Nature, Forests & Water
We’re taking a holistic approach to protecting natural resources, the communities that rely on them and the future of our business.
We aim to help preserve and regenerate nature, support biodiversity and engage the communities and farmers closest to natural ecosystems to build resilience together, and to help manage nature-related risks. We believe building on these opportunities is the right thing to do for the planet, for future generations and for our business.
By using natural resources in ways that help protect the environment – and encouraging others to do the same – we can continue reducing our impact while helping contribute to nature-positive supply chains and a more sustainable global economy.
Nature-based solutions are an important part of how we are acting on climate change and supporting more resilient food systems and communities. We rely on ingredients that live and grow in the natural world and understand the importance of biodiverse ecosystems.
Natural resources – like healthy soils, grasslands and forests – are particularly important to the farming systems and communities that produce food for our menu. At the same time, water is a critical resource at every step of our value chain, from supplier processes to our restaurant and office operations. We see all of these issues as linked to our commitments on Climate Action, Responsible Sourcing and Human Rights.
Recent Progress
Since 2020, we have continued to substantially achieve supporting deforestation-free supply chains across our primary commodities: beef, soy for chicken feed, palm oil, coffee and fiber for guest packaging. In aggregate, 97.7% of these priority commodities supported deforestation-free supply chains in 2021.
We carried out water efficiency pilots in restaurants in California. Post-implementation analysis resulted in roughly a 30% reduction in usage, an annualized saving of 3.7 million gallons of water.
McDonald’s joined the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) Forum to collaborate with others in the industry on the frameworks, metrics and tools that will be used to address nature-related risks and opportunities.
See Our Performance section and Footnotes below for additional detail on goals and thresholds for achievement.
Our Strategy
Shaping Our Strategy
McDonald’s has been on a journey to help support sustainable food production and conserve forests for more than three decades. To ensure our commitments are upheld throughout the value chain, we embed water stewardship practices in our sourcing requirements and support projects across the world that safeguard nature.
In 2020, we reached a major milestone by substantially achieving our responsible sourcing goals and supporting deforestation-free supply chains for the raw materials we buy in the greatest volumes with the greatest impact – beef, soy (for chicken feed), palm oil, coffee and fiber (used in primary guest packaging). Read more about this achievement on our Responsible Sourcing page and our 2020‒2021 Progress Summary (PDF – 5.6 MB).
We are bringing together innovative forest and climate measurement systems to better assess the positive impact of forest conservation in our supply chains. Our targets for Climate Action include estimated emissions from land use change – such as deforestation for farmland – which are modeled using our climate impact tracking system.
Confronting Challenges
We are focused on creating a business that can have a positive impact on the planet’s natural resources and on the people whose livelihoods rely on them.
We believe we must address challenges head-on with clear and practical solutions. In relation to nature, this starts with assessing nature-related dependencies and risks, and identifying opportunities to adapt and innovate for the future to have a positive impact. McDonald’s has joined the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) Forum to collaborate with others on the frameworks, metrics and solutions required to undertake these assessments, and to consider the complex interplay between each aspect to determine the right course of action.
To help us achieve our robust commitment to eliminating deforestation from our supply chains, we must address a wider industry challenge of how to define nature, forests and deforestation in more consistent ways. By working toward alignment with emerging industry frameworks and definitions, such as those created by the Accountability Framework initiative (AFi), we can ensure everyone is reporting to comparable definitions.
Our Performance
For additional disclosure on our forests activities in 2020, see McDonald’s CDP Forests (2021) Report (PDF– 580 KB).
Eliminate Deforestation Goal
Eliminate deforestation from our global supply chains by the end of 2030, building on the progress from our 2020 milestones in highest priority commodities and regions.
Progress
We define “eliminate deforestation” as our global pledge to tackle deforestation, and it refers to all the social and environmental criteria in our Commitment on Forests in agricultural and forestry supply chains. For McDonald’s, “supporting deforestation-free supply chains” refers to commodities that we source sustainably from high priority regions or commodities sourced from low priority regions. For more detailed definitions of these, and other relevant terms, see Definitions of Deforestation below.
