Mars Veterinary Health commits to renewable power for its hospitals

Mars Veterinary Health plans to purchase enough renewable electricity to cover the power needs of its more than 2,000 U.S. hospitals, the company announced. The company has formed a partnership with Apex Clean Energy, with plans to purchase power from a forthcoming Apex wind farm in Illinois.

The initiative is part of Mars’ Sustainable in a Generation Plan, which aims to reduce the company’s environmental impact in line with scientific recommendations to mitigate the effects of climate change and other environmental threats.

Mars says it has developed a sustainability roadmap that includes addressing a range of issues, including climate change, waste and responsible pharmaceutical stewardship. The roadmap was created by leaders from across Mars’ veterinary practices, including AniCura, Banfield, BluePearl, Linnaeus and VCA, according to the announcement.

“When considering which environmentally focused topics to address, we selected areas of high importance to the planet, such as waste reduction and renewable energy use,” said Dr. Ben O’Kelley, regional vice president of medicine at BluePearl. “We then chose to focus on areas in which we believe significant opportunities exist to successfully achieve impactful change within the next five years.”