The sustainability of our oceans is under severe threat: climate change, destructive fishing practices and marine pollution are deeply impacting the health of our oceans. Over 3 billion people rely on oceans for their livelihood and science tells that urgent action is needed to protect our vulnerable marine ecosystems. 

What is Sustainable Development Goal 14?

Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life Below Water, is a call to action to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development. 

 At Mars, the world we want tomorrow is one where the planet is healthy, and people and pets are thriving. We believe that as a business, we have a real opportunity to use our reach and influence to increase awareness, drive change at scale and play a key role in restoring the capacity of our marine ecosystems. This is why we adopted this Global Goal as a Business Avenger. 

Business Avengers is an ongoing global initiative that brings together some of the world’s largest and most influential brands to drive awareness of the UN Global Goals. 

How are we supporting ocean health?

In collaboration with expert partners and organizations worldwide, we’re leading two key initiatives. Both are part of our actions to transform our business in ways that help protect the environment and care for people and pets. 

More sustainable fish sourcing

In 2010, in partnership with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Mars Petcare set an ambitious target to  source 100% of the fish we use from sustainable sources, according to our guidelines. Progress toward the goal is highlighted in a new joint report by WWF and Mars Petcare detailing work over the past decade to innovate and scale approaches to more sustainable fish sourcing. We now source no endangered species  and 81% of our fish comes from more sustainable sources, aligned to  our guidelines. To reach our goal, we recently renewed our global partnership with WWF until 2025.

Bringing Hope to Coral Reefs 

SHEBA®, one of our Mars Petcare brands, in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, aims to restore coral reefs measuring more than 185,000 square meters - the equivalent of 148 Olympic Swimming pools - by 2029. These efforts are part of SHEBA Hope Reef,  the world's largest coral restoration program. Since the project started in Indonesia two years ago, coral cover has increased from 5% to 55%, fish numbers have risen, and the recovered reefs have seen the return of species such as sharks and turtles. SHEBA® has committed to a ten-year investment in coral reef restoration, which not only includes Hope Reef but other sites around the world.

You can join this restoration effort by simply watching our Sheba Hope Grows videos. Proceeds from our YouTube channel will be donated to The Nature Conservancy to support coral reef restoration projects.