In 2021, global food behemoth JBS N.V. announced it would work to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions throughout its worldwide supply chain and operations network by 2040. However, in its 2025 Sustainability Report released July 8, JBS announced a significant shift in strategy, concentrating its efforts on cutting Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, and less so on supply chain-centric Scope 3 emissions.

Citing a statement from Jason Weller, JBS’ global chief sustainability officer, one news outlet said that JBS was refining its climate objectives, and that “executing the 2040 net-zero goal … presented numerous obstacles.” For JBS, achieving that target across its entire network of farms, ranches and other facilities in numerous countries with varying degrees of tracking and reporting infrastructure was an immense challenge.

In the company’s sustainability report, JBS said it has invested nearly $200 million since 2020 to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions in its facilities. It also laid out targets for emissions moving forward, aiming to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity by 30% by 2030 and 70% across JBS processing facilities by 2050. Both are based on a 2019 baseline.

Looking back, JBS did not walk the path toward its goal without heavy criticism and external questioning of its work. In June 2023, for instance, a National Advertising Review Board (NARB) panel recommended that JBS USA Holdings Inc. stop using specific claims of attaining its goal of “net zero” emissions by 2040, including statements such as “JBS is committing to be net zero by 2040,” among others.

Then, in early 2024, New York attorney general Letitia James filed a lawsuit against JBS USA, accusing it of misleading consumers about its environmental impact and goals around eliminating deforestation and achieving net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2040. That suit was settled in November 2025, and JBS agreed to pay $1.1 million to New York to fund and promote climate-smart agricultural initiatives.

In 2023, JBS won Food Processing’s Processor of the Year award, and as part of that coverage, our editor-in-chief Dave Fusaro detailed the company’s efforts toward achieving its net-zero by 2040 pledge.