McDonald's is going green - swapping its traditional red backdrop for a deep hunter green - to promote a more eco-friendly image in Europe.

    About 100 German McDonald's restaurants will make the change by the end of 2009, the company said in a statement Monday. Some franchises in Great Britain and France have already started using the new color scheme behind their Golden Arches.

    "This is not only a German initiative but a Europewide initiative," Martin Nowicki, McDonald's Germany spokesman, told The Associated Press.

    The Oak Brook, Illinois-based burger behemoth has more than 32,000 restaurants in 118 countries and has long been targeted by activists as being environmentally unfriendly.

    Still, in recent years the company has warmed to "greener" practices, including environmentally friendly refrigeration and converting used oil into biodiesel fuel.

    "With this new appearance we want to clarify our responsibility for the preservation of natural resources. In the future we will put an even larger focus on that," Hoger Beek, vice chairman of McDonald's Germany, said in the statement.

    In Germany, McDonald's has seen significant growth despite the global economic crisis, opening 42 new restaurants this year for a total of 1,350.

    The chain plans to open another 40 new restaurants across Germany in 2010, encouraged by a worldwide revenues of $23.5 billion.

    在歐洲，麥當勞要變綠了--麥當勞將改變其一貫的紅底色成為深綠色。麥當勞公司試圖以此來宣揚其更加環保的形象。

    該公司在周一發布的一項聲明中稱，到2009年底，約100家位于德國的麥當勞餐館將實現此項改變。一些位于英國和法國的經銷點也業已在"M"型金拱身后換上了新的配色。

    麥當勞德國發言人馬丁·挪威奇（Martin Nowicki）告訴聯合通訊社："此次變革并不只是在德國的首創，而是一次全歐洲范圍內的動議。"

    總部在伊利諾伊洲橡樹溪鎮的麥當勞公司是一個在118個國家擁有超過32000家分店的漢堡巨亨。然而長期以來，它卻也一直是環保主義者攻擊的靶子。

    近年來，麥當勞卻也開始熱中于"綠色"實踐。他們采用了環保的冷藏技術，使用的燃料也從石油改成了生物柴油。

    麥當勞德國分公司副總裁霍爾格·比克（Hoger Beeck）在聲明中說："我們要以這個新形象來表明我們對保護自然資源所負有的責任。將來，我們也會更進一步地致力于此。"

    在德國，盡管處于全球經濟危機之下，麥當勞的業績仍有顯著增長。僅今年其旗下就有42家新餐廳面市，使其在德總數達到1350家。

    麥當勞全球收入高達235億美元，這一數目，激勵其又制定了一系列計劃，要于2010年在德國再增加40家餐廳。