US charges JBS for cattle from deforestation in the Amazon – 06/22/2023 – Market

Multinationals like JBS take advantage of cattle raising in areas of illegal deforestation in the Amazon to compete unfairly in the US market, which accelerates the destruction of the planet, US senators said in a hearing this Thursday (22), in who questioned the practices of the company, the largest meat producer in the world.

In a hearing at the US Senate Finance Committee, lawmakers shared environmental concerns with protectionism for US producers and questioned JBS’s global director of sustainability, who defended the company’s environmental practices.

“Today’s audience is focused on a multinational beef producer that turned a blind eye to part of its supply chain, set the Amazon on fire, brought the world into a climate catastrophe, and harmed our American ranchers who follow the rules of international trade,” said Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, chairman of the committee.

“Over the years, JBS has made promises that it would solve the problem of deforestation,” he said, citing a commitment to eliminate cattle production in deforested areas by 2025.

“The reality is that JBS is very far from fulfilling this commitment”, he said. According to Wyden, the company’s practices are the subject of a two-year Senate investigation.

Republican Mike Crapo cited the importance of the rainforest at the hearing and praised the efforts made by Brazil to create a framework of laws since the 1980s to protect the area.

“However, the problem is not so much the number or quality of its laws, but the lack of resources and personnel for enforcement,” he said.

“Countless studies spanning decades document illegal land grabbing activities by various companies as the main accelerators of deforestation. These studies point to the economic success of these companies by encouraging various illicit actors to infiltrate and hide in complex supply chains and act with near impunity in regions where accountability is limited,” he said, noting that “conservation and progress need not be at odds.”

The senators also heard Rick Jacobsen, coordinator at the American NGO EIA (Environmental Investigation Agency), who stated that “global supply chains are opaque and without accountability and allow goods linked to some of the worst crimes and abuses to enter international markets” , he said.

“Risks are particularly prominent in Brazil’s cattle sector, the biggest driver of deforestation in the Amazon.”

Jacobsen described a system for laundering environmental licenses at Brazil’s largest beef producers, in which cattle raised in areas of illegal deforestation are taken to be slaughtered on farms with certification.

“These problems did not prevent Brazil from becoming the world’s largest exporter of livestock products,” he said, calling for the approval of a law that prohibits the importation of products from deforested areas into the US, along the lines of the legislation recently approved by the European Parliament.

Jason Weller, global director of sustainability at JBS, defended the company’s actions at the hearing. He stated that the company works on four fronts to combat deforestation in the Amazon.

“First, a zero-tolerance policy on sourcing raw materials. Second, monitoring and enforcement of the supply chain. Third, technical assistance to producers. Fourth, multi-stakeholder engagement to accelerate change in sector”.

He also said that the company “established a responsible purchasing policy that prohibits the purchase of cattle from farms involved in deforestation, forced labor, invasion of indigenous lands or embargoed by Brazilian environmental authorities” and developed a monitoring system “that uses data audiences, satellite images and georeferenced data to verify compliance with socio-environmental standards.”

Weller also cited initiatives to support producers and participation in global forums to find solutions to the problem of deforestation.