The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ministério Público Federal – MPF) found that JBS had a 32% non-compliance rate in the audit carried out in the state of Pará. This was the company’s worst performance in evaluations of the implementation of the Beef Terms of Adjustment of Conduct — an agreement between JBS, other meatpackers, and the MPF aimed at curbing deforestation in the Amazon region.
JBS agreed to pay R$5 million (approximately US$ 910,000 at that time) to a fund managed by the Pará Environment Secretariat after the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ministério Público Federal – MPF) found unsatisfactory results in audits of the Beef Terms of Adjustment of Conduct. The MPF noted that the company’s performance was inadequate in two rounds of audits conducted under the agreement, although JBS contested the audit methodology. As part of the settlement, the company also committed to auditing 100% of its cattle purchases in Pará and to opening two “green offices” in the state.
Farms caught by the government using labor analogous to slavery supplied cattle to JBS, according to a report by Repórter Brasil. In one of them, according to the report, among the workers were nine Indigenous individuals from the Taunay/Ipegue Indigenous Land, inhabited by the Terena ethnic group, in the municipality of Aquidauana, Mato Grosso do Sul (MS). The properties sent the animals directly to JBS slaughterhouses, without any form of triangulation or “laundering” of origin.
JBS launched the “JBS Sustainability-Linked Bond Framework” to reinforce its commitment to reducing its environmental impact and becoming a net-zero emissions company by 2040. The company described this as the industry’s most ambitious sustainability pledge to combat climate change. However, these bonds were later challenged through a complaint to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by the environmental organization Mighty Earth.
In 2021, JBS launched its commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2040. In the statement, the company declared it to be the industry’s most ambitious sustainability commitment to combat climate change. Among its strategies is the goal of reducing scope 1 and 2 emissions by at least 30% compared to 2019 levels, along with the compensation of “residual” emissions. Since then, however, these commitments have been questioned due to a lack of clear parameters and concrete plans for reducing emissions, considering that the company did commit to address the fundamental source of its emissions: meat production.
Civil society organizations filed a lawsuit in France against the Casino Group, alleging that the retail chain sold beef linked to deforestation in Brazil and Colombia, sourced from JBS slaughterhouses. In the lawsuit, Indigenous peoples are seeking compensation for the damage caused to their traditional territories and the impact on their livelihoods.
Greenpeace International identified that cattle ranchers linked to the devastating fires of 2020 in the Pantanal have commercial relationships with JBS. At least 15 suppliers of cattle (2018-2019) to Brazil’s three largest meatpackers, including JBS, were linked to the fires. In the report, it is estimated that at least 73,000 hectares—an area larger than Singapore—were burned within the boundaries of these ranchers’ properties. Meat from the Pantanal was supplied to major food chains such as McDonald’s, Burger King, and the French groups Carrefour and Casino.
Pilgrim’s Pride, a U.S. subsidiary of JBS, pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay fines for its involvement in a price-fixing and bid-rigging scheme related to the sale of chicken products, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The case was closed in 2025 with the payment of a reduced fine of USD 41 million.
