Forests play a vital role in creating oxygen and absorbing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. People, plants and animals rely on forests for food, fresh water and shelter, yet they and other high value conservation areas remain under threat.

The UN's Global Forest Goals 2021 Report, states that "Between 2015 and 2020, deforestation, which measures the conversion of forest to other land use, stood at 10.2 million hectares (ha) per year".

When we fail to protect forests, climate change effects worsen, critical biodiversity is lost and livelihoods and human rights are threatened – as are the natural ecosystems that we all rely on for the food we eat. This is why supporting deforestation-free supply chains and promoting forests as a climate solution is not just our responsibility, it is core to our business.

McDonald’s is committed to eliminating deforestation from our global supply chains, prioritising the commodities and geographies where we can have the biggest impact. In 2020 we made significant progress, supporting deforestation-free supply chains for several of our primary ingredients and materials – beef, chicken (soy in feed), palm oil, coffee and the fibre used in guest packaging. You can find out more about how we reached this milestone as a global business and our Commitment on Forests and Natural Ecosystems here.

We recognise that we have more work to do, particularly on soy. That’s why McDonald’s UK & Ireland is accelerating progress in this area. We are proud founding signatories of the UK Soy Manifesto, a collective industry commitment signaling a new approach to soy, enabling UK companies across the supply chain to step up and develop inclusive solutions. As a signatory of this Manifesto we are committing to sourcing soy used as an ingredient (“direct”) and in the animal feed across our supply chains (“embedded”) from deforestation-free supply chains by the end of 2025*+. This commitment extends beyond forests to other natural ecosystems of high conservation value, to the people and communities around the world who depend on forests. We acknowledge that in order to meet this ambitious commitment we will need to continue to collaborate to address underlying causes of deforestation, as shown through the Influence pillar of our strategy below.

Our report on use of deforestation-free soy, as part of our commitment to the UK Soy Manifesto, can be found below. 

Innovate

We recognise that soy plays an important role in providing a nutritious feed source to animals – but there is increasing innovation to deliver alternatives. We encourage and support our suppliers to consider reducing and replacing soy in animal diets, whilst being mindful of the potential impact any alternatives might also have.

Illustrate

We are committed to tracking progress against our goal and we map our soy footprint annually. We know that the majority of soy used in our supply chain is in animal feed. While the soy sourced to feed chickens grown for McDonald’s in the UK & Ireland currently supports deforestation-free supply chains through third party certification with cut-off dates aligned to the Accountability Framework initiative (AFi) principles, we want to go further.

Informed by data from our suppliers we assessed deforestation risks associated with embedded soy in our UK & Ireland supply chains for chicken, pork, dairy, beef, eggs, and direct soy. We are now in the process of creating action plans with our suppliers, aligned to the three pillars of our Strategy on Soy. Through these action plans, we aim to support progress on soy sustainability not only in our own supply chains but also throughout the wider sector.

Influence

We know that the underlying causes driving deforestation are complex and larger than any one company can address alone, which is why we will collaborate within and beyond our supply chain to help drive transformational change. In addition to being a founding signatory of the UK Soy Manifesto, we are also members of the UK Roundtable on Sustainable Soy, a collaboration between the UK government and industry. Through the Roundtable, companies and industry associations work together to achieve a shared goal of supporting resilient supplies of soy for the UK which are legal and cultivated in a way that protects against the conversion of forests and valuable native vegetation.

In 2022, the McDonald’s Corporation joined the CGF’s Forest Positive Coalition, a multi-company initiative to stop commodity-driven deforestation and address global climate change issues across consumer goods manufacturers and retailers. As part of our ongoing membership, for the second year in a row, we developed a report to highlight our progress against the Coalition’s key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics. Read more detail in our Consumer Goods Forum’s Forest Positive Coalition 2023 Report.

Find out more about McDonald’s global approach to nature, forests and water. 

McDonald’s UK & Ireland is committed to annually reporting our progress towards our commitment, including the actions we take to achieve the commitments of the UK Soy Manifesto. We are committed to improving traceability and supporting more transparent reporting across our supply chains.

We recognise the challenges related to how companies report progress toward their deforestation commitments and targets, and efforts are ongoing to standardise reporting practices. To ensure we are reporting clearly and consistently against our commitments, we work with expert partners and align our definitions with recognised frameworks such as the Accountability Framework initiative (AFi). 

McDonald’s UK & Ireland commitments and expectations are in line with McDonald’s global definitions of deforestation set out here. 

Engaging our suppliers on sustainable soy continues to be a key priority as we work towards a deforestation-free supply chain by the end of 2025. During 2023, we built on our progress to date in understanding the volumes, growing origins, and certification status of the soy used in our supply chain. We continued to support our suppliers in the transition towards deforestation-free supply and helped to build their understanding around procuring traceable, deforestation-free soy.

In 2023, approximately 64,200 tonnes of soy were used in McDonald’s UK & Ireland products, both as direct ingredients and embedded within the animal feed for our meat. This figure is based on data from all our suppliers who were in scope for reporting on their soy usage in 2023. We rely on our suppliers to provide us with this data annually and are working with them to improve the consistency and accuracy each year. The reduction in our total reported soy footprint from approximately 84,000 tonnes in 2022 reflects both improved data accuracy and a reduction in our suppliers’ soy usage in 2023.

Raising the level of understanding among our suppliers around deforestation and its impact on local communities and the climate is a key focus for us. Ahead of our annual soy reporting process, we hold a capacity building webinar for our suppliers in which we set out McDonald’s UK & Ireland’s commitments on soy and deforestation-related emissions and our expectations for supplier actions and transparency.

