New York sues JBS, world’s largest meatpacker, over sustainability claims

A worker heads into the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley, Colorado on 12 October 2020. Photograph: David Zalubowski/AP

The state of New York is suing the US arm of JBS, the world’s largest meatpacker, accusing the Brazilian company of misleading customers over its climate goals, including a plan to reach net zero carbon neutral standards by 2040.

Letitia James, the New York attorney general, filed the suit alleging that JBS USA had repeatedly assured the public and consumers with sustainability claims that could, in effect, “provide environmentally conscious consumers with a license to eat beef”.

James said the company’s “environmental greenwashing exploits the pocketbooks of everyday Americans and the promise of a healthy planet for future generations”.

In reality, the lawsuit claims, JBS “has had no viable plan to meet its commitment to be net zero by 2040”.

The company, which is controlled by Brazil’s billionaire Batista brothers, has claimed that it can reduce its carbon footprint despite plans to increase meat production. In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, the company said it disagrees with the attorney general’s characterization of its commitments to sustainability.

“JBS will continue to partner with farmers, ranchers and our food system partners around the world to help feed a growing population while using fewer resources and reducing agriculture’s environmental impact,” a spokeswoman said.

JBS is the leading beef producer in the world, with operations in the United States, Australia and Canada, and has the capacity to process more than 200,000 cattle, 500,000 hogs and 45 million chickens a week in the US alone.

Around half of the company’s nearly $80bn in annual revenue comes from its Colorado-based US operations. But its plan to list its US arm on the New York stock exchange has run into fierce opposition from environmentalists who claim that the company has links to deforestation in the Amazon.

Last week, the company said its public listing would likely be delayed into the second half of 2024. A bipartisan group of US senators has also asked the securities and exchange commission to look at the company’s environment claims.

The global JBS entity, it said, had reported greenhouse gas emissions of over 71m tons in 2021, or more than the total emissions of some countries.

In a statement, James noted that beef production emits the most greenhouse gasses of any major food commodity, and animal agriculture accounts for 14.5% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions.

The lawsuit cites a full-page JBS advertisement in the New York Times in April 2021 that featured the “net zero” claim, and said that company’s US CEO had told an audience at a climate week event in the city in September that the firm “pledged to be Net Zero in 2040”.

“When companies falsely advertise their commitment to sustainability, they are misleading consumers and endangering our planet,” the attorney general said. Last year, a US advertising watchdog asked JBS to stop making false claims, including one that said “bacon, chicken wings and steak with net zero emissions. It’s possible”.

The lawsuit said New York would seek a “disgorgement of all ill-gotten gains earned by misleading the public about their business practices as well as penalties of at least $5,000 per violation”.

Glenn Hurowitz, CEO at Mighty Earth, said that “JBS has driven more than 2.4 million acres of Amazon deforestation, has poured record methane pollution into the atmosphere, and has a total climate footprint estimated to exceed the entire country of Spain.”