforestry practices that align with Mars’ GHG reduction targets and Sucden’s commitment to regenerative supply chains.
“The world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today, and we can only achieve our sustainability ambitions by working with like-minded value-chain partners. That’s why Mars is working with suppliers to help build a deforestation and conversion-free cocoa supply chain. This collaboration with Sucden aims to encourage farmers to implement practices in Latin America that can help increase their yields while reducing our supply chain emissions— will help deliver mutual benefits for farmers, suppliers and Mars.” said Pedro Amaral, Associate Director, Head of Cocoa Climate Sustainability. “Taking action to embed sustainability efforts through collaborations with suppliers like this one aligns with our vision to help create a more modern, inclusive, and sustainable cocoa ecosystem.”
“Addressing the climate challenges facing cocoa today demands coordinated action and specialized capabilities. Sucden brings deep on-the-ground experience in cocoa production systems, farmer engagement, and sustainability programme delivery — capabilities that are essential to implementing complex, multi-year climate initiatives.” said Charlotte Demuijnck, Sucden Global Cocoa Program Manager. “Through our strategic partnership with Mars, we aim to deliver robust, science-based interventions that support farmers, reduce emissions, and strengthen the long-term resilience of the cocoa supply chain in Ecuador and the Dominican Republic.”
As a global trader, the majority of Sucden’s carbon footprint lies in our supply chain, with cocoa production representing a significant share of our Scope 3 emissions. This collaboration supports our commitment to reducing upstream emissions by advancing climate-smart practices that can lower land-use impacts and improve the accuracy of our GHG accounting. The project builds on our work with expert climate partners to strengthen data quality and align with leading methodologies. Sucden looks forward to sharing further updates on our emission-reduction strategy in our upcoming CSR Report.