American fast food chain McDonald’s has opened its first zero-carbon restaurant. However, some experts have accused the giant of “green hand washing”.
The fast food chain hopes to use the restaurant in Market Drayton, Shropshire, as a model for its remaining 1,400 restaurants in the UK.
The restaurant is powered by solar panels and two on-site wind turbines. The walls are insulated with British sheep wool and recycled materials from IT equipment. The garden is irrigated with rainwater and provides shelter for wild birds. The restaurant also relies on carbon offsets.
The building is designed to retain the familiar look and feel of McDonald’s, which offers the same menu as other branches of the chain known for their burgers.
“McDonald’s will be serving food in restaurants that are sustainable for the future,” said Beth Hart, the company’s deputy director. He added that the project in Market Drayton is a big step towards making this intention a reality.
However, activists are not convinced of the company’s environmental claims.
Anna Jones of Greenpeace, UK, said meat and dairy were still a staple on the McDonald’s menu, so the new initiative could only be described as “McGreenwash” or “green hand wash”.
Greenpeace believes that “green hand washing” is a PR tactic used to make a company or product look environmentally friendly without significantly reducing its environmental impact.
A McDonald’s spokesman explained that the restaurant in Market Drayton is just one of the environmental measures taken by the company. They also include an ambitious 2040 sustainability plan while maintaining net zero emissions throughout the fast food chain in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
Jennifer Jacquet, an associate professor of environmental research at New York University, called the plan an “unusual green hand wash.” According to her, the real problem is the powerful methane gas, which warms the climate. “They want praise for focusing on carbon in their day-to-day restaurant operations in the UK, provided the problem is very clear – methane from burgers sold in their 39,000 fast food restaurants worldwide,” she said. .
Cows emit huge amounts of methane, which retains heat. This makes beef the most harmful food for the climate.
McDonald’s said that the company’s net zero target covers methane and carbon dioxide. However, Jennifer Jacket is of the opposite opinion and believes that McDonald’s can not prove convincingly how I will achieve net zero carbon emissions, provided that it continues to sell hundreds of burgers per second.
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a charity that encourages companies to measure their impact on the environment, praised the restaurant as an innovative initiative. Dexter Galvin of the CDP said McDonald’s is one of the few companies currently engaging its suppliers with the issue of deforestation, and their latest forest assessments show that real action has been taken.
The Market Drayton restaurant is the first in the UK to be tested for net zero emissions using the UK Green Building Council’s zero-carbon assessment framework.
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