JBS Foods, the global meat producer, ranks highest in greenhouse gas emissions in World Animal Protection's new Factory Farming Climate Culprits Scorecard, according to a press release from the animal welfare organisation. 

A JBS spokesperson said: “The World Animal Protection report does not reflect the impact of JBS emissions reduction strategies nor different farm management and production practices across our global operations and contains significant methodological errors and bias.”

Released recently, the scorecard ranks the world's top five commercial farming giants based on the total emissions released from their chicken and pig production, which combined slaughter 11.5 billion chickens and 150 million pigs every year. 

According to World Animal Protection, the production of commercially-farmed chickens and pork by JBS alone causes emissions equivalent to 14 million gas-powered vehicles on the road each year – more than all the cars in New York City. In 2023, the National Advertising Division of the US Better Business Bureau concluded that JBS should discontinue its claims of achieving "net zero" carbon emissions by 2040 because there was no indication that the company is currently implementing any plans to achieve net zero.

World Animal Protection said JBS has been linked to multiple instances of illegal deforestation in Brazil, adding that the company's current policy allows illegal deforestation of the Amazon region until 2025 and legal deforestation globally for a further ten years.