When we set this commitment in 2015, we prioritized action and measurement with public milestones for 2020 for the products we use in the greatest volumes and with the potential to have the greatest impact on forests. As of year-end 2020, 99.6% of our beef, soy sourced for the feed of chicken used in McDonald’s products, palm oil, coffee and fiber used in guest packaging volumes support deforestation-free supply chains.
In aggregate, 97.7% of these primary commodities continued to be sourced supporting deforestation-free supply chains in 2021.1
In 2021, we saw a slight decrease in this aggregate figure as compared to 2020. This is due in part to the fact that we have expanded our scope for the primary fiber-based guest packaging tracked in our target to include wood stirrers and cutlery as well as paper straws and lids. This scope expansion, in addition to non-reported data, which is conservatively assumed to be non-compliant, have contributed to a slight overall decrease in this figure.
See below for a breakdown of our progress on each individual priority commodity in 2021.
Beef – 97.2% of beef sourced for McDonald’s restaurants supported deforestation-free supply chains by the end of 2021.2
Soy (for chicken feed)3 – Every year, we ensure that 100% of soy sourced for the feed of chicken used in McDonald’s products globally supports deforestation-free supply chains.We support responsible soy production through the purchase of Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) credits.
Palm oil – 100% of the palm oil sourced for McDonald’s restaurants and used as an ingredient4 in McDonald’s products supported the production of sustainable palm oil and deforestation-free supply chains in 2021. Our volumes of physical certified oils increased from 13% in 2016 to 78% in 2021.
Volume of McDonald’s palm oil by RSPO supply chain model:
- 78% physical RSPO certified, including:
- 0.04% Identity Preserved
- 16.7% Segregated
- 61.7% Mass Balance
- 0.04% Identity Preserved
- 22% RSPO Book and Claim Credits
Coffee – 98.7% of coffee sourced for McDonald’s restaurants supported deforestation-free supply chains in 2021.5
Fiber – 96.3% of primary fiber-based guest packaging sourced for McDonald’s restaurants supported deforestation-free supply chains in 2021.6
Focus on Forests
Shaping Our Forests Strategy
Building on the momentum of our 2020 milestones where we tackled deforestation for our key commodities, we aim to eliminate deforestation from our global supply chains by the end of 2030.
Our Commitment on Forests (PDF – 350 KB) and its Supporting Addendum for Commitment on Forests (PDF – 491 KB) set out our vision for achieving our goal. The commitment applies to all commodities and every sourcing region, and covers both direct and indirect suppliers. Importantly, our commitment extends beyond forests to other areas of high conservation value, safeguarding the people and communities globally who depend on these natural spaces.
In aggregate, 97.7% of our five priority commodities (beef, soy in chicken feed, palm oil, coffee and the primary fiber-based guest packaging sourced for McDonald’s restaurants) supported deforestation-free supply chains at the end of 2021.
In 2021, we saw a slight decrease in this aggregate figure as compared to 2020. This is due in part to the fact that we have expanded our scope for the primary fiber-based guest packaging tracked in our target to include wood stirrers and cutlery as well as paper straws and lids. This scope expansion, in addition to non-reported data, which is conservatively assumed to be non-compliant, have contributed to a slight overall decrease in this figure.
Read more about our previous goals and achievements in our 2020‒2021 Progress Summary (PDF – 6.24 MB).
McDonald’s is 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. To build on this, we’re also collaborating through others as part of the Cerrado Protocol.
Our Approach
We are committed to helping drive industry transformation and supporting deforestation-free supply chains at scale. For us, this is about more than preventing forest clearances; it is about using our size and position to help protect biodiversity, reduce our carbon footprint and respect human rights. Read more about our approach to Climate Action and upholding Human Rights.
To ensure we are reporting clearly and consistently against our commitments, we work with expert partners and align our definitions with recognized frameworks such as the AFi. McDonald’s commitments and expectations are formed based on the definitions of deforestation set out below.
Definitions of Deforestation
- “Eliminate Deforestation” refers to McDonald’s global pledge to tackle deforestation, and all of the social and environmental criteria in our Commitment on Forests in our agricultural and forestry supply chains. In alignment with the definitions of AFi, we use the term “supporting deforestation-free supply chains” below to more accurately reflect the actions we are taking to implement, measure and report progress toward our Commitment on Forests.
