February 28, 2024
NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today filed a lawsuit against JBS USA Food Company and JBS USA Food Company Holdings (JBS USA), the American subsidiary of the world’s largest producer of beef products, for misleading the public about its environmental impact. JBS USA has claimed that it will achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, despite documented plans to increase production, and therefore increase its carbon footprint.
Beef production emits the most greenhouse gasses of any major food commodity, and animal agriculture accounts for 14.5 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions. In 2021, the JBS Group, JBS USA’s global parent company, reported total global greenhouse gas emissions of over 71 million tons, more than the total emissions of some countries. Attorney General James seeks to stop JBS USA from continuing these false and misleading marketing practices, pay disgorgement of all ill-gotten profits, and penalties.
https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2024/attorney-general-james-sues-worlds-largest-beef-producer-misrepresenting
This is the latest in an increasing series of Greenwashing suits around the world. Some notable examples.
Greenwashing in finance: Deutsche Bank
In 2022, Deutsche Bank came under investigation for investment fraud within DWS, which manages about €928 billion ($994 billion) in assets1. Allegations that investors were misled about its “green” investments led to police raids, where evidence was collected that ESG factors had not been taken into account at all in many of the investments.
https://www.circularise.com/blogs/greenwashing-lawsuits-in-businesses-part-2
Greenwashing in automotive: Volkswagen AG Clean Diesel
Automaker Volkswagen pleaded guilty to installing software designed with the intention to mislead regulators and consumers about their diesel vehicle emissions. Multiple class action suits were also filed against them for false advertising in their “Clean Diesel” advertising campaign, in which they claimed that these vehicles were “low-emission,” “environmentally friendly,” “met emissions standards,” and “would maintain a high resale value.”
https://www.circularise.com/blogs/greenwashing-lawsuits-in-businesses-part-2
Greenwashing in bioplastics: Danimer Scientific, Inc
Shareholders have filed a class action suit against biopolymer plastics manufacturer Danimer. The company claims its proprietary plastic substitute, Nodax, is 100% biodegradable, renewable and sustainable. However, an investigative article published in The Wall Street Journal and subsequent reports alleged that Danimer’s products were not able to completely biodegrade in oceans and landfills as claimed. This caused Danimer’s stock price to plummet, and their investors to incur serious losses.
https://www.circularise.com/blogs/greenwashing-lawsuits-in-businesses-part-2
The overall lesson seems to be, don’t pander to environmentalists, it will come back to haunt you.
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Total junk science regarding greenhouse emissions from cattle.
https://spectator.org/more-cows-needed-to-reverse-climate-change-experts-say/?fbclid=IwAR0uNzwt1Zj6NMkEyTKnvnQS0QEY_HzorXBqdCA0uVqGwdPWY0mnnPSOipA
The one especial thing to note as they rave about massive herds nurturing the soil in that article is that those massive herds did not use any amount of ammonium