Published in News
JBS Drops Its Net-Zero Pledge: What It Means for the Meat Trade
JBS, the world's largest meat company, has scrapped its 2040 net-zero and zero-deforestation goals, a shift that could ripple across global beef, pork and poultry supply chains.
Martina Osmak
Director of Marketing
JBS, the world's largest meat company, has walked back two of its biggest environmental promises. For buyers and sellers of beef, pork and poultry, the move is a signal about where the industry's climate commitments are heading.
What JBS changed
In its 2025 sustainability report, published on 8 July, JBS dropped its pledge to reach "Net Zero by 2040". It also removed its earlier promise to end deforestation across its supply chains in Brazil by set dates.
The company first made the 2040 net-zero pledge in 2020. Now it has redesigned its climate plan around a much smaller target.
Here is what changed and what stayed:
Dropped: the 2040 net-zero goal that covered the company's entire supply chain.
Dropped: reduction targets for Scope 3 emissions, which come from farms and suppliers.
Dropped: the time-bound goal to reach zero deforestation from direct and indirect cattle suppliers.
Kept: a plan to cut direct emissions (Scope 1 and Scope 2) by 30% by 2030 and by 70% by 2050, measured against a 2019 baseline.
The catch is in the numbers. Scope 1 and Scope 2 cover things like fuel, energy and refrigerants at JBS plants. They make up only about 2% to 3% of the company's total emissions. Scope 3, the part now dropped from the targets, is the vast majority. It includes methane from cattle and clearing of land to grow animal feed. JBS reported more than 184 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in Scope 3 emissions last year.
Why JBS says it made the move
JBS says the old goal was simply too hard to deliver. Chief Sustainability Officer Jason Weller said a net-zero target spanning hundreds of thousands of independent farmers, across tens of millions of hectares in dozens of countries, was an "immense" challenge with no standard way to measure progress.
The company argues it is not stepping away from climate action, but sharpening its focus on emissions it can control directly. Critics see it differently. Campaigners at Mighty Earth and Greenpeace called the change a retreat, and said the earlier pledges had helped the company build a green image while it kept expanding.
The bigger picture
JBS is not a small player. It runs more than 250 production sites, mostly in Brazil and the United States, and supplies major buyers such as McDon's, Walmart and Tesco. Its greenhouse gas footprint has been compared to that of an entire country the size of Spain.
The timing matters too. Long based in Brazil, JBS has recently moved its legal home to the Netherlands and listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange in 2025. Before that, in 2024, the state of New York sued the company over what it called misleading climate claims. JBS settled in November 2025, agreeing to invest in climate-smart farming and to describe its 2040 target as a "goal" rather than a firm promise.
What it means for meat buyers and sellers
For the global meat trade, this is more than a public relations story. It affects how large customers and regulators judge the products moving through the supply chain.
Traders and procurement teams should watch for a few things:
Buyer pressure: retailers and food chains with their own climate targets may ask harder questions about the carbon and deforestation record of the meat they source.
Rules stay in force: the European Union's deforestation regulation still requires that beef and other goods sold in the bloc are not linked to cleared forests. Company pledges may change, but the law does not.
Financing and reputation: JBS used its climate commitments to raise cheap financing through sustainability-linked bonds. A weaker climate story could change how investors and partners view the sector.
Meat production is responsible for a large share of global greenhouse gas emissions, by some estimates around 16.5%. That keeps the industry in the spotlight, whatever individual companies decide to promise.
For now, the practical message for the trade is simple. Voluntary targets can shift, but customer expectations and import rules on deforestation are still tightening. Sellers who can prove clean, traceable supply chains will have an easier time reaching European and other demanding markets.