- “Deforestation” refers to the loss of natural forest as a result of: i) conversion to agriculture or other non-forest land use; ii) conversion to a plantation forest; or iii) severe and sustained degradation as aligned with the definitions of AFi.
- “High priority regions” are defined as countries, biomes, municipalities, postcodes or farms/ plantations that are identified as areas where deforestation occurs or is projected to occur as determined through regular assessments that rely on the latest supply chain data and trends. McDonald’s assesses this risk annually with third parties, including WWF, to take into account the latest supply chain data and trends.
- “Low priority regions” refers to countries, biomes, municipalities, postcodes or farms/ plantations that are classified as no or low risk of deforestation, as determined through regular assessments that rely on the latest supply chain data and trends. McDonald’s assesses this risk annually with third parties, including WWF, to take into account the latest supply chain data and trends.
- “Supporting deforestation-free supply chains” refers to commodities in our supply chains that are either sourced sustainably from high priority regions and comply with the certification or verification schemes as set out below, or are sourced from low priority regions as above.
Our Priority Commodities
To meet our 2030 goal, we first prioritized the sourcing of raw materials where McDonald’s can use our sourcing scale to make the biggest impact – beef, chicken (soy in feed), palm oil, coffee and the fiber used in guest packaging for 2020. We have introduced specific sourcing, measurement and compliance requirements for suppliers of these commodities as part of a time-bound action plan.
While our focus has now expanded to other categories, maintaining and developing our approach to our priority commodities is a key part of our forest strategy. We regularly review our prioritization with input from partners including Proforest and WWF.
Where possible, we rely on reputable commodity-specific, third-party certifications for verification of our soy, palm oil, coffee and fiber. Where suitable certifications do not exist for our priority products, as in our beef supply chain, we invest in external verification systems to map, monitor and address our impact.
Each commodity is different and requires a tailored approach. We drive continuous improvement through internal and external monitoring and auditing of our direct suppliers, validating the volumes and sustainability credentials for each commodity.
For each of our priority commodities, in order to be classed as supporting deforestation-free supply chains, we require the following:
- Beef – McDonald’s requires that all the beef we source meets the requirements of our Deforestation-Free Beef Procurement Policy and Commitment on Forests. We currently have more detailed requirements within this policy for beef sourced from Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Australia.
- Soy (for chicken feed) – We require that all soy sourced for the feed of chicken used in McDonald’s products is either sourced from low priority regions or, when sourced from high priority regions, including Argentina (Chaco biome), Brazil (Amazon and Cerrado biomes) and Paraguay (Chaco biome), must support responsible soy production. Given the complexity of soy supply chains, we consider that, unless demonstrated, all of McDonald’s sources of soy for chicken fall into high priority regions, with the exception of chicken sourced in the U.S. and Canada, where soy used in feed is locally produced and therefore volumes are considered low priority. We support responsible soy production through the purchase of RTRS credits. A number of our chicken suppliers to Europe also use physical certification through ProTerra standards. Soy produced in the Amazon biome meeting the Amazon Soy Moratorium requirements is also recognized as compliant when suppliers can provide proof of traceability and assurance.
- Palm oil – Palm oil sourced for McDonald’s restaurants or as ingredients in McDonald’s products must meet the requirements of RSPO certification. All countries are considered high priority regions for palm oil and all volumes are required to be covered by RSPO certification or credits. McDonald’s is committed to increasing traceability by requiring physical certification for the palm oil used in the McDonald’s System in the greatest volumes.
- Coffee – McDonald’s requires coffee sourced from Honduras, Indonesia and Vietnam to be Rainforest Alliance Certified™.
- Fiber – McDonald’s requires that our primary fiber supply is sourced from Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) certified or FSC controlled wood sources, with full chain of custody certification when the country of fiber origin includes Argentina, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Russia7 or Vietnam.
Prioritizing Action and Engaging Our Supply Chains
To achieve our goal of eliminating deforestation from our global supply chains by 2030, we must understand exactly where our sourcing has the potential to drive deforestation. This helps ensure we take action where it counts.
- We partner globally with WWF, Proforest, industry groups, government bodies and our suppliers to prioritize where we should act and how we can collaborate to multiply impact.
