The world's largest fast food chain also said it would not source commodities from peatlands, or swampy areas that store a lot of carbon and can end up contributing to greenhouse gas emissions when disturbed.
For example, food and agriculture companies sourcing commodities from countries like Indonesia or Paraguay, are unequivocally exposed to illegal deforestation and land tenure conflicts in their supply chains.
Alter Eco, another example of a Fair Trade chocolate company, buys Fair Trade cocoa from Ecuador and Peru, and brands offering other contentiously sourced commodities such as coffee have also looked to establish Fair Trade relationships.
And the partnership is just beginning to go global: from improving energy efficiency in supplier factories in China through our Climate Corps program, which trains graduate students to help companies mange energy use, to sustainably sourcing commodities from deforestation free zones.
The Washington office obtains globally competitive prices and takes advantage of bulk-purchasing power, often sourcing commodities in Asia.
I know because I've priced these things out, and many of my Brentwood neighbors have shown off their proprietary systems, which cost 20x our open source commodity hardware systems, and have less features.
The Department of Labor already conducts extensive research on the sources of commodities in global markets.
As one of the world's major sources of commodities such as gold, uranium, oil, gas, diamonds, cocoa and coffee, west Africa's strategic value is growing too.
Even if firms continue to turn up new sources of commodities "in the ground", for example, new fossil fuels will only add to the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, increasing global warming.
With the financial markets all but closed, the mining giant was up against the wall.For China, flush with cash and looking for guaranteed sources of commodities to feed its factories and mills, it was an opportunity that had as much to do with geopolitical strategy as financial investment.
