Executive Summary
Building on their long-standing collaboration, Mars and Cargill, two leading global food companies, joined forces to deepen their partnership through a supplier-customer engagement on climate action. To advance this effort, they engaged 3Degrees as a trusted advisor to help implement a unique multi-buyer renewable energy collaboration in Poland. GoldenPeaks Capital, one of Europe’s fastest-growing independent producers of renewable energy, is helping the buyers to drive decarbonisation in Europe’s most carbon-intensive grid.
Mars and Cargill leveraged 3Degrees’ guidance in order to:
Perform a financial and risk analysis of power purchase agreement (PPA) offers in Poland from multiple developers
Navigate complex PPA contract negotiations and successfully execute five PPAs with GoldenPeaks Capital
Support the development of 224 MWac of new solar projects, which is equivalent to powering an estimated 200,000 households annually*
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. 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 organizations as we join forces to advance our individual companies’ climate goals.”
Background
In 2024, Mars and Cargill engaged 3Degrees to support a renewable energy aggregation in Poland. The collaboration represented a strategic opportunity for the companies to help decarbonise their operations in one of Europe’s most challenging energy markets.
Building on Mars and Cargill’s previous renewable energy collaboration, both companies recognised the strategic importance of their cooperation to advance a unique approach to supplier-customer engagement on climate action. This initiative supports each company’s climate strategy, including Mars’ Renewable Acceleration (RAcc) program.
To effectively build the implementation strategy, the two companies sought to work together, share resources and expertise, and engage an experienced partner to facilitate the successful execution of the PPA agreements.
Challenges
The unique nature of this multi-buyer aggregation meant there were also some additional challenges, including:
- Navigating Poland’s emerging renewable energy market while ensuring projects met both corporate buyers’ climate needs and expectations;
- Accommodating a large portfolio of solar projects within a limited number of power purchase agreements (PPAs) by creatively structuring and financing multiple individual deals with streamlined terms and conditions;
- Addressing one of Europe’s most pressing market issues: how to appropriately allocate negative price risk in the context of rapid renewable deployment in Poland.
Working alongside Mars and 3Degrees, we were able to take a practical, solutions-oriented approach that supported the addition of new renewable capacity. This model shows how shared expertise and aligned procurement strategies can unlock opportunities that would be difficult for any one company to deliver alone.”
How we collaborated
Mars and Cargill engaged 3Degrees as a strategic advisor for its local market knowledge and experience to help achieve their ambitious goals in Poland. This support included:
- 1. Evaluating offers from multiple developers, including financial and risk analysis to ensure alignment with Mars’ and Cargill’s cost and risk tolerances;
2. Recommending GoldenPeaks Capital due to its value proposition and extensive track record in Poland, as well as its ability to deliver a large, diversified pipeline under a single structured transaction;
3. Leading the PPA negotiations and working closely with both buyers and the counterparty to ensure the PPA portfolio effectively allocated risk.
Results
The largest known multi-buyer renewable energy PPA completed to date in Poland
Five PPAs in Europe’s most carbon-intensive grid, enabling more than 224 MWac of new renewable energy capacity equivalent to the consumption of an estimated 200,000 households annually
Advanced Cargill’s and Mars’ progress toward their respective climate and value-chain decarbonisation goals
GoldenPeaks Capital values this partnership-driven approach, since it enables complex, high-value energy solutions, further driving our goal of empowering decarbonisation in Eastern Europe.”
*Source: Data from the Poland national statistics bureau
3Degrees: Strategic decarbonisation through collaborative climate action
With over two decades of experience in helping the planet’s leading businesses take climate action, 3Degrees is uniquely poised to guide our clients through complex decarbonisation challenges. At 3Degrees, we’re helping companies turn climate ambition into climate action.
