By Stefanie Eschenbacher, Luciana Magalhaes and Simon Jessop
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The world's largest meatpacker, JBS, became in 2021 the first of its peers to commit to cutting or offsetting all its emissions by 2040, and to ending illegal deforestation across its long supply chain that starts in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon.
It used terms such as "commitment" and "pledge," and a slogan that "anything less is not an option," to describe its plan on calls with investors about a sustainable bond issue and in marketing materials, including for its beef.
Nearly four years later, Jason Weller, global chief sustainability officer at the company in which the Batista family is the largest investor, told Reuters in a rare interview that its emissions goal was merely an "aspiration."
"It was never a promise that JBS was going to make this happen," Weller said about the net-zero emissions pledge.
He also said JBS cannot control how farms operate, although they are encouraging voluntary change. The company had pledged in 2021 to end illegal Amazon deforestation by its cattle suppliers by 2025.
In a written statement to Reuters after the interview, JBS said: "Our climate ambitions have not changed. Any assertion otherwise is completely untrue."
Reuters found that investors have achieved little in holding JBS to its pledges in the last five years, with no shareholder proposals being put forward about the environment, few voting against the Batistas on any issue and hardly any questions about sustainability on earnings calls.
Profits are soaring on strong meat demand, helping drive JBS' Sao Paulo-listed stock last month to a record high.
Deforestation by cattle farmers is pushing the Amazon closer to a tipping point at which the world's largest rainforest will gradually stop locking away climate-warming carbon dioxide.
Brazilian cattle ranchers are responsible for 80% of current Amazon deforestation, according to researchers.
The difficulty of reducing the environmental damage related to JBS and other agriculture companies could undermine President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as he prepares to host global climate talks in November.
Oil majors Shell and BP are also among global companies to have softened their climate pledges.
"There are far too few investors using their shareholder influence to engage with this issue," said Vemund Olsen, a senior analyst for sustainable investments at Norway-based Storebrand Asset Management, which sold its JBS stock in 2017.
"It's an issue to which the entire industry needs to find common solutions, and which also requires improved regulation and enforcement of legislation in countries like Brazil."
In October, Brazil's environmental protection agency fined ranches and meatpackers, including JBS, for raising or buying cattle on illegally deforested Amazon land.
SUPPLY CHAIN CHALLENGE
Environmental activists have calculated that 97% of JBS' emissions stem from greenhouse gases released through deforestation, biodiversity loss and pollution.
In emissions accounting, these are called emissions from changes in land use. JBS has called these calculations flawed.
While JBS reports indirect emissions across its supply chain, it excludes emissions related to changes in land use.
"There is not an approved format today on how to calculate land-use-change emissions for which we have confidence," Weller said. JBS instead focuses on emissions from its own operations, including slaughterhouses.
Other global companies, including packaged food company Mars and grain traders Archer Daniels Midland and Bunge, have begun disclosing change-of-land-use emissions.
"We do not have the ability to mandate or force a change on farms, nor do we have the ability to mandate and change how our customers use our products," Weller said.
Because of these limits, he said JBS had "zero operational, contractual or legal control of its supply chain."
The executive, however, added that "despite not having any mandate, we're acting on our supply chain, investing, and driving real change."
LITTLE PRESSURE
Morningstar Sustainalytics, an independent sustainability ratings agency, places JBS in the 95th percentile among the companies it analyzes, with a "severe-risk" rating attached to its environmental performance.
Reuters found in interviews with investors and reviews of company filings that the fast-growing company faced little pressure even as evidence mounted that it was on track to miss sustainability targets.
The company's 20 largest investors declined requests to discuss the company even as demands from European companies to stop deforestation mounted.
Morningstar data showed that 17 funds labeled as "sustainable" hold JBS stock. All declined to discuss their engagement with the company or their investment rationale, or did not respond to requests for comment.
Weller said JBS is committed to improving transparency and engagement with investors on sustainability.
The ability of private investors to influence the company is already limited as the Batistas hold almost half of the company's stock. Another 21% is owned by Brazilian development bank BNDES, which has sided with management in votes.
Non-public advice to investors last year from proxy advisor Glass Lewis showed JBS scored low on climate risk mitigation and board accountability, while proxy advisor ISS also raised concerns over management and "egregious governance practices in the context of corruption."
During the broad anti-corruption investigation known as Operation Car Wash, which began in 2014 and included companies across Latin America, a court banned brothers Wesley and Joesley Batista from holding management positions.
It came after they admitted bribing approximately 2,000 Brazilian regulators, government officials and politicians, including a former president, over a span of 10 years.
Last April, the Batista brothers rejoined JBS's board following a shareholder vote.
(Reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher and Luciana Magalhaes in Sao Paulo, and Simon Jessop in London Editing by Christian Plumb and Rod Nickel)
