S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil, Meat giant JBS was forced to temporarily halt its annual shareholder meeting following interruptions by Greenpeace Brazil activists protesting the company\u2019s role in environmental destruction and climate breakdown.<\/p>\n\n
Cristiane Mazzetti, Campaigner, Greenpeace Brasil said:<\/strong> \u201cWe took action today because JBS and its rapacious appetite for profit represents everything wrong with industrial agriculture. Its supply chain keeps fuelling deforestation in vital ecosystems like the Amazon and its colossal emissions – particularly methane – rival even those of some fossil fuel companies.\u201d <\/p>\n\n \u201cJBS’s meat empire was built on broken promises, environmental destruction and many corruption scandals. It shouldn\u2019t be rewarded with a New York Stock Exchange listing and offshoring to the Netherlands that will line the pockets of its billionaire bosses and fund a global expansion that will help tip the planet deeper into climate chaos. Companies like JBS have no place on the public markets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n The activists were forcibly removed from the Sao Paulo headquarters of JBS, the world\u2019s largest meat company, after interrupting a shareholder presentation by displaying hand banners reading \u2018#RespectTheAmazon\u2019 and \u2018JBS: Your Profit, Our Extinction\u2019 in Portuguese.<\/p>\n\n A further ten activists protested at the entrance to the building, with some handcuffing themselves to the railings. Others unveiled a large banner reading \u2018JBS profits, forests burn\u2019, a reference both to the company\u2019s links to deforestation in the Amazon and industrial agriculture\u2019s outsized contribution to climate change.A giant 1200m2<\/sup> banner bearing the same message was installed by Greenpeace Brazil climbers upon the roof of an adjacent JBS building. <\/p>\n\n Two of the activists impersonated billionaire JBS bosses Joesley and Wesley Batista, whose involvement in a string of high-profile corruption scandals are well established. An online dossier<\/a> documenting JBS\u2019 long history of broken promises, and allegations of environmental and human rights abuses and political corruption was published today by Greenpeace Brasil. <\/p>\n\n As events unfolded in Brazil, protesters targeted JBS and JBS subsidiary buildings and products in several European countries, including in Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden and Italy.<\/p>\n\n Mazzetti continued: <\/strong>\u201cWe are calling for JBS\u2019 listing to be stopped and for the Netherlands\u2019 regulator – Bureau Financieel Toezicht – to step up. We urgently need governments to hold industrial agriculture to account for the damage it’s causing around the world, so we can stop this beef behemoth in its tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n The protest comes days after the US Securities and Exchange Commission greenlit an application by JBS to list shares on the New York Stock Exchange.[1] The listing is paired with a restructure that relocates JBS\u2019 parent company from Brazil to the Netherlands. <\/p>\n\n “The planned restructure would also increase the voting control of the billionaire Batista brothers from 48% to almost 85%, limiting the ability of minority shareholders to influence the company on environmental or human rights issues. Earlier this month, it was reported that a $5 million USD donation by Pilgrim\u2019s Pride, a poultry company owned by JBS, was the largest given to President Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration fund.[2]”<\/p>\n\n ENDS<\/p>\n\n Notes<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n Photos and videos available from the Greenpeace Media Library<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n Greenpeace and other campaign groups have warned that listing on the US market will help JBS fund a global expansion that will supercharge global emissions and threaten vital ecosystems, including the Amazon rainforest.[3] <\/p>\n\n In early February, Greenpeace International\u2019s lawyers issued a legal letter<\/a> to Dutch notary firm Loyens & Loeff, JBS\u2019s notaries in the Netherlands, urging it to take immediate action to assess whether providing legal services to JBS in support of its planned NL restructure and NYSE listing is in accordance with its professional duties, due to JBS\u2019s links to environmental destruction, corruption and human rights abuses. Greenpeace International also alerted the Dutch notary regulator, Bureau Financieel Toezicht (BFT). <\/p>\n\n A recent investigation by Unearthed, Rep\u00f3rter Brasil and the Guardian found that JBS will fail to meet its flagship target to eradicate deforestation from its vast Amazon supply chain by the end of this year, while in early 2025 sustainability chief Jason Weller cast doubt on the company\u2019s pledge to reach net zero emissions by 2040.[4][5]<\/p>\n\n Greenpeace Brasil report \u2018JBS: Cooking the Planet\u2019 is available online<\/a> or as a PDF<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n [1] JBS, \u2018JBS Completes SEC Registration and Calls Shareholders\u2019 Meeting to Vote on Dual Listing\u2019<\/a>, 23 April 2025<\/p>\n\n [2] Mother Jones, \u2018Corporate Chiefs Gave Trump\u2019s Inaugural Committee $250 Million. Benefits Abound\u2019<\/a>, 18 April 2025<\/p>\n\n [3] Global Witness, \u2018JBS S.A. Dual Listing on New York Stock Exchange: A collective warning of risks to people, planet and investors<\/a>\u2019, 2 October 2024<\/p>\n\n [4] Unearthed, \u2018JBS is likely to fail to deliver on its Amazon deforestation promise, ranchers say\u2019<\/a>, 17 April 2025<\/p>\n\n [5] Reuters, \u2018Brazilian meatpacker JBS says net-zero emissions pledge was ‘never a promise’<\/a>, 15 January 2025<\/p>\n\n Contacts<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n Brazil time zone: Lais Modelli, Press Coordinator, Greenpeace Brazil, +55 14 98127 9058, lais.modelli@greenpeace.org<\/a> <\/p>\n\n Europe time zone: Joe Evans, Global Comms Lead, Big Agriculture, Greenpeace UK, +44 7890 595387 , joe.evans@greenpeace.org<\/a> <\/p>\n\n