Long-running promises to curb planet-warming impact of burgers still have not resulted in a smaller carbon footprint
With a sprawling empire of 39,000 restaurants in 119 countries, McDonald’s serves more beef than any other restaurant chain on the planet — 1% to 2% of the world’s total. Selling hundreds of hamburgers every second has entrenched the fast-food giant as an outsize contributor to climate change.
“When you eat one of our world-famous burgers, you’re joining a movement towards a more sustainable future,” declared McDonald’s in one of its progress reports. Yum! Brands, the owner of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut, said it will cut the carbon-intensity of its food and packaging by 46% by the end of the decade. Wendy’s, meanwhile, is still measuring its full climate footprint ahead of establishing what it has said will be similar climate goals.
The linchpin of the fast-food giant’s efforts has been a five-year-old pledge to procure an unspecified quantity of sustainable beef in its 10 biggest markets around the world, a goal McDonald’s recently claimed to have fulfilled. But, in many cases, the company has purchased beef through sustainability programmes that do not actually require cattle ranchers to adopt climate-friendlier practices.
In one of its most-publicised projects, McDonald’s is working with Cargill, the Walmart Foundation, and the World Wildlife Fund to improve grazing practices across the northern Great Plains of the US. The restaurant chain’s contribution: $1.6m over five years, or about $320,000 ayear.
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