Steve DePalo is a Director in McDonald’s North American Sustainability Organization for McDonald’s Corporation. In this position, Steve is currently responsible for packaging, waste, and recycling, the development and implementation of a water strategy covering the entire McDonald’s value chain, climate related energy efficiency programs, including energy efficiency and renewable energy, an Electric Vehicle (EV) charging strategy, and emerging issues and technologies.

A key responsibility for Steve’s team is to develop the strategies and oversee implementation of programs that will deliver on the U.S. portion of McDonald’s 2030 Global Science Based Climate Target announced in early 2018. To this end, Steve led the team that developed and implemented McDonald’s renewable strategy. To date, McDonald’s has executed 6 large-scale Virtual Power Purchase Agreements (VPPA) that cover more than 80% of McDonald’s 14,000 US restaurants, making McDonald’s one of the largest corporate renewable energy purchasers globally.

Additionally, Steve led 2 feasibility studies that led to the design and opening of the 1st Net Zero Energy Designed restaurant in the United States, opened in Orlando in June 2020.