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.

    在欧洲，麦当劳要变绿了--麦当劳将改变其一贯的红底色成为深绿色。麦当劳公司试图以此来宣扬其更加环保的形象。

    该公司在周一发布的一项声明中称，到2009年底，约100家位于德国的麦当劳餐馆将实现此项改变。一些位于英国和法国的经销点也业已在"M"型金拱身后换上了新的配色。

    麦当劳德国发言人马丁·挪威奇（Martin Nowicki）告诉联合通讯社："此次变革并不只是在德国的首创，而是一次全欧洲范围内的动议。"

    总部在伊利诺伊洲橡树溪镇的麦当劳公司是一个在118个国家拥有超过32000家分店的汉堡巨亨。然而长期以来，它却也一直是环保主义者攻击的靶子。

    近年来，麦当劳却也开始热中于"绿色"实践。他们采用了环保的冷藏技术，使用的燃料也从石油改成了生物柴油。

    麦当劳德国分公司副总裁霍尔格·比克（Hoger Beeck）在声明中说："我们要以这个新形象来表明我们对保护自然资源所负有的责任。将来，我们也会更进一步地致力于此。"

    在德国，尽管处于全球经济危机之下，麦当劳的业绩仍有显着增长。仅今年其旗下就有42家新餐厅面市，使其在德总数达到1350家。

    麦当劳全球收入高达235亿美元，这一数目，激励其又制定了一系列计划，要于2010年在德国再增加40家餐厅。