- We engage with suppliers to ensure they implement tailored plans that comply with our sourcing requirements and mitigate future risks. Suppliers report to McDonald’s on their progress and compliance annually. We also have an expectation of our suppliers to do the same with their own suppliers.
- We are lead members of CDP Supply Chain and annually request that over 130 suppliers ‒ 79% of our annual food and packaging spend in 2020 – respond to CDP Forests if they use forest risk commodities within their supply chain. Through CDP Supply Chain, we provide annual feedback to suppliers on the actions they are taking to conserve forests across their business and areas for further focus.
Using Satellite Technology to Address Deforestation
Unlike other major commodities such as coffee or palm oil, there is no widely established global certification scheme or credible third-party process for monitoring and addressing potential deforestation in our beef supply.
We worked with Proforest and local stakeholders, using industry-standard definitions from the Afi, to establish a Deforestation-Free Beef Procurement Policy tailored to each priority sourcing country.
We partnered with Agrotools, a certified B-Corp, using cutting-edge satellite mapping and national government datasets to determine which areas to prioritize and assess for deforestation.
A farm’s location may make it a priority, but that does not mean deforestation is happening. When threats to forests are identified, our suppliers are expected to address the findings through corrective action plans where required.
While there is always more work to do, through our global collaboration with stakeholders and suppliers and with the use of innovative technology, we have confidence that the steps we’re taking are helping to conserve our planet’s forests.
Find out more about how McDonald’s uses satellite technology to fight deforestation.
Human Rights and Forests
Human rights are an important element of our forests’ commitment and our broader Company commitments, and we are constantly seeking to strengthen our work in these areas.
In 2020, we worked with Proforest to develop a gap analysis of our approach to address human rights in our priority supply chains. Building on insights from this analysis, we are continuing to work with Proforest to ensure robust mechanisms that embed respect for human rights in the production of these priority commodities, initially focused on palm oil production. Read more about our efforts on our Human Rights page.
Focus on Nature and Biodiversity
Nature-positive ecosystems – areas where biodiversity thrives – are vital for securing a habitable, healthy future. Healthy natural environments supply the resources every living thing needs to survive, as well as the materials we need to safeguard a successful, resilient business in the food sector.
Developing Our approach
To protect biodiverse ecosystems, we must first establish a clear path of action. We are determining the key metrics that will enable measurable progress to guide our efforts in supporting nature and biodiversity throughout our value chain. Our participation in the TNFD Forum will help to advance this. This emerging framework – currently in early development stages – details how to assess, and then address, the business challenges and opportunities presented by nature loss today and in the future.
Nature as a Climate Solution
Most of McDonald’s environmental impacts occur in our supply chains and so, to protect nature and biodiversity, we continue to engage our suppliers in adopting more sustainable practices. We are investing in innovative solutions and collective action to address climate-related risks and advance processes that are better for the planet.
Conserving forests and developing nature-based solutions like regenerative farming techniques are critical to both mitigate and adapt to climate change. We consider nature in our climate scenario modeling, including the potential for unpredictable weather changes, impacts on the natural resources we rely on and transitional risks as the world shifts to a low-carbon economy.
Read more in our Climate Risk & Resiliency Summary (PDF – 3.82 MB)
The positive environmental impacts and biodiversity benefits from regenerative farming models are clear and measurable. We can help advance action to mitigate climate change, support farming communities and create more resilient and economically viable systems for the long term.
We’re currently finding ways to collaborate on scaling nature-based solutions across the supply chain. We’re doing this by listening to, and learning from, the farming community. This includes partnering with suppliers, expert NGOs and other organizations on farmer and rancher-led programs that promote adoption of regenerative practices.
To date, we have invested in several initiatives that boost sustainable, regenerative agriculture, including:
- Entering into a partnership with Cargill, The Nature Conservancy and Target to invest in practices in Nebraska that support soil health, biodiversity and land resiliency while mitigating climate change impacts.
- Supporting the ranching community in the Northern Great Plains with Cargill, the Walmart Foundation and WWF in a five-year project to implement regenerate grazing across 1 million acres.
- Becoming a founding member of AgMission, a global collaboration to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture.
- Working with the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) in the U.S. to analyze the benefits of Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) grazing versus continual grazing.
