Aarhus, Denmark – Greenpeace Denmark activists have blockaded a feed factory in the Port of Aarhus – the country’s main port for imported soy animal feed – to protest pork and beef giant Danish Crown’s greenwashing of its climate- and forest-wrecking meat production. [1]

Through its supply chain links to forest-destroying imports of soy for animal feed, Danish Crown, one of the world’s biggest exporters of pork, bears responsibility for the record-breaking deforestation in South America.

The activists are blocking the transport of soy from Denmark’s biggest feed factory to the millions of pigs that end up as Danish Crown’s sausages and cutlets in supermarkets around the world.

On the ground, activists chained themselves to barricades of tree trunks painted to depict salami sausages, thus blocking the transport of trucks laden with soy. The giant salami barricades symbolise the link between Danish Crown’s mass production of meat and the destruction of South American forests and other ecosystems to clear land for soy animal feed production. 

Nicoline Hagen, Activist from Greenpeace Denmark, said: 

“Danish Crown’s greenwashing of meat needs to stop, and we are calling on them to immediately withdraw their unethical marketing campaign. The pork giant is trying to fool consumers into believing that buying Danish Crown pork products is part of the climate solution, but the reality behind these false marketing claims is that industrial meat production is wrecking the climate and South American forests. We have blocked the factory to call out Danish Crown’s dangerous climate lies.”

Kristine Clement, Agriculture and Forest Campaign lead at Greenpeace Denmark, said: 

“Danish Crown is feeding the climate crisis with mass production of meat that requires immense areas of land to grow animal feed. What Danish Crown’s misleading ads won’t tell you is that they are one of the main companies responsible for Denmark’s massive soy feed imports which are linked to forest destruction in South America. Denmark must produce less meat to avoid climate disaster.”

Rômulo Batista, Amazon Campaigner at Greenpeace Brazil, said:

“In Brazil, as across South America, we see our forests burning to illegally clear land for ranches and plantations. By consuming products linked to this destruction, like soy or the animals fed with it, Europe is eating the world’s forests. And as a major producer of pork from pigs fed on soy, Danish Crown is responsible too. The EU must end its complicity by passing a strong law to ensure that no products linked to forest and ecosystem destruction can be sold in Europe.”

ENDS

Photos and Videos (updated throughout the day) are available via our Media Library: https://media.greenpeace.org/collection/27MDHUW7S5YR

Notes: 

[1] Danish Crown’s ‘greenwashing’ meat

Greenpeace Denmark has filed a complaint with the Danish consumer protection agency. According to Greenpeace Denmark, Danish Crown – the biggest exporter of pork in the world and EU’s biggest pork producer – is misleading consumers with its “climate-controlled pig” marketing campaign and its slogan “more climate-friendly than you think” to believe that Danish Crown’s products are more climate-friendly than other similar products. 

The complaint comes while three other non-governmental organisations have announced a climate lawsuit against Danish Crown, based on the same accusations. 

Greenpeace Denmark argues that Danish Crown’s “climate controlled pork” campaign, the corporation’s largest-ever campaign, is in breach of Denmark’s marketing law. 

Danish Crown, known especially for its Tulip bacon and sausages, claims that “Danish pigs have a 25% lower carbon footprint per kilo than in 2005”, but the corporation’s calculations don’t include all emissions from field to table. In fact, the corporation does not take the massive emissions into account resulting from deforestation and other ecosystem destruction that results when land is used to grow feed for pigs. 

Another main point in Greenpeace’s complaint is Danish Crown’s “climate-controlled pig” label. Danish Crown has not provided evidence that the climate impact of pork carrying the label is less than other pork products, and the farmers that supply pigs to Danish Crown have not committed to any binding greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

As a next step, Danish Crown is planning to roll out its criticised campaign in Germany, Poland and Sweden.

Denmark is one of the world’s biggest producers of meat (per capita) and also biggest importer of soy (per capita) in the EU. Soy production for animal feed is one of the main drivers of deforestation and forest fires in South America. The EU imports 36% of all the “embedded deforestation” linked to products in global trade, like soy for animal feed, beef, palm, cacao and other consumer goods. Overall, the EU is responsible for over 10% of all the forest destruction in the world.

Contacts:

Poul Bonke Justesesen, Communications Officer, Greenpeace Denmark. Mobile: +45 2629 4938

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), [email protected]

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