In March 2021, JBS published a press release in which it claimed to have made a “global commitment” to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 in a “first for the global meat and poultry sector”.
This was backed up by JBS global CEO Gilberto Tomazoni two years later, who said at a New York Times event in September 2023: “We pledge to be net zero in 2040, and not 2050, because we believe, we recognize, the emergency of that.”
The press release also included a section on eliminating illegal Amazon deforestation from its supply chain by 2025 and in other Brazilian biomes by 2030.
However, in an interview with Reuters published on 15 January 2025, JBS global chief sustainability officer, Jason Weller, said that the goals set out in March 2021 represented an “aspiration” rather than a concrete commitment.
“It was never a promise that JBS was going to make this happen,” Weller said.
Following the interview, JBS sent a written statement to Reuters which added: “Our climate ambitions have not changed. Any assertion otherwise is completely untrue.”
Food Manufacture has since reached out to JBS for comment.
Headquartered in São Paulo, JBS is a global food manufacturer with subsidiaries all over the world.
Its US division has 110 plants across the country, while it owns 32 sites in the UK which operate under the branding of Moy Park and Pilgrim’s. The company also has a presence in Mexico, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France and the Netherlands.
‘Backpedalling’
In response to the interview with Reuters, Alma Castrejon-Davila – senior campaigner at nonprofit organisation Changing Markets Foundation – accused JBS of “backpedalling” from its previously stated climate ambitions.
“This recent change of mind is simply further proof that JBS exploited its pledge to improve its sustainability credentials, with no real intention to reduce its emissions,” Castrejon-Davila told Food Manufacture.
“As the world’s largest meat producer, with the highest methane emissions of any agricultural company (and overall greenhouse gas emissions to rival those of the UAE), JBS has a critical role to play in the transformation of our food system, and must be held accountable for its failure to act.”
Castrejon-Davila also pointed to the fact that JBS removed its commitment from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) register last year, and argued that such moves highlighted the danger of relying on voluntary, non-binding climate commitments.
“This provides further evidence of the need to urgently introduce regulation so that we can hold corporations like JBS to account – if we are to have a chance to stay within 1.5C limit,” she concluded.
Glenn Hurowitz, CEO of climate change advocacy group Mighty Earth, was also critical of the statement from Weller, describing the comments as a clumsy attempt to evade accountability and to wash his hands of the firm’s outsized impact on the planet and failure to deliver on its clear commitments.
“For JBS to focus on the three percent of its environmental impact that comes from internal operations, and not the 97% that comes from the meat it sources is a clear sign that it is still not taking its impact on forests or climate seriously,” Hurowitz told Food Manufacture.
“Given the extreme fires, droughts and floods that Brazil experienced last year, there is no time left for ‘aspiration’ as JBS puts it. It’s clear the company is hellbent on continuing business as usual, but to tackle the climate and nature crisis what’s needed is urgent action to stop deforestation and take the critical steps to reduce methane emissions, particularly from livestock agriculture.”
According to Mighty Earth’s ‘Soy & Cattle Deforestation Tracker’, JBS was potentially linked to more than 118,310 hectares of deforestation between February 2022 and July 2024.
A lawsuit was launched against JBS by New State Attorney general Letitia James in February 2024, accusing the firm of “misleading” customers with its 2040 net zero claim.
“The JBS Group has admitted that it made its ‘Net Zero by 2040’ commitment without having calculated the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions from its supply chain,” the lawsuit read.
