"Going Green is Red Hot," a new report from Fast Casual magazine, covers the benefits of going green for quick serve restaurants, both for their bottom line and the environment. Valerie Killifer, senior editor of FastCasual.com and Fast Casual magazine, said "Many restaurants have worked individually on their initiatives, such as Hardee's recent announcement to switch to energy-efficient lighting, Subway's opening of an eco-store in Florida, and Taco Bell's switch to water and energy saving gas grills. And others, such as EVOS, have built their entire concept around the idea of environmental sustainability."

The report states that the "most obvious trend area for green growth has been restaurants providing their customers with eco-friendly food in eco-friendly containers and wrappers."

"It's all about due diligence, "said Killifer. "If you don't believe a brand is living up to their word, chances are they're not. A lot of the big brands also may embellish the actual amount of resource conservation going on because of their efforts. Don't get caught up in their numbers, speak with someone who can provide a realistic picture of the actual amounts saved."

Kennedy pointed to McDonald's as an industry leader on several sustainability issues, including disclosure, environment (such as sustainable fisheries and recycling), promotion of minority entrepreneurs, and animal welfare. She also singled out Darden Restaurants, the parent company of Olive Garden, Red Lobster and others, as a leader on diversity programs.

"If you consider Starbucks a fast-food company, it shines in a number of areas," said Kennedy. "For example, it is a signatory to the Global Compact, which requires businesses to adopt certain policies supporting sustainability, human rights, and transparency. By 2006, 20 percent of its U.S. and Canadian stores relied on renewable energy sources. Starbucks has a program to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions has innovative environmental programs throughout the life of its key products."

Calvert Group has had dialogues with several fast food and casual food chains. In 2007, Calvert met with McDonald's to thank them for their progress on certain issues and ask them to address other issues, for example, to explicitly refer to all of the International Labor Organization (ILO) core labor standards, including freedom of association, in the McDonald's policy framework. Calvert also asked McDonald's to address human rights and reputational risks in the company's supply chain. These risks are related to sourcing of key ingredients such as the destruction of rainforest to grow soya and access to water.

"The entire restaurant industry is making great strides toward more sustainable operations," said Stensson, of the National Restaurant Association. "In fact, our research shows that one-third of all restaurant operators say they will allocate a larger part of their budget to environmental efforts this year."

Stensson concluded, "The move toward sustainability is not a trend, it's a new way of doing business. We as an industry will likely never be completely carbon-neutral or a zero-waste producer, but we are making great progress toward a sustainable future by conserving resources."

"The smart companies are those that realize that overall, adoption of sustainable policies will likely benefit the bottom line, "said Kennedy. "We've seen how companies that anticipated high-energy costs are now benefiting, for example. Another emerging issue is the availability of clean water, particularly in more arid or less developed countries. Food companies that pay attention to these emerging sustainability issues will be much better positioned in times of volatility. I think that some fast food companies really do embrace sustainability on some issues. As an industry though, it still has a long way to go."