Burger King & Environmental Sustainability

An impressive voluntary move in the name of environmental sustainability has been made by Burger King, Incorporated /3G Capital (side note: Burger King was recently sold to 3G in what appears to be an effort to expand more easily overseas). They have decided to stop buying from a company that allegedly destroys rain forests in the production of palm oil.

According to the Associated Press, Burger King " cited an independent audit that found the plantations [of Sinar Mas] had violated several regulations, including planting in some peatland swamps and secondary forests," and therefore has "concerns [Sinar Mas] had not adopted sustainable farming practices." Further, Burger King stated, "These practices are inconsistent with our corporate responsibility commitments."

Burger King's website declares their responsibility to moving toward a more sustainable environment in a section called "Positive Steps":

The better job we do at being responsible today, the better our business will be in the future. We know that from a pure business sense, it can help us manage risk, enhance employee morale and retention, strengthen brand loyalty, build goodwill in the communities in which we operate and can directly affect the bottom line such as with energy savings and waste reduction. We also know that it must be a way of thinking before it becomes a way of acting. And the only way to accomplish that is to embed it fully into our brand. That is why our approach is stakeholder-driven, focused on four key areas - Food, People, Environment and Corporate Governance.

With some further investigation, Burger King cites:

Globally, BKC has committed to purchase beef from suppliers that source only beef that has been raised in environmentally responsible ways. As a result, none of our beef comes from recently deforested tropical rainforests.

It's good start to an enormous problem. There's a little bit of trickery in the wording of "recently deforested" which may carry an undertone of "still using deforested rainforest, but hoping to not contribute to the problem any more." Little by little; step by step.

While it may not give the absolute green light on fast food, it does indicate that consumer awareness and consumer activism will bring attention to corporate manufacturers of industrial food. It may mean that the price of french fries will rise in accordance to the alternative source oil - of which in specific, Burger King has not disclosed.

Burger King is not the only major corporation to break their contracts with Sinar Mas. According to the Associated Press article, Unilever, Nestle and Kraft Foods have not renewed their contracts. The best outcome of this situation is that Sinar Mas accommodates their supply and demand, and looks to move forward into the field of sustainable agriculture and environmental sustainability.

Photo credit megroberts.wordpress.com