Dine Hope Grows™ program FAQs

The Dine Hope Grows™ program is one of the world’s largest coral reef restoration program, to preserve and restore the beauty in our oceans and ensure our future has fish.

Scientists estimate that without intervention, up to 90% of the world’s coral reefs could become functionally degraded by 2050, impacting nearly a billion people who directly depend on them. The Dine Hope Grows™ program aims to help protect these vital coral reefs. Since restoration at the Hope Reef (The Dine Hope Grows™ program flagship restoration project in Indonesia) begun in 2019, and our Dine Hope Grows™ program launched in 2021, action has been sparked around the world. The Dine Hope Grows™ program now has 30 restoration sites in 10 countries, across five continents, including the Great Barrier Reef, the Maldives, Mexico and Kenya.

Climate change, overexploitation, destructive fishing practices and marine pollution have impacted ocean health significantly. Scientists estimate that if we do nothing, up to 90% of the world’s coral reefs could become functionally degraded by 2050, threatening 25% of all the world’s marine life and impacting nearly a billion  people who depend on them for food, income and coastal protection.

That’s why, for over 13 years, our parent company, Mars, Incorporated has been focused on coral reef restoration, investing more than $10m in research, builds, and community engagement.  The makers of DINE® believe that hope can be sparked by action, and that’s why we're continuing this work and investing significantly in coral restoration and protecting our oceans.

When it comes to our restoration and investment planning, a rigorous exercise on site selection is carried out, guided by the latest research papers to ensure our efforts are focused on areas that could see the most ecological benefit. We follow the guidance of our Chief Marine Scientist’s team at Mars. Their expertise allows us to make sure we’re focusing our efforts on areas of the ocean that are most likely to benefit from coral reefs being restored.

The key locations are Indonesia, Australia, Mexico, the Maldives, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Mars has worked on coral reef restoration for the past 15 years, investing more than $10m in research, builds, and community engagement. To date, we have planted more than 60,000 Reef Stars around the world, and 900,000 corals. Coral reef restoration initiatives at Mars are overseen by Mars’ Chief Marine Scientist, Professor David Smith. 

Reef Stars are 90cm-wide, star-shaped, steel structures, handmade by the local community, that join underwater to create a strong, secured web that covers the seabed where corals once grew, providing a stable base for coral fragments to rapidly regrow. It takes four divers just two days to install 500 Reef Stars, and 20 days to rebuild one hectare of reef.

By the end of 2029, we plan to restore an area measuring more than 185,000 square meters (roughly the size of 148 Olympic swimming pools) across the world.

To date we have planted 60,000 Reef Stars around the world, and 900,000 corals. But this is not about the amount of Reef Stars we plant, but about the wider impact they have. We aim to restore reefs that are more resilient to the effects of climate change.

Our restoration projects are surpassing expectations. Since restoration began at Hope Reef, our flagship restoration site, in 2019, coral growth has increased from 2% to 70%, fish populations have increased by 260% and there’s been a 64% rise in the number of fish species. 

More importantly, the locations we are restoring have inspired a ripple effect. For every 10 Reef Stars we plant, seven are planted by partners. The reefs we plant are having an impact on surrounding marine life and reseeding other reefs. The impact is felt far beyond the coral we restore.

We know this is only part of the solution but coral reefs are dying now and we can help to restore them. 

We can keep coral and fishing habitats alive and help local island communities while the world tackles climate change. More coral today, more fish tomorrow. 

Our work is not stopping us from playing our part to combat climate change. As a company, we’ve set out our ambitious aims in our $1bn Sustainable in a Generation Plan.

We’ve made a 10-year commitment to the Dine Hope Grows™ program and this is just the beginning.

The coral restoration at the Hope Reef has already changed significantly since we started work in 2019. Color and fish are returning to the sea bed.

Our work is also set to help local island communities in Bontosua and Badi who rely on fishing to eat, to generate income, and to continue cultural fishing traditions.

We've partnered with Google to create a branded, monetized YouTube channel with a difference.

