Environmental charities have slammed JBS after the meat giant announced it would be scrapping its 2040 net zero emissions goal.
The business said it was “not walking away” but strengthening its framework so its goals “better reflect where we can take direct action, measure progress consistently, and hold ourselves accountable”.
JBS announced its commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2040 in 2021.
“The further we got into execution, the clearer it became that a net zero goal spanning hundreds of thousands of independent agricultural producers across tens of millions of hectares in dozens of countries – each with different practices, different baselines, and no standardised measurement infrastructure – is an immense challenge,” said Jason Weller, global chief sustainability officer at JBS.
He added that the business was instead establishing Scope 1 and 2 targets of 30% reduction by 2030 and a 70% reduction by 2050, against a 2019 baseline.
This new plan does not include Scope 3 emissions, or emissions generated chiefly by livestock it buys from farmers, and only “the part of our footprint we control directly”.
The decision has been criticised by environmental groups including Greenpeace, which claimed the business was responsible for some of the largest methane emissions on the planet, exceeding those of Shell and ExxonMobil combined.
Daniela Montalto, campaigner at Greenpeace International, said this was equivalent to “acting as a blowtorch to the climate”.
He added: “Its announced $6bn global expansion to 2030 will balloon these even further – so abandoning its responsibility to reduce Scope 3 emissions is unspeakably reckless.
“However, JBS is now a Dutch company and has to play by Dutch rules,” said Montalto. “Greenpeace Netherlands has already taken the first steps towards landmark litigation that will challenge JBS’s dangerous business model, which could stop the company causing additional harm before it’s too late.”
Concerns were also echoed by Gemma Hoskins, global climate lead at Mighty Earth, who said: “Backtracking on measurable targets doesn’t diminish the scrutiny JBS will face for its climate and nature-wrecking record of pollution, deforestation, land-grabbing, human rights abuses and corruption.”
She accused the business of not being honest with its customers, investors or regulators.
“And now it plans to keep avoiding responsibility for its role in destroying the Amazon and Cerrado and for more climate pollution than the entire country of Spain,” she added.
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