Greenwash+20 - Greenpeace

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09 Raging Bull JBS JBS - at a glance 215 Headquarters: Chairman & CEO: São Paulo, Brazil Wesley Mendonça Batista Employees: 128,000 Net revenue: $27.4bn in 2010 Gross profit: $3.36bn in 2010 Products: Meat products (beef, pork, poultry and lamb), leather and dairy products Global reach: World’s largest animal protein processing company; sells fresh and processed meat products to more than 100 countries on every continent You may have eaten a JBS cow There’s good news in this chapter, so let’s start with it. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is down from its peak and reached a record low in 2011. Together with command and control operations conducted by the Brazilian government and the implementation of protected areas 216 , market pressure such as Greenpeace’s soya moratorium is one of the main reasons for the decrease of deforestation 217 . This is really important, because the Amazon rainforest, 60% of which is located in Brazil, is the largest tropical forest, with the largest carbon reserves on Earth. However, Brazil still has the world’s second-highest rate of deforestation. Moreover, the landmark law that helps to protect the Amazon, under attack by the agribusiness lobby and its allies in Congress over the last two years, has been changed for the worse. The changes to the Forest Code approved by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on 25 May 2012 opens up vast areas of forest to destruction, and pardons those who have deforested before July 2008 from fines and the need to recover their forest. In 2012, Greenpeace is building public support and momentum for a Zero Deforestation Law. To keep going in the right direction, we’ll need to move some companies that are standing in the way. The cattle industry is the biggest driver of deforestation in Brazil, and a Brazilian company called JBS is the world’s biggest cattle company. 218 In fact, if you eat beef, there’s a decent chance you’ve had a bite of an animal raised by JBS, because JBS slaughters more than half a million head of cattle a day and exports to 110 countries. The practices of JBS matter a great deal, to Brazil and to the world. So let’s take a closer look at this company, about a third of which is owned by the host of the Rio+20 conference – the Brazilian government. Is it a company with sustainable business practices? 38 Greenwash+20 How some powerful corporations are standing in the way of sustainable development
Greenpeace International Greenwash+20 How some powerful corporations are standing in the way of sustainable development Chapter 9 Raging bull JBS Cattle drives deforestation Brazil has lost 719,000km 2 of Amazon rainforest over the last 40 years, and 61% of that has become pastureland for cattle. This is an area larger than Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium combined. In addition to the incalculable and irreplaceable loss of biodiversity, deforestation puts Brazil among the top greenhouse gas emitting countries. 219 In June 2009, following a three-year investigation, Greenpeace revealed how raising livestock in the Amazon is responsible for deforestation, the invasion of indigenous lands and protected areas, slave labour, and violent land conflicts. 220 The food, shoes, furniture and other products sold around the world that are derived from Brazilian cattle, could also contain traces of these malpractices. Broken promises In October 2009, following Greenpeace’s campaign to expose crimes in the Amazon, three of the largest players in the global cattle industry – JBS-Friboi, Minerva and Marfrig – joined forces to ban the purchase of cattle from newly deforested areas of the Brazilian Amazon from their supply chains, backing Greenpeace’s call for zero deforestation in the rainforest. 221 The Cattle Agreement was a commitment to end purchases of cattle from ranches that have recently deforested, or use slavery, or that are located illegally in indigenous lands or conservation areas. 222 Two years later, Greenpeace published a follow-up report, having conducted a review of JBS’ progress, and found that JBS had not respected a single element of the agreement. 223 Since then, Greenpeace has found a number of new cases of JBS suppliers infringing the laws protecting forests and indigenous lands and preventing use of slave labour on farms. Greenpeace research also confirms that beef associated with these illegal practices is still entering the supply chains of major EU and Brazilian supermarkets and wholesalers. In other words, if you are buying any cattle products from JBS, you might still be buying products that have contributed to deforestation, invasions of indigenous communities, or slave labour. image Cattle in a JBS slaughterhouse facility © GREENPEACE / DANIEL BELTRÁ Greenwash+20 How some powerful corporations are standing in the way of sustainable development 39
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