Mighty Earth Hits JBS with Consumer Protection Suit over “Net Zero by 2040” Claims

Our client Mighty Earth, an international non-profit public interest organization, has filed suit JBS USA Holdings, Inc. (“JBS”) in the District of Columbia, alleging that the company deceived DC consumers with its feel-good “Net Zero by 2040” claims that the company has neither the intention nor the capability of fulfilling. Essentially, JBS is engaged in “greenwashing” to boost its revenues at the expense of the truth and the climate. A copy of the full complaint is here.

Consumers increasingly care about environmental issues like deforestation and climate change, and prefer to purchase products that do not damage the environment. JBS purposely appeals to these consumer preferences by advertising a goal to achieve “net zero” emissions by 2040 and the elimination of illegal deforestation. Contrary to the reasonable expectations these representations create for consumers, however, JBS’s operations cause massive amounts of greenhouse gases to be emitted into the atmosphere and contribute to significant deforestation. JBS has no plan to achieve its purported net-zero environmental goals and is failing to take any meaningful steps to do so.

Washington DC’s consumer protection statute “establishes an enforceable right to truthful information from merchants about consumer goods and services that are or would be purchased, leased, or received in the District of Columbia.” And prevailing parties under the statute are entitled to “[a]n injunction against the use of the unlawful trade practice.”

In a press release announcing the legal action, Kevin Galbraith said:

“We hope the D.C Superior Court carefully examines the evidence we have presented which alleges that JBS USA is greenwashing its climate credentials and presenting itself as a sustainability champion to an unsuspecting Washington D.C. public.”

“If the D.C. court agrees with us, then it has the power to compel JBS to remove all misleading consumer-facing statements related to net zero, adding to the body of concerns about JBS’s promotion of its net zero target, including that of the New York Attorney General, Letitia James.”

Jennifer Church, Managing Attorney of Richman Law and Policy, said:

“Our lawsuit says JBS USA is falsely portraying its net zero commitment to the Washington D.C. public and is omitting material facts in a way that make their representations unlawfully deceptive, thereby violating D.C. consumer protection law.”

“JBS USA cannot tell consumers that it will reach Net Zero by 2040 while excluding all of the JBS’s Scope 3 emissions from that calculation and failing to present validated plans to urgently reduce those emissions, which would require it to radically overhaul how it does business.”

And Alex Wejiratna, Mighty Earth’s Senior Director, Investigation and Law, said:

“We’re challenging JBS USA’s climate claims to be ‘Net Zero by 2040’ as false and misleading. The world’s largest meatpacker doesn’t have any credible plan to tackle a staggering 97% of the greenhouse gas emissions found in its meat supply chains.”

“JBS is linked to over a million of acres of Amazon deforestation and it spews more climate damaging methane each year than oil giants ExxonMobil and Shell combined. JBS is a climate super polluter, and yet it’s trying to hoodwink the public with misleading happy talk about its false climate goals.”

We are proud to continue our work with Mighty Earth, alongside leading public-interest law firm Richman Law and Policy. You can find other examples of our groundbreaking work with Mighty Earth here, here and here.

If you are aware of other examples of companies misleading investors through “greenwashing” claims, please contact a securities fraud attorney at The Galbraith Law Firm by emailing inquiry@kevingalbraithlaw.com or calling 212.203.1249, for a free confidential consultation and evaluation of your potential whistleblower claim. Whistleblowers can be either company insiders or outside observers who have detected corporate wrongdoing.