Per 2011 Sustainability Scorecard, McDonald's Makes Headway, but Falls Short on 12 of 13 Goals

McDonald's Corporation released its 2011 Sustainability Scorecard highlighting the company's work in five priority areas, including environmental responsibility and sustainable sourcing.

According to the scorecard, McDonald’s met only one out of 13 stated goals in these five areas during 2011. That goal was to increase energy awareness and education across its system of stores.

The company fell short on other environmental goals for increasing adoption of energy efficient technology and equipment, though it did make available for purchase some 90 pieces of more energy-efficient equipment to the McDonald's system, and introduced "energy bundles" -- packages of recommended restaurant improvements that combine simple changes like energy-efficient lighting with newer tools such as occupancy sensors.

McDonald’s also did not reach a goal for tracking restaurant energy usage, however the scorecard notes improvements in energy data gathering and reporting capabilities in the company’s nine major markets.

In the area of Sustainable Supply Chain, the scorecard shows the company coming up short on three goals.

The first was to set goals and make tangible progress for priority products as identified by the company’s Sustainable Land Management Commitment. These products are beef, poultry, coffee, palm oil and fiber.

The only specifics offered on these products concern fiber, for which McDonalds increased from 31 percent to 36.9 percent the amount of virgin fiber coming from certified sources. The amount of packaging material made from recycled content has remained roughly the same since 2006—at around 30 percent.

The other unmet supply chain goals included working with other stakeholders on next actions resulting from the Global Conference on Sustainable Beef and reducing environmental impacts of direct suppliers through the continued use of the company’s Supplier Environmental Scorecard.

McDonald’s most notable success—described in detail in the scorecard—has been sourcing fish under its Sustainable Fisheries program. The company says 99 percent of its fish worldwide comes from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified fisheries.

In addition to environment and food sourcing, McDonald's says in 2012 it will continue to focus on three other areas central to its sustainability strategy – Menu Evolution, Employee Experience and Community.

For instance, by the end of March 2012, fruit will automatically be included in every Happy Meal served in U.S. and Latin America restaurants. Additional changes, including a new smaller size of French Fries only available in Happy Meals, will result in reductions in calories and fat for the most popular Happy Meals.

Bart King is a PR consultant and principal of Cleantech Communications.