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McDonald's commits to ending deforestation

The commitment is part of McDonald's Global Sustainability Framework efforts, encompassing all of the company's products.

April 29, 2015

McDonald's announced a global commitment on deforestation across the company's expansive global supply chain. The commitment is part of McDonald's Global Sustainability Framework efforts, encompassing all of the company's products. The plan focuses on beef, fiber-based packaging, coffee, palm oil, and poultry as targets for developing specific time-bound sourcing agents in 2015.

"This commitment to end deforestation demonstrates another major step for McDonald's as we work to increasingly embed sustainability throughout our global business," said Francesca DeBiase, senior vice president of McDonald's Worldwide Supply Chain and Sustainability. "Making this pledge is the right thing to do for our company, the planet and the communities in which our supply chain operates. We're excited to continue collaborating with our supplier partners to achieve our goals."

McDonald's commitment supports its endorsement of the New York Declaration on Forests, a call for global companies and organizations to engage in the effort to end natural forest loss by 2030.

Applying throughout the entire supply chain, the core principles and practices of McDonald's Commitment on Deforestation include:

• No deforestation of primary forests or areas of High Conservation Value
• No development of High Carbon Stock forest areas
• No development on peatlands, regardless of depth, and the utilization of best management practices for existing commodity production on peatlands
• Respect human rights
• Respect the right of all affected communities to give or withhold their free, prior and informed consent for plantation developments on land they own legally, communally or by custom
• Resolve land rights disputes through a balanced and transparent dispute resolution process
• Verify origin of raw material production
• Support smallholders, farmers, plantation owners and suppliers to comply with this commitment