McDonald’s sets science-based target to reduce greenhouse gas emissionsMcDonald’s sets science-based target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Last week, McDonald’s announced it will partner with franchisees and suppliers to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to McDonald’s restaurants and offices by 36% by 2030 from a 2015 base year in a new strategy to address global climate change. Additionally, McDonald’s commits to a 31% reduction in emissions intensity (per metric ton of food and packaging) across its supply chain by 2030 from 2015 levels. This combined target has been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a group of partner organizations that include CDP, the UN Global Compact, the World Resources Institute and the World Wildlife Fund.

McDonald’s expects its plan will prevent 150 million metric tons of GHG emissions from being released into the atmosphere. McDonald’s information explains that this is the equivalent of taking 32 million passenger cars off the road for an entire year or planting 3.8 billion trees and growing them for 10 years.

That’s an interesting aim, but I’m thinking that it could take 32 million passenger cars off the road by closing its restaurants, because people wouldn’t have to drive to them to buy fast food. And someone should tell McDonald’s architects that trees love GHG emissions and thrive on CO₂. In fact, trees are storehouses of CO₂! There are more trees on Earth growing faster than ever thanks to rising levels of CO₂, and that’s a good thing.

Tree ring studies of very old trees tell the tale of climate change from hundreds of years in the past—from years of warmer weather and years of colder weather, such as the Little Ice Age, circa 1350 to 1850). As the weather changes, trees mark those changes in their trunks. Nothing new there!

McDonald’s “will prioritize action on the largest segments of its carbon footprint: Beef production, restaurant energy usage and sourcing, packaging and waste,” said the company. “These segments combined account for approximately 64% of McDonald’s global emissions.”

Since methane from animal flatulence is one of the worst sources of GHG emissions, I think one step the company should take is to provide Gas-X to all of the cattle on ranches from which McDonald’s buys its beef.

“Building on the momentum of existing programs on forests, agriculture and energy efficiency, McDonald’s and its partners will continue to identify practical solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and bring them to scale,” said the release, noting that the company is also committed to “transparency.” We’ve been seeing that word a lot lately in the news.

The partners of McDonald’s new initiative claim that the company’s efforts to “tackle climate change” through emissions reductions are “based on science.” Yet, they don’t provide any scientific evidence—facts or, especially, figures—of McDonald’s improvements over the three decades the company says it has been working “to care for the planet.” Where does the company currently stand with respect to its “total carbon footprint” (including the number of flatulent cattle raised to produce the beef, as well as the use of energy to process the cattle into hamburgers)? Without facts and figures, how can we measure future “progress”? In science, that’s a problem!

The term “science-based” is used several times throughout McDonald’s release in statements by the leaders of the various partner groups, just in case we’re still wondering if this effort is truly science-based.

McDonald’s sustainable packaging initiative is good, but it also needs to be based on real science, not the anti-plastic hype. Plastic is recyclable, so use plastic and don’t be fooled be the pseudo-science that many activist groups promote to the general public.

If McDonald’s is truly going to become “the first restaurant company to set approved science-based targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, then they need to show us the science behind everything they do. Don’t tell me the hype— show me the science!