When two big names in meat-free innovation unite under the banner of the world’s largest meat producer, questions about ethics, transparency and true sustainability inevitably follow. In this opinion piece, Cameron Harsh of World Animal Protection challenges investors and consumers to look beyond the marketing – and confront what he calls the industry’s “blatant greenwashing”.

JBS, the world’s largest meatpacking giant – known for enabling widespread deforestation, using child labour, avoiding corporate taxes and bribery convictions – is trying to clean up its image. The Brazil-based company recently announced the launch of The Vegetarian Butcher Collective, a plant-based protein company, touting the move as proof of its commitment to sustainability and climate innovation.

Meaningful investments in plant-based foods are urgently needed to protect the planet from the damage caused by industrial meat production. But make no mistake: this is a classic example of greenwashing designed to distract from the damage at the heart of JBS’s business model.

In a single day, JBS slaughters 13 million chickens, 128,000 pigs and 77,000 cows across its global operations, making the company responsible for greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 13.9 million cars annually. Shockingly, JBS's policies allow legal and illegal deforestation in Brazil to continue until 2030 and elsewhere until 2035, despite their false public promises to combat climate change. Rather than striving to meet climate goals, JBS has, in fact, increased its emissions by 50% in recent years.

The company’s acquisition of The Vegetarian Butcher feels like a diversion. It cannot even begin to make a dent in reversing the rampant destruction JBS continues to cause to our planet. It is, however, a corporate playbook we’ve seen before in attempts to fabricate a more sustainable or ethical image.

In 2011, Coca-Cola acquired Honest Tea, known for its fair-trade practices and innovative bottle design that used 22% less plastic, while remaining the world’s largest plastic polluter. Once the profits didn’t measure up, Coke shut Honest Tea down. Similarly, while General Mills acquired Annie's, a brand known for providing non-GMO, organic comfort food, the company continued lobbying in opposition to labelling GMOs.

While clashes between optics and real values are common among multinational conglomerates, for consumers and investors truly interested in putting their money into companies that reflect their principles, it’s critical to question these ‘green’ acquisitions.

Often, they’re simply masking the parent company’s ongoing environmental or social harms.

It’s likely no coincidence that this acquisition came just months before this year’s United Nations annual climate meetings will be held in Brazil, where JBS originated. JBS is actively influencing the agenda and organising specific events in an attempt to reshape its image as a climate polluter and neutralise criticism of its role in driving deforestation and emissions via industrial meat production.

JBS sells its products to nearly every major grocery chain in the US. It may not be a household name, but it’s behind more recognisable American brands, including Swift and Pilgrim’s Pride. The company’s eagerness to entrench itself more deeply in the American market was evident after its subsidiary, Pilgrim’s Pride, made a $5 million donation to the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee and shortly after received approval to list on the NYSE.

This came despite top proxy advisory firms, including Glass Lewis and ISS, urging shareholders to vote against the listing, citing serious governance concerns and a lack of transparency.

American grocers should know that JBS doesn’t intend to ethically do business with its partners or consumers. In the US, in the past year alone, the company agreed to pay $4 million for child labour violations, $100 million to settle antitrust claims for conspiring with rivals to underpay American chicken farmers, and $83 million to settle antitrust claims for conspiring with rivals to curb beef supply in the US in order to artificially inflate prices.

For investors, the fact is that JBS builds these corrupt practices and the fines that come with them into its business model. JBS has thrived because of weak enforcement, political influence, and a financial system that rewards short-term gains over long-term responsibility.

Even in an industry known for its poor conditions, pollution, and animal cruelty, JBS stands out for the scope and severity of its violations, with an egregious track record of human rights, animal and environmental abuses.

Investors and consumers interested in finding plant-based, climate-friendly companies deserve better than to have their capital funneled into an organisation with such disregard for ethical and sustainable business practices.