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Mars and Cargill are accelerating the development of more than 224MWac of new renewable energy capacity through five virtual power purchase agreements (PPA) in Poland, signed with GoldenPeaks Capital.

The collaboration builds on the existing renewable energy work from the two food industry giants. The project is claimed to be the largest multi-buyer renewable energy agreement in Poland and the Central and Eastern Europe region, which is Europe’s most carbon-intensive grid.

Independent renewable energy producer GoldenPeaks Capital will develop the new solar projects, which are expected to come online in 2027 and generate enough clean energy to power an estimated 200,000 households each year.

The initiative aims to demonstrate how supplier and customer partnerships can drive emissions reduction at scale and accelerate progress toward shared climate goals, offering a replicable model for the broader food and agriculture sector.

Kevin Rabinovitch, global VP of sustainability at Mars, said: “These solar PPA agreements will create new solar projects that enable Mars to reduce and eliminate its current scope 2 electricity emissions in Poland, and also a portion of our scope 3 emissions as part of our Renewable Acceleration program, where Mars is driving progress on renewable electricity in our value chain”.

He added: “Having a supplier like Cargill also working directly on its electricity use complements our approach. In Poland, by aggregating with our supplier, we gained scale and delivered a huge win for both of our organisations as we join forces to advance our individual companies’ climate goals.”

Christina Yagjian, senior director of global renewable energy at Cargill, said that the project deepens Cargill’s commercial relationship with Mars, showing how partnership across the value chain can “drive meaningful climate action,” while also lowering procurement costs.