Reuters reported last week that meatpacker JBS said their net-zero emissions pledge was “never a promise” – and the company took heat for it. Is the company backtracking on promises? Let’s take a look beyond media reports and headlines, starting with formal company disclosures. The company registered with the SEC in 2023 as a foreign private issuer, subject to filing Form 20-F rather than 10-K. In the Risk Factor disclosure (Item 3) of JBS’s first Form 20-F (filed March 27, 2024 for calendar year 2023), the company said:
“In 2021, we became the first major global meat and poultry company to set climate reduction goals by 2040. As part of these environmental aspirations, we signed on to the United Nations Global Compact’s Business Ambition for 1.5°C initiative, which aligns with the most ambitious aim of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming. While we are dedicated to working towards these climate reduction goals, they are ambitious and success in achieving these goals will require collaboration and alignment, as well as resources and efforts by experts, shareholders, customers, governments, and partners throughout our supply chain. Our goals will also require advanced technologies, tools, and solutions.”
The company’s climate report on its webpage says
“In 2021, JBS shared our ambition to strive for net zero greenhouse gas emissions in our operations and across our shared value chain by 2040. At that time, many companies, governments and non-governmental organizations made similar public goals in an effort to galvanize action against the most harmful impacts of climate change. While achievement of a goal of this ambitious magnitude was never under the control of any one company, organization or government; we believed this collective movement towards net zero goals was a positive step and an important effort to join.
As part of our ambition, we set a goal to establish voluntary targets with the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) in line with our Net Zero by 2040 goal. During the two-year process of goal setting, SBTi created new requirements and draft methodologies for agriculture-based companies that fundamentally altered the goal-setting process. As a result, many leading agricultural companies, including JBS, have not proceeded with setting targets through SBTi and are pursuing their environmental goals outside of the SBTi framework. While certifying bodies and standards will necessarily change over time, our climate ambitions are unwavering.”
Disclosure language used by JBS certainly indicates that the company’s goals were not definitive, guaranteed or absolute. But there is still a lesson to be learned here: the nature of climate goals is evolving and that must be acknowledged – being clear on that point in your communications is paramount.
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Photo credit: Timon – stock.adobe.com
