Friday, 18 March 2016
Business Leadership: IKEA and McDonald's
March 18, 2016
Across the FSC marketplace, there are thousands of businesses working hard to meet customer demands while also supporting responsible forest management. Yet only a small number of companies have as much reach and potential for impact as IKEA and McDonald’s. Given the complexity of their supply chains and quantities of forest products used, the commitment to FSC that these companies are making are especially notable.
In its 2015 Sustainability Report, IKEA sets a goal of 100 percent of their “wood, paper and cardboard from more sustainable sources,” by 2020, defined as “FSC certified or recycled.” Given that IKEA uses 1 percent of the world’s wood, this is a huge commitment. In 2015, 50 percent of the wood IKEA used met its definition of “more sustainable.”
In pursuit of its goal of being “forest positive,” IKEA has been “working in partnership with WWF for more than a decade to increase levels of FSC certification globally and fight the illegal timber trade.” So far IKEA has increased FSC-certified forest by around 86 million acres, an area roughly the size of Montana and more than double the total area needed to supply IKEA. They continue to work on FSC-related projects in 10 countries.
McDonald’s, one of the most recognized brands in the world, has a vision of sourcing all of its food and packaging sustainably. In line with that vision, the company set a goal of procuring 100 percent of its packaging from certified or recycled sources by 2020, with a global preference for FSC-certified sources.
In 2014, McDonald’s became the first global food service company to join WWF’s Global Forest and Trade Network. At that time, 23 percent of its fiber-based packaging was certified or recycled. This year, McDonald’s is transitioning to 100 percent FSC-certified fiber in the hot cups in the United States, incorporating the FSC logo on cup to share their stewardship commitment with customers.
The Forest Stewardship Council US applauds this effort and greatly appreciates McDonald’s use of the FSC logo on their cups.
McDonald’s Senior Manager Global Sustainability, Rolf Huwyler, recently wrote about their efforts in Medium. You can read their Global Fiber Sourcing Policy here.