The SEC just gave JBS the green light – and it’s a disaster for animals and the planet

This decision comes just months after JBS quietly dropped its 2040 net zero climate pledge, claiming it was never a formal commitment.This is another example of the company backtracking on sustainability while pushing forward with plans to expand its destructive model. 

Very disturbing news

JBS is the world’s largest meat company and one of the biggest drivers of factory farming globally. Their supply chains are propped up by the suffering of billions of animals kept in overcrowded, filthy and unimaginably cruel conditions on an industrial level. Cows, pigs and chickens endure painful procedures without pain relief, are deprived of natural behaviours, and face intense physical and psychological stress throughout their short lives.

This same business model has also been repeatedly linked to illegal deforestation in the Amazon and other biodiversity hotspots, significantly fuelling the climate crisis. JBS has one of the highest greenhouse gas footprints of any company in the meat sector and has been called out by researchers, campaigners, and journalists for misleading claims about its environmental credentials.

Now, with the SEC’s approval, JBS has access to new investment through the US capital markets. This means more money to grow its destructive business, which, in return, means more animals raised in horrific conditions, more biodiversity lost, and more emissions driving the climate crisis.

Cameron Harsh, Interim Executive Director of World Animal Protection US, said:

By approving JBS, the world’s largest meat processor, to list on the New York Stock Exchange, the SEC has just granted incredible license to one of the worst corporate citizens in the world. JBS has an egregious record of corruption, cruelty, tax avoidance and climate greenwashing. Sadly, allowing JBS to access the US capital markets will only enable the company to expand its reach, raise new equity and grow its model of animal suffering.

World Animal Protection, alongside dozens of other animal welfare organisations, has worked tirelessly to hold JBS to account. Through campaigning and public pressure, we helped shine a spotlight on the risks hidden in JBS’s supply chains from deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest to animal suffering and the threat of zoonotic diseases.

We will not stop fighting the expansion of factory farming companies like JBS, which are among the greatest threats to animals and the planet today