As part of our commitment to the UK Soy Manifesto, and to help our suppliers provide deforestation-free soy in the future, we have continued to engage our suppliers on matching our commitments on soy. Being able to show action on deforestation -free soy is now a key ask for our suppliers as part of our annual supplier engagement process.

Since we have committed to the UK Soy Manifesto, suppliers representing 58% of our total soy footprint have already matched our commitment to deforestation-free soy by the end of 2025. This figure is lower than last year due to improved data accuracy from suppliers and reclassifying some suppliers who are yet to move from ‘supporters’ to ‘full signatories’ of the UK Soy Manifesto.

McDonald’s UK & Ireland participates in an annual collective data collection process to monitor soy use in our supply chain. This process is facilitated by 3Keel, an external sustainability consultancy. Since 2018 3Keel has managed a collective reporting process on behalf of multiple European retailers, manufacturers and hospitality companies to simplify and standardise soy reporting across the sector. McDonald’s UK & Ireland’s participation in this collective process ensures that our approach to monitoring and reporting on soy is consistent and comparable across the sector and meets current industry-level standards.

The information requested from our suppliers as part of the reporting process is in line with the UK Soy Manifesto and enables us to meet our commitment to publicly report on our progress towards our 2025 target.

The soy in McDonald’s UK & Ireland products in 2023 was claimed by suppliers to be deforestation- and conversion-free to the following standards:

• 6% sourced from low priority regions with a low-risk of deforestation and conversion or certified to a segregated standard. This has increased by over 5% since 2022.
• 9% certified to a mass balance standard.
• 32% supported the sustainable production of soy through certification-based schemes, the majority of which were RTRS Book & Claim standard credits.

In total, 47% was claimed as sourced to a deforestation- and conversion-free standard.

In line with our global commitment, in 2023 100% of the soy sourced for the feed of chicken used in our products supported deforestation-free supply chains. 

McDonald’s global commitment requires that all soy sourced for the feed of chicken used in McDonald’s products is either sourced from low priority regions or, when sourced from high priority regions, including Argentina and Paraguay (Chaco biome) and Brazil (Amazon and Cerrado biomes), must support responsible soy production. Given the complexity of soy supply chains, we consider that, unless demonstrated, all of McDonald’s sources of soy for chicken fall into high priority regions, with the exception of chicken sourced in the U.S. and Canada, where soy used in feed is locally produced and therefore volumes are considered low priority. We support responsible soy production through the purchase of RTRS credits. A number of our chicken suppliers to Europe also use physical certification through ProTerra standards. Soy produced in the Amazon biome meeting the Amazon Soy Moratorium requirements is also recognised as compliant when suppliers can provide proof of traceability and assurance.

In 2023, 37% of the soy in our products was linked to specific growing origin(s). 5% was claimed to come from a growing origin with a low risk of deforestation. 24% was linked to a named soy trader.

To ensure we are reporting clearly and consistently against our commitments, and in conjunction with our work with expert partners and recognised frameworks such as the Accountability Framework initiative (AFi), McDonald’s commitments and expectations are formed based on the definitions of deforestation set out below.

More detail can be found on our Global webpage.

Deforestation

Refers to the loss of natural forest as a result of: (i) conversion to agriculture or other non-forest land use; (ii) conversion to a tree plantation; or (iii) severe and sustained degradation, as aligned with the definitions of AFi.

Eliminate deforestation

Refers to McDonald’s global pledge to tackle deforestation, per the Commitment, in our global supply chain by 2030, for commodities and regions where we can deliver the greatest impact. We use the term “supporting deforestation-free supply chains” on this page to reflect the actions we are currently taking to implement, measure and report progress toward our Commitment.

Natural ecosystems

Natural ecosystems, as defined by AFi, refers to an ecosystem that substantially resembles – in terms of species composition, structure, and ecological function – one that is or would be found in a given area in the absence of major human impacts. This includes human-managed ecosystems where much of the natural species composition, structure, and ecological function are present.

High priority regions

High priority regions are defined as countries, biomes, municipalities, or postcodes that are identified as areas where deforestation has occurred historically as determined through regular assessments, including with third-parties, that rely on the latest supply chain data and trends related to forests and natural ecosystems.

Low priority regions

Low priority regions refers to countries, biomes, municipalities, or postcodes that are identified as areas without or with a low risk of deforestation, as determined through regular assessments, including with third-parties, that rely on the latest supply chain data and trends related to forests and natural ecosystems.

Supporting deforestation-free supply chains

Supporting deforestation-free supply chains refers to the work that the Company is doing relative to priority commodities in its supply chains that are either sourced sustainably from high priority regions and comply with McDonald’s sustainable sourcing requirements as set out or are sourced from low priority regions.

Embedded (soy)

Refers to soy sourced for feed of livestock used in McDonald’s products.

Direct (soy)

Refers to soy used directly as an ingredient in McDonald’s products.

Conversion (soy)

Refers to loss of a natural ecosystem as a result of its replacement with agriculture or another land use, or due to a profound and sustained change in a natural ecosystem’s species composition, structure, or function, as aligned with the definitions of AFi.

Deforestation cut-off dates

The date after which deforestation or conversion renders a given area or production unit non-compliant with no-deforestation or no-conversion commitments, policies, goals, targets, or other obligations.

As aligned with the Accountability Framework initiative (AFi), all cut-off dates are 2020 or earlier. For more information on category specific cut-off dates, go to McDonald's Corporation's global webpage.