Post by account_disabled on Feb 20, 2024 0:26:34 GMT -5
The three new projects will be built in Illinois, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Ohio, after developers secure support from McDonald's and other businesses. McDonald's participation in the projects will reduce the business' annual Scope 2 (energy-related) emissions by more than 2.5 million metric tons. The signing of two agreements McDonald's USA had already signed two public-private partnership agreements in 2019, one for a wind farm and another for a solar farm, both in Texas. If the generation capacity portion of these two projects is added to the generation capacity portion of the three new sets, the total is 1,130MW – enough to power 8,000 restaurants. Once all five projects come online over the next three years, McDonald's USA estimates the resulting emissions reductions will bring it halfway to its climate action goal for restaurants and offices. It strives to reduce absolute emissions from this part of the business by 36% by 2030, relative to the 2015 baseline. Beyond the climate benefit of the new VPPAs, the company says the three new projects will collectively create 3,400 jobs in the short term and 135 jobs in the long term. The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified our focus on strengthening the resilience of our communities and the planet. As one of the largest restaurant companies in the world, we have a unique opportunity to strengthen climate resilience with our network of franchises and supplier partners. Jenny McCulloch, vice president of sustainability at McDonald's USA.
United States of America Even though the Trump administration withdrew from the Paris Agreement and continued to focus on fossil fuels over renewable energy, US-based companies are global leaders when it comes to clean energy procurement. Renewable PPAs made in the US last year totaled 16GW, up from 10GW in 2018, according to the RE-Source Platform. A similar analysis by Europe Cell Phone Number List Bloomberg NEF found that a 40% global annual increase in corporate clean energy procurement was led by action in the United States. McDonald's USA has been one of the country's largest buyers of renewable energy since 2008. Other major players include Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Target and PepsiCo. Many of these companies are members of “We Are Still In,” a campaign that unifies businesses, states and cities in a continued commitment to the Paris Agreement, regardless of the federal approach. The corporate PPA market in Europe is notably less mature than in the United States.
That's why a coalition of more than 50 large companies is calling on EU leaders to incorporate corporate sourcing of renewable energy into the bloc's COVID-19 stimulus package, hailed globally as "green." Sponsors include Mars, Nestlé, H&M GGroup and IKEA owner Ingka Group.A year ago, at an experimental coffee farm Starbucks owns on the slopes of a volcano in Costa Rica, workers carefully plucked coffee cherries, including three dozen new varieties of coffee trees that had been planted two years earlier. and they were being harvested for the first time. In a test plot on another Costa Rican farm, workers did the same, weighing the fruit harvested from each new coffee hybrid and recording the data before sending the beans to be processed, roasted and sent as samples to 20 different coffee companies. from Intelligentsia to Dunkin', to taste. Starbucks. How to save coffee from climate change At both farms, and at other global sites, the pilot is being run by World Coffee Research , a nonprofit organization backed by some of the world's largest coffee companies. The organization is testing the new varieties for productivity, disease resistance and flavor, as a first step in addressing the industry's biggest problem: How can coffee survive the impacts of climate change? Small farmers who grow the beans used to make your morning cup of coffee are already starting to struggle due to extreme weather and increased crop diseases. Doug Welsh, vice president of coffee and head roaster at Peet's, the San Francisco Bay Area-based coffee roaster and retailer, says the company helped launch World Coffee Research in 2012 as a way for coffee companies to collaborate on solutions. and commented: I don't know any coffee producer who doesn't believe in global warming... We're talking about a challenge that's bigger than any company.