JBS, the Brazil-based meat processor, has ditched its target to reach net-zero emissions by 2040.
The group announced its 2040 net-zero goal five years ago. “Climate change is the great challenge of our time and we must act urgently to combat the negative effects of global warming,” CEO Gilberto Tomazoni said at the time.
The world’s largest beef processor is sticking to a previously announced goal of cutting the “intensity” of its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 30% by 2030. The target is measured against a 2019 baseline.
JBS has set a new goal to reduce those emissions from its processing facilities by 70% by 2050.
In an interview with The Financial Times, published today (9 July), Jason Weller, JBS’s chief sustainability officer, said the Seara brand owner was setting goals in areas “where we have operational control”.
He added: “Bold ambition is fine but you now need to actually have really good, measurable, accountable goals.”
Under the internationally-recognised Greenhouse Gas Protocol, an organisation’s emissions are split into three ‘scopes’.
Scope 1 covers direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. A second, Scope 2, covers indirect emissions from the generation of the electricity, steam, heating and cooling bought and consumed by a reporting organisation.
Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that occur in a company’s value chain – and are the largest chunk of a food manufacturer’s output.
According to JBS’s figures, Scopes 1 and 2 accounted for under 4% of its emissions last year.
The company said it had lowered the intensity of its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 18.8% by 2025 versus the 2019 baseline.
The intensity of the Scope 1 and 2 emissions from JBS’s processing facilities had fallen by 21.3% against the 2019 baseline by the end of last year.
“JBS’s supply chain makes it responsible for some of the largest methane emissions on the planet, exceeding those of Shell and ExxonMobil combined and acting as a blowtorch to the climate. Abandoning its responsibility to reduce Scope 3 emissions is unspeakably reckless,” Daniela Montalto, a campaigner at Greenpeace International, said.
Other major FMCG companies have looked again at their net-zero targets.
Last year, PepsiCo pushed out its target for net-zero emissions by a decade amid “external realities”. The Coca-Cola Co. and Unilever have also made changes to their goals.
In November, JBS settled with a lawsuit with the New York attorney general’s office.
The suit centred on JBS’s ESG statements. The New York attorney general’s office alleged the company had “no viable plan” nor “factual basis” to achieve its 2040 net-zero goal.
JBS said at the time the settlement “does not reflect an admission of wrongdoing”, adding it “remains driven to advance sustainable agriculture”.
In a separate interview with Bloomberg, Weller said: “We’re not saying Scope 3 is not important. We need to reorient and reposition this in a way we think is going to be more productive and positive for agriculture and then we’ll get the uplift naturally for Scope 3.”
