Dunkin’ Brands Takes a Bite Out of GHG Emissions

Dunkin’ Brands Group, the parent company of Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, says while overall GHG emissions increased by 8.5 percent between 2010 and 2014, GHG emissions generated by its corporate facilities dropped 46 percent in the same period. This is according to the company’s 2013–2014 corporate social responsibility report, Broadening Our Horizons.

Dunkin’ Brands corporate fleet accounts for more than 50 percent of the company’s carbon footprint. Between 2010 and 2014, GHG emissions associated with the company’s corporate fleet went up 28.5 percent. In its 2012 CSR, the company committed to joining Fleets for Change through its company car provider; however, in 2014, it changed corporate car providers and switched its SUVs to more efficient models. The company is looking for additional opportunities to reduce the impact of its fleet.

GHG emissions at Dunkin’ Brands company-owned restaurants went up 128 percent, from 1,079 metric tons of CO2e to 2,446 metric tons, but in the same period, the number of corporate-owned restaurants went from 12 to 46, a 293 percent jump.

In 2014, Dunkin’ Donuts launched DD Green Achievement, a program designed to help its franchisees build sustainable, energy-efficient restaurants. Dunkin’ Donuts has set a goal of developing 100 new DD Green Achievement restaurants by the end of 2016. The company also set a goal to launch DD Green Achievement for US Dunkin’ Donuts restaurant remodels by the end of 2015.

Dunkin’ Brands will publish an interim progress report on DD Green Achievement in 2016, including baselines for energy and water use, reduction targets and achievements to date. The company has also set a goal of increasing single-stream recycling rates at its corporate headquarters in Canton, Massachusetts, by 15 percent by the end of 2016.

In addition to its 2014 announcement to source only 100 percent sustainable palm oil in the United States by 2016, the company plans to issue a global sustainable paper and pulp policy for Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins by the end of 2016.