In a recent lawsuit New York Attorney General Letitia James claimed that JBS, one of the world’s largest meat producers in the world, can not meet its claims of net zero emissions by 2040. That, the company had no intention of ever meeting any climate change related goals.
This lawsuit, which lays out clearly how JBS had been misleading the public for sometime in it’s claims of climate readiness, has far reaching implications. The most telling fact about the lawsuit is that JBS had knowingly be lying to the public and that its management had made sure it was clearing thousands of acres of Amazon rainforest to raise cattle. Cattle cause a substantial amount of emissions, some the highest levels of methane come from cattle farming.
Most people think the most emissions come from buring fossil fuels, and they do, but animal farming, especially cattle, who belch methane, are almost as costly to climate, as fossil fuels.
This lawsuit has some of the most wide ranging effects, because most previous greenwashing lawsuits were brought by non-profits or individuals (mostly activists), and this one was brought by a State Attorney General.
Peter Lehner, the managing attorney for Earthjustice, and a verteran of the AG’s office, has said “Consumers are beginning to be aware of the fact that meat, and particularly beef, has a very, very high climate impact. JBS is fully aware of this, and trying to get ahead of that by telling consumers, ‘Oh, don’t worry, we’ve got it under control,’ But these emissions are so big and so hard to abate that JBS’s actions don’t show that it’s plausible that they’ll get to their claim.”
Lehner also feels the evidence in this case is substantial, and many companies will be changing the way they advertise, because of the way in which laws are being enforced.
On the whole, JBS, and many other large companies, will no longer be able to claim they are aligned with the Paris Agreement, and not show proof that they actually have processes in place to meet those requirements.
The full article is here
