New Whistleblower Action: Firm Represents Senior Executives of Mighty Earth in Filing SEC Whistleblower Complaint Against Meat Giant JBS for Its Misleading “Green Bonds”

We represent an international environmental advocacy group, Mighty Earth, whose senior executives have filed an SEC whistleblower complaint against the world’s largest meat processor, JBS. The complaint alleges that JBS misrepresented its environmental track record when it raised over $3 billion from U.S. investors in selling so-called “sustainability-linked bonds.” The bonds’ offering materials claim that the company is on track to reach “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, but the truth is far different—the company’s emissions have actually been on the rise in recent years and it has no credible plan to reach its stated “net zero” goal.

Misleading investors to raise capital is never acceptable. What makes this case particularly egregious is the nature of the misrepresentations. Investors who were drawn in by JBS’s unsupported claims of environmental sustainability are now unwittingly funding illegal deforestation and other drivers of climate change. And when U.S. asset managers who have pledged to stop investing in companies whose conduct fuels climate change end up among the largest holders of these purportedly “green bonds,” it reflects not just a market distortion, it also has two significant collateral effects. First, the company is able to raise money at a relatively low cost, even in an environmental of rising interest rates, and it appears poised to use that capital infusion to continue acquiring more and more meat-processing companies, which will in turn drive even greater carbon emissions. And second, investors who have committed to taking concrete financial action to help prevent a climate catastrophe are left holding these bonds, a bitter irony that likely leaves them feeling duped.

We are confident that when the SEC’s Climate and ESG Task Force carefully examines what has happened here, it will take appropriate action to hold JBS accountable and ensure that it lives up to its environmental promises.

Attached is a press release issued by Mighty Earth. And linked here is a copy of the complaint.