Commercial, Sourcing Renewables  -  December 8, 2020

McDonald's to reach 50% of emissions goals with 2020 VPPAs

McDonald’s reported Dec. 7 that it used 2020 to increase its investment in renewable energy generation and will be halfway to its emissions reduction goal once its new projects come online.

This year, McDonald’s completed three new VPPAs for two wind farms and one portfolio of solar projects across Illinois, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Ohio. The new U.S. projects, when combined with two other VPPAs that the company completed in 2019, have a total capacity of 1,130 MW, which is enough power to cover the electricity needs of around 8,000 McDonald’s restaurants.

It is estimated that McDonald’s share of these projects will avoid about 2.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases per year once online.

“As one of the world’s largest restaurant companies, we have a unique opportunity to strengthen climate resiliency with our network of franchisees and supplier partners,” Jenny McColloch, Vice President of Sustainability, said in a statement. “The impacts of these U.S.-based VPPA deals for renewable energy represent significant milestones toward our science based target for 2030, and serve as meaningful examples of the solutions we are employing throughout our system to drive climate action and add more renewable energy to the grid."

McDonald’s is currently pursuing a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 36% by 2030, compared to a 2015 base year. Once the five projects that the company signed on for in 2019 and 2020 have all come online, the company will be about halfway to that target.

Additionally, the company is committed to a 31% reduction in emissions intensity per metric ton of food and packaging across its supply chain.

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