JBS barred from gold standard for corporate climate action over its “bogus” Net Zero plans - Mighty Earth
JBS barred from gold standard for corporate climate action over its “bogus” Net Zero plans - Mighty Earth
Sydney Jones
Press Secretary
Carole Mitchell
Sr. Director Communications
Mighty Earth says SBTi’s decision not to validate JBS is a further blow to meat giant’s plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange
7th March 2024
Brazilian meat giant JBS has failed to secure validation from the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), widely regarded as the gold standard for corporate Net Zero target setting. JBS is shown as “ C ommitment Removed” on the SBTi website,” meaning that the meat conglomerate has been struck off the SBTi register.
SBTi assesses the Net Zero plans of thousands of companies worldwide to determine if they are credible and ambitious enough to support combatting climate change. Given that JBS has persistently failed to produce any substantive plans to support its claims of reaching Net Zero by 2040, SBTi has acted decisively to withdraw its stamp of approval.
This is a further blow to JBS’ already delayed Initial Public Offering (IPO) to list on the New York Stock Exchange, coming a week after the decision by New York State Attorney General Letitia James to sue JBS for its “unsubstantiated and misleading” Net Zero claims.
Mighty Earth has made two submissions to the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) urging it to investigate JBS and halt the proposed IPO. Recently a group of fifteen bipartisan US Senators wrote to the Chair of the SEC asking for the IPO to be scrutinized, over “deep” concerns about JBS’ long history of lawlessness, corruption and Amazon deforestation. JBS’s failure to be validated by SBTi with a credible Net Zero plan adds further weight to the calls for a SEC investigation on the alleged fraudulent issuance of JBS’s Sustainability Linked Bonds.
Commenting on SBTi’s decision, Gemma Hoskins, Senior Director (UK) at Mighty Earth said:
“Barring JBS over its bogus climate claims shows that one of the world’s biggest climate polluters can’t use frameworks such as SBTi to greenwash its non-existent Net Zero strategy.
“JBS has emissions equivalent to that of Spain and is a known Amazon forest destroyer. Mighty Earth and others are still finding numerous cases of deforestation linked to JBS’ beef supply chain in Brazil, some of which are located within the ancestral lands of Indigenous communities.
“We hope the US Securities and Exchange Commission and investors heed this latest blow to JBS’ plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange and ultimately determine that the IPO should not proceed, given the risk to people, forests and the planet from JBS’ operations.”
ends
Notes to Editors
Link to NYC Attorney General James’ lawsuit against JBS here
Link to US Senators letter to SEC here
Link to Mighty Earth SEC submission here
Link to Mighty Earth’s latest report which found 83,478 ha of deforestation linked to JBS beef supply chain in Brazil here
Link to Mighty Earth’s whistleblower complaint is here
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Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”