According to www.fooddive.com, JBS — the world’s largest beef and poultry producer — has formally abandoned its 2040 net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target, citing ‘immense’ execution challenges across its global agricultural supply chain.
Strategic pivot away from Scope 3 emissions
The company’s latest sustainability report, released on July 13, 2026, confirms it has eliminated all reduction goals for Scope 3 emissions — which constitute the overwhelming majority of its carbon footprint. Last year, JBS reported over 184 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in Scope 3 emissions, generated across hundreds of thousands of independent farms spanning dozens of countries and tens of millions of hectares.
In contrast, the company will now concentrate exclusively on reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions — direct operational emissions from energy use, fuel, refrigerants, and waste at its global facilities. These direct emissions account for just barely 3% of JBS’s total carbon footprint, according to the report.
New climate targets anchored to Scope 1 & 2 only
JBS has replaced its discontinued 2040 ambition with near- and long-term targets focused solely on Scope 1 and 2 reductions. The company aims to cut those emissions by 30% across core operations by 2030, and by 70% by 2050, both measured against a 2019 baseline.
Jason Weller, JBS Global Chief Sustainability Officer, explained the shift in a statement dated July 8. He emphasized that the original 2040 net-zero goal — established five years ago — proved operationally unfeasible given the scale and heterogeneity of its upstream supply chain.
“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 standardized measurement infrastructure — is an immense challenge.” — Jason Weller, JBS Global Chief Sustainability Officer
Weller added that delivering system-wide climate action depends on data infrastructure, technology adoption, and producer engagement — all of which remain underdeveloped across global agriculture.
Legal settlement reshaped public framing of climate claims
The decision follows legal scrutiny over JBS’s prior climate commitments. In 2024, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued JBS, accusing the company of misleading consumers through advertising campaigns that touted environmental commitments while lacking a viable plan to meet its 2040 net-zero pledge. The suit alleged deceptive marketing and insufficient transparency around emissions accounting.
The case concluded with a settlement reached in November 2025, under which JBS agreed to invest $1.1 million in climate-smart agriculture initiatives within New York State. As part of the agreement, JBS also committed to describing its former 2040 target as a “goal” — not a binding pledge or commitment — in all future public communications.
This legal outcome underscores growing regulatory pressure on food and agriculture firms to substantiate ESG claims with verifiable, auditable pathways — particularly for Scope 3 emissions, where measurement, verification, and accountability remain technically and logistically complex.
Source: Food Dive
Compiled from international media by the SCI.AI editorial team.
