WWF welcomes McDonald’s commitment to sustainable palm oil

WWF welcomes the announcement by McDonald’s Corporation that it has joined the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) as part of its commitment to use more certified sustainable foods.

“This is a really significant move by McDonald’s, in particular because it will help shift the Asian market – the world’s largest consumer of palm oil - towards more use of certified sustainable palm oil,” said Dave McLaughlin, head of Agriculture at the World Wildlife Fund in Washington D.C.

“To really make a difference in the long-run, more companies need to follow McDonald’s example, and make sure they’re thinking about how to make the switch to certified sustainable palm oil.”

“Making the switch to certified sustainable palm oil means switching to a sourcing policy that protects people and nature.”

McDonald’s announced Wednesday (Oct. 19) that it had joined the roundtable as part of its commitment to source palm oil only from RSPO member companies by the end of 2011 for use in its food products, and to only use palm oil certified by the RSPO in its restaurants and pre-cooked chicken and potato products by 2015.

McDonald’s mainly uses palm oil in its restaurant in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and in Latin America as frying oil and as a par-fry for pre-cooking products such as french fries, chicken patties, and Chicken McNuggets, according to its statement.

According to WWF, a global market shift toward more sustainable palm oil that truly helps to stem forest loss cannot happen until influential companies in China and India move toward sustainability. The Chinese and Indian palm oil markets account for 31 percent of total global consumption of palm oil.

WWF worked with other NGOs and the palm oil industry to set up the RSPO in 2003. Certified Sustainable Palm Oil has been available since November 2008 and provides assurances that valuable tropical forests have not been cleared and that environmental and social safeguards have been met during the production of the palm oil.