Every time any video on the channel is viewed, the ad revenue generated will be donated to local community and NGO partners to support their coral restoration projects.

The more views and engagement the channel gets, the more money will be raised!

To view the video click here

Local community and NGO partners will use the money to create more coral restoration projects across the world.

We created the “Film that Grows Coral” to inspire and motivate people around the world and to drive awareness of what is possible if we all come together to join the movement to restore our coral reefs. 

While originally we planned send specialized underwater film crews to the reef to capture footage, COVID prevented us from doing so. To move forward with launch and create a film that was truly emotive and engaging, we used CGI for the underwater scenes while local film crews were able to capture drone footage for us to showcase the real life beauty of H-O-P-E from above. We know from the team onsite that there has been a 70% increase in coral coverage across the 30 reef sites we operate in, as well as a proven increase in fish population size and fish species. The combined use of CGI and real footage lets us show the potential of the coral reef restoration process and inspire consumers to act.

In 2010, Mars Petcare shared publicly its ambition to source ‘100% sustainably sourced fish’. We have operationalized this goal through adoption of the Mars ‘Guidelines on Sourcing Sustainable Fish’, a document which outlines approved fish certifications, third party endorsements, or other assurances which satisfy our requirements for fish sourcing. These Guidelines were developed jointly with WWF, have been periodically updated over the years, and continue to receive their endorsement. Our partnership with WWF remains strong and is in place through 2025, with close collaboration between our respective teams. 
 
In 2022, as part of Mars Petcare, we communicated that we had reached ‘96% sustainable fish according to our guidelines’. We have now updated these guidelines to meet external best practice and the Responsible Fish Sourcing guidelines provide clearer, more robust definitions of ‘sustainable fish’. Our ambition is for all our fish supply to meet our Responsible Fish Sourcing Guidelines.

Fish is an important ingredient for healthy, nutritious, and high-quality cat food. Fish oil increases digestibility, promotes healthy joints and fur, and helps offset the effects of aging. Seafood is also an important source of vitamin D, which is important as cats are unable to synthesize from the sun. 
 

Today, all of our DINE® aluminium trays, cans and cardboard sleeves are commonly recycled in key markets. We’ve also made the following changes to our Mars Petcare packaging over the past few years:

1.  We are working on our bag and pouch materials globally to design them for recyclability.
2.  98% of all paper used in our packaging is from recycled and/or certified virgin fibers.

As part of Mars, to meet these ambitious and aspirational targets, and as part of our multi-billion dollar Sustainable in a Generation Plan, we are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to reduce and redesign more than 12,000 packaging types to fit with the recycling infrastructure that either exists today or is likely to exist in the near future, making it easier for consumers to reuse or recycle our packaging.

Hundreds of Mars Associates are already working to address packaging waste in our portfolio – and this team is growing. We are embedding our packaging targets into how we measure success. Our top 300 executives now have remuneration linked to delivering against our packaging targets.

At Mars we have a commitment to achieve net zero GHG emissions in our full value chain by 2050, aligning with the most ambitious aim of the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 °C. 

We’re retaining an ambitious pledge to cut emissions in our full value chain by 27% by 2025. To achieve this, we’re accelerating action to transition to 100% renewable electricity, urgently redesigning our supply chains to stop deforestation, scaling up initiatives in sustainable and regenerative agriculture, and incentivising supplier action.

We’re making progress – since 2015, we’ve cut emissions in our full value chain by 7.3%. – that’s the equivalent of a small city’s emissions for a year, such as Indianapolis or Cardiff. 

Mars has the ambition to lead responsible seafood sourcing across the industry. That’s why we’re committed to fulfilling our Purpose in a way that is responsible and why we’ve actively engaged in the issues surrounding seafood sustainability for the last decade. As part of this ambition, as well as Mars’ work on reef restoration, we have adopted the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 Life Below Water as part of the Business Avengers initiative. We have pledged to use our reach and influence to encourage cross-industry collaboration and drive action towards this particular SDG. 

You can contact us at 0800 440 111  with any questions you may have. We will aim to respond to your question within two business days.