McDonald’s uses renewable energy at 95% of its restaurants in Spain

McDonald’s Spain says 95% of its restaurants run on 100% renewable energy. The figure comes from its economic, environmental and social impact report for 2025–2026, according to information published by L’Express Franchise on 21 September 2026. For the franchising community, the announcement puts energy management across a large network in the spotlight.

Coverage across 95% of the Spanish network

The figure reported by McDonald’s distinguishes between two elements: the proportion of restaurants covered and the renewable nature of the energy they use. According to the available information, 95% of its Spanish restaurants run on 100% renewable energy. This does not mean that every McDonald’s restaurant in Spain has reached that point.

This distinction matters when interpreting the announcement. The percentage describes coverage across the network, but the published information does not break down those restaurants by Spanish region, city or operating model. Nor does it give an exact number of restaurants included in the 95%.

The figure should be understood within those limits. The available information does not detail the energy sources, certification mechanisms or associated consumption. The announcement therefore provides a measure of the coverage reported by the company, but cannot be used to calculate energy savings, emissions reductions or the impact on individual restaurants’ costs.

More than 670 restaurants and 718,000 customers a day

McDonald’s has more than 670 restaurants across Spain and serves more than 718,000 customers a day, according to the same source. These figures put the energy announcement into context: it concerns an extensive network with a high volume of daily activity.

However, the size of the network alone does not indicate how much energy its restaurants consume. The published information includes no data on the floor area, equipment, opening hours or energy requirements of individual locations. It also provides neither a comparison between restaurants nor an account of changes in consumption over the reporting period.

For the franchising community, the value lies in considering the scale of operations alongside the reported coverage of the initiative. These are two separate indicators that help put the announcement into perspective, without turning it into a ranking against other brands. The source material contains no comparable benchmarks that would support such a ranking.

The report also covers employment

Alongside the environmental figure, the coverage of the report credits McDonald’s with supporting 88,000 jobs in the Spanish economy. It also states that the company expects its direct workforce to exceed 30,000 during 2026.

These two figures should be read separately. Jobs supported across the economy and direct employment are not interchangeable measures. The published information does not explain the methodology behind the 88,000 jobs, so they should not all be attributed to restaurants or divided into unspecified categories.

It is also important to distinguish a forecast from a confirmed result. According to the published information, exceeding 30,000 direct employees is the expectation for 2026, not a milestone whose achievement is substantiated by the supplied source material. This distinction avoids presenting a company forecast as an established fact.

What the franchising community can learn

The announcement offers a reference point for those examining how restaurant networks communicate environmental progress. The most useful approach is to separate the coverage of an initiative, the size of the network and the results that can actually be demonstrated using the published data.

In this case, the information supports reported renewable energy coverage of 95%, but does not allow an assessment of the investment required, implementation timescales or financial returns for a franchisee. Nor does it describe contractual terms that other networks could replicate.

Practical takeaway: when assessing an energy proposal for a franchise, ask what percentage of locations it covers, how the renewable origin of the energy is certified and what costs are involved. The McDonald’s figure is a useful reference point, not a substitute for that analysis.