The Big Green 'M': McDonalds, Sustainable Fisheries and Green Labels

Can you imagine a big green M instead of the big yellow M we're used to seeing?

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That's exactly what McDonald's is trying to do - paint their logo green. Okay, well, not literally, but they are taking actions to go green or, be more environmentally-friendly. Or at least that's what eco labels on their fillet-o-fish in the EU promise.

McDonald's in the EU obtained the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) label for the fish they use in 2011. The MSC label basically certifies that a piece of seafood was produced in a sustainable manner and is widely used in many countries (MSC, n.d.). You can find MSC labelled products here in Singapore. 

This sounds good, almost too good to be true. McDonald's, the world's largest fast food chain that stuffs us with convenient food loaded with saturated fats and so artificial they don't decompose...sourcing sustainable seafood? Or as described in an article by BBC:

Think of your most ethical friends. The ones who order organic or fairtrade. Would they be seen in McDonald's? 

I smell a red herring here, no pun intended.

Doubts have been raised regarding the credibility of this program that McDonald's has adopted and rightfully so. Firstly, how much impact is sourcing sustainable fish really going to make in McDonald's cumulative ecological footprint? Is buying fish with MSC's blue label really going to make a significant difference or is this just a form of tokenism strategically used to distract us from worse ecological sins that McDonald's is committing? Furthermore, the MSC label has itself been challenged by environmentalists for their credibility, due to its vague definition of a 'sustainable fishery' (Schueneman, 2013). The odds don't seem in favour of McDonald's. 

But if large companies' green marketing schemes are always acts of greenwashing and green labels themselves don't deliver what they promise, then we are basically doomed as consumers trying to go green, aren't we? 

Well, maybe not. I posed a question to speaker Mr David Emmett, a representative from Conservation International during the BES seminar on Wednesday. The question was basically regarding the sponsors that the organisation partnered with for their conservation efforts, of which a large proportion were large MNCs not often associated with environmental sustainability, or in some cases, arguably the cause of the problem itself. McDonald's happened to be on that list as well. I asked Mr Emmett if he felt that this was contradictory to the company's cause.  His response was interesting. He said that if we wanted to make a large impact on how things work in the economy, we couldn't just target the players who are already green, we had to work with the big companies to go green as well. He acknowledged the seemingly contradicting objectives and recognised that it was indeed a risk that environmental organisations may end up helping mainstream companies to greenwash if they were not careful. But he believed the key was in working with the company in changing the way they did things, from the supply chain to production to lessen their impact on the environment. And if we were successful in doing so, then we would have made a change in the way the masses think about green production and consumption, no matter how small. 

I found his response interesting because I had never looked at things that way before. And I think his response is relevant to McDonald's use of the MSC label as well. Rupert Howes, CEO of MSC makes a similar point in the above video as well. 

"The fantastic thing about the McDonald's commitment is it's going to help raise awareness of seafood sustainability issues with a whole new range of consumers that might not be aware of the challenges our global oceans face. [...] I think this is a tremendous opportunity for these consumers to become engaged and hopefully start preferencing seafood in all of their shopping."

I don't think the MSC label is going to turn the big yellow M green but it does provide an opportunity to make people rethink the environmental impact of consumer goods at both ends - at the supply chain level and the consumer level. While it remains that more needs to be done if MNCs live up to the green claims they make, I now recognise the potential of engaging them in environmental efforts. We should still question and remain skeptical about the possibility of greenwashing in companies, but I think some credit should be given to those who work to effect the small steps to a more environmentally conscious corporate environment.

References:
Forbes, K. (2011). McDonald's ocean rescue: sea change or greenwash? BBC News. Retrieved Oct 17, 2014 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15181350

MSC (n.d.) 21 facts about MSC. Retrieved Oct 18, 2014 from http://www.msc.org/about-us/21-facts#the-msc-is-a

Schueneman, T. (2013). Saving the ocean or fast food greenwashing? Retrieved Oct 17, 2014 from http://thegreenwashingblog.com/2013/02/18/mcdonalds-saving-the-ocean/