- Collaborating with FAI Farms in the U.K. to develop a regenerative grazing program that supports healthier soils through cattle activity such as trampling of grasses and natural fertilization.
- Launching a regenerative agriculture program with 60 wheat farmers in France, with the aim of planting 230,000 trees by 2030.
- Partnering with Ducks Unlimited Canada and Cargill to conserve Canadian grasslands, returning 125,000 acres of cropland to grass and pasture by 2025.
Protecting Threatened Species
Alongside our human rights and climate impact work, McDonald’s has expanded its focus beyond our initial forest commitment by engaging in efforts to halt conversion of ecosystems that host biodiversity. We are focused on providing safe habitats in farming landscapes by finding ways for farmers to coexist with predators.
One such example involves our efforts in Brazil to support the Instituto Onça-Pintada – the Jaguar Conservation Fund. Apex predators, such as jaguars, are a good indication of a robust and thriving ecosystem. The Fund’s Certificado Onça-Pintada, or Jaguar Friendly Ranch Certification, recognizes accomplishments related to protecting this threatened species.
By encouraging our suppliers to pursue actions and conduct that allow for the coexistence of cattle production and jaguars, we are helping landowners step into a leadership role in protecting the jaguar’s existence for future generations.
Focus on Water
Water is vital to our business. We need safe, readily available water to run our restaurants and serve the drinks our customers love. Additionally, to create our iconic food items, we rely on agricultural produce, which in turn depends on freshwater sources. With water sources under increasing pressure from climate change, extreme weather, floods, drought and growing population demands, we need to treat every drop as precious.
Shaping Our Water Strategy
We’re working to conserve water, use it responsibly and efficiently, and build resiliency. Despite global water abundance, freshwater is a finite and limited resource. Issues around availability and quality are felt on a hyper-local level in the communities where we operate, and in the regions where we source our food and materials ‒ all around the world.
With experts like the WWF, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Water Foundry, we identified risks and created a stewardship approach that drives actions and improvements across our value chain, including sourcing, processing, transportation and in our restaurants.
Water Stewardship in Our Supply Chains
Water stewardship practices are embedded in our sourcing requirements. We expect suppliers to proactively manage, measure and minimize the environmental impact of their own operation, including through responsible water use and disposal. We also expect suppliers to influence their own supply chains to consistently improve the sustainability of sourcing practices and encourage them to report their progress through the CDP Supply Chain water disclosure.
Guidance for suppliers on best practice water stewardship and management is included in our Global Sustainable Sourcing Guide, an internal resource that is in line with internal targets, emerging risks and developing best practices. This resource guides our food, packaging and logistics suppliers at the market and global levels.
Water Stewardship in Our Restaurants and Offices
We focus on water quality, availability, efficiency and stewardship in our restaurants. This includes utilizing rainwater harvesting, condensate recovery and greywater use in toilet facilities in many markets.
For example, in our U.S. restaurants, we conducted around 30 water surveys in 2018, gathering key water management data on irrigation, public and staff amenities, cleaning and beverage services. The findings have helped us to identify improvement opportunities. Our U.S. restaurant construction and remodel standards now include low-flow urinals and high-efficiency faucets that use less water. We also encourage the use of native and/or drought-tolerant landscaping, along with storm water management using rain gardens, permeable pavements, and rainwater collection and reuse. In 2021, we also conducted water efficiency pilots in 19 restaurants in Southern California. Post-implementation analysis of some restaurants resulted in roughly a 30% reduction in water use and annualized savings of 3.7 million gallons through various retrofits and maintenance measures.
Footnotes
For definitions and related issues, see Definitions of Deforestation above.
1 Calculated as the aggregated volumes of beef, soy sourced for chicken feed, palm oil, coffee and primary fiber-based guest packaging that are supporting deforestation-free supply chains, as a percentage of the aggregated total volumes sourced of these commodities.
2 Beef. Scope: Includes all beef suppliers to the McDonald’s System and their raw material suppliers globally and all McDonald’s restaurants owned and operated by the Company and its Franchisees that sell beef. McDonald’s requires all beef raw material sourced from high-deforestation priority regions to comply with McDonald’s Deforestation-Free Beef Procurement Policy and meet the requirements as outlined in McDonald’s Commitment on Forests. Countries with regions currently identified as high priority for beef include Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Australia. Exclusions: Beef used as secondary ingredients in McDonald’s products, for example, as flavoring in a sauce.
