McDonald’s Helps Drive Impact on Climate Action

Reaching For Net Zero by 2050

McDonald’s continues to be a leader in the restaurant industry on climate action as we pledge to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and join the United Nations Race to Zero campaign. We’re also signing on to the Science Based Target initiative Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign, which means evolving our current climate target to reduce emissions by 2030 to keep global temperature rises under 1.5°C.

How will we do it? To start, as both a global and local brand with deep roots in communities, we are prioritizing innovations and actions at the local level and across our global system that will help drive emissions reductions and minimize restaurant waste. Learn below about some major steps in our climate action journey and our current efforts in responsible sourcing, renewable energy and more.

Help lead on issues that matter most by joining the United Nation’s Race to Zero and SBTi Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaigns.

By the end of 2025, every Happy Meal toy around the world will be sustainable, made from more renewable, recycled or certified materials.

We are on the way to reaching our goals. To date, we’ve achieved:

• 8.5% reduction in the absolute emissions of our restaurants and offices from the 2015 baseline toward our 2030 goal of a 36% reduction.
• 5.9% decrease in supply chains emissions intensity toward our 2030 goal of a 31% reduction from the 2015 baseline.

Our partnerships with suppliers, farmers, Franchisees and partners are having a positive impact on some of the world’s most in-demand ingredients and products – like beef, soy for chicken feed, coffee, fish, palm oil and fiber for packaging.

Projects in Texas, Illinois, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Ohio and Louisiana are expected to generate about 3.4 million MWh of renewable energy annually once online.

Did You Know:

• That’s enough renewable energy to power over 8,000 McDonald’s restaurants.
• The amount of CO2 prevented is equal to planting more than 45,000,000 trees.

How We’ll Do It:

• By 2030, partner with Franchisees to reduce GHG emissions related to McDonald’s restaurants and offices by 36% from a 2015 base year.
• By 2030, reduce emissions intensity (per metric ton of food and packaging) by 31% across our supply chain from 2015 levels.

By 2030, we expect to prevent 150 Million Metric Tons of Emissions. That’s the same as taking 32 million cars off the road for an entire year.

Supporting deforestation-free supply chains means using our size and position to protect biodiversity, reduce our carbon footprint and respect human rights. We’re a signatory to the New York Declaration on Forests, a shared commitment from some of the world’s most influential countries, companies and NGOs to help end deforestation by 2030.

We bring together key stakeholders across the beef value chain to accelerate and continuously improve sustainability throughout the sector – partnering with beef farmers, ranchers, and civil society groups to help reduce emissions on beef.

Learn more about all our sustainability goals on our Purpose & Impact website.