McDonald’s Corporation on March 9 announced its Sustainable Land Management Commitment (SLMC), a significant advancement in the company’s effort to ensure the food served in its restaurants around the world is sourced from certified sustainable sources.

McDonald’s actions initially will be focused on five raw material priorities—Beef, Poultry, Coffee, Palm Oil and Packaging. Based on a thorough analysis conducted in collaboration with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the five raw materials which are the initial focus of the SLMC were identified as having the most potential sustainability impacts.

As part of the SLMC, McDonald’s:

—is working to improve the sustainability of beef production;

—has sponsored and is piloting a three-year beef farm study to investigate the carbon emissions on 350 beef farms across the UK and Ireland;

—has committed to source only RSPO-certified Palm Oil by 2015;

—has joined the Sustainability Consortium—an independent organization dedicated to implementing measureable progress based on life-cycle science.

McDonald’s details its SLMC progress in a special report available here. The Sustainable Land Management Commitment was announced in conjunction with the release of McDonald’s 2010 Worldwide Corporate Responsibility (CR) Report and can be found here.

In the latest web-based corporate responsibility report, themed ‘What We’re Made Of,’ McDonald’s demonstrates measurable gains in the areas of sustainable supply chain, nutrition and well-being, environmental responsibility, employment experience, community, and corporate governance and ethics.

—Nutrition and Well-Being: Servings of fruits and vegetables offered continues to increase; additional menu items added, including oatmeal in the U.S.;

—Environmental Responsibility: Through several global energy efficiency efforts, the reported kilowatt hours per transaction count decreased;

—Employment Experience: More than 26% of women comprise the top management team, and 49% of all restaurant managers are women;

—Community: Since 2002, McDonald’s and its customers around the world have raised $170 million during the annual McHappy Day fundraiser to support Ronald McDonald House Charities and other children’s causes.