3 Soy (for chicken feed). Scope: Includes all soybean volume used in the feed of chicken sourced for McDonald’s products by all chicken suppliers to the McDonald’s System and all McDonald’s restaurants owned and operated by the Company and its Franchisees that sell chicken. Europe refers to Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Herzegovina, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and Ukraine. Countries with regions currently identified as high-deforestation priority regions for soy include Argentina (Chaco biome), Brazil (Amazon and Cerrado biomes) and Paraguay (Chaco biome). Given the complexity of soy supply chains, we consider that, unless demonstrated, all of McDonald’s sources of soy for chicken feed fall into high-deforestation priority regions, with the exception of chicken sourced in North America where soy used in chicken feed is locally produced and considered low risk. Exclusions: Soy used as an ingredient in McDonald’s products sold in restaurants, for example, soy oil.
4 Palm oil. Scope: Includes all palm oil (including crude palm oil, palm kernel oil, derivatives and fractions) sourced for McDonald’s restaurants for use as restaurant cooking oil and all palm oil sourced by McDonald’s suppliers and used directly as an ingredient in a McDonald’s product and listed on the product’s ingredient statement. Includes all suppliers of products containing palm oil in the McDonald’s System and all McDonald’s restaurants owned and operated by the Company and its Franchisees that use palm oil. All countries are currently identified as high deforestation priority regions for palm oil and all volumes are required to be covered by Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification or credits. All RSPO supply chain models applicable to RSPO are applicable to McDonald’s: RSPO Identity Preserved (IP), RSPO Segregated (SG), RSPO Mass Balance (MB) and Book and Claim (BC), although McDonald’s is committed to increasing traceability by specifying physical certification for the palm oil used in the McDonald’s System in the greatest volumes (IP, SG or MB). Exclusions: Palm oil, palm kernel oil or their derivative used as secondary ingredients in McDonald’s products. This is when palm oil is used as an ingredient within an ingredient, for example, an emulsifier.
5 Coffee. Scope: Includes all ground and whole bean coffee, including decaffeinated coffee, used in espresso-based drinks and coffee brewed at McDonald’s restaurants, and all ground and whole bean coffee in McDonald’s branded retail products. Includes all suppliers of coffee to the McDonald’s System. Market scope includes all McDonald’s restaurants owned and operated by the Company and its Franchisees that sell coffee, and retail outlets selling McDonald’s branded coffee products. Countries with regions currently identified as high-deforestation priority regions for coffee include Honduras, Indonesia and Vietnam. McDonald’s requires all coffee sourced from these regions to be Rainforest Alliance Certified. Exclusions: Coffee extracts and ingredients used in products such as frappés and coffee in baked goods; coffee in cold brew drinks if they are brewed off-site; coffee extract in ready-to-drink retail products; and other locally sourced products containing coffee.
6 Fiber. Scope: Primary fiber-based packaging refers to products that are used to package guest food on premises at McDonald’s restaurants. This type of packaging includes containers, cups, wraps, bags for food, beverages, napkins, folding cartons, clamshells, food service bags, napkins, salad bowls, Happy Meal cartons, drink carriers and cup carriers. Includes all suppliers of primary-based packaging to the McDonald’s System and all McDonald’s restaurants owned and operated by the Company and its Franchisees. In 2021, the primary fiber-based packaging scope was expanded to include plastic alternatives such as wood stirrers and cutlery, and paper straws and lids. This broadened scope has resulted in a slight decrease in percent compliance. All volumes of contingency items sourced from suppliers compliant with our standards but not integrated into our data reporting system were counted as non-compliant. Countries with regions currently identified as high-deforestation priority regions for fiber include Argentina, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Russia and Vietnam. McDonald’s requires all wood fiber sourced from these regions to be Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified or FSC controlled wood sources with full chain of custody certification. Exclusions: Primary fiber-based packaging in food packaged off-site McDonald’s restaurants; tray liners, straws and limited locally sourced items.
7 Russia is included for the purposes of performance reporting to the end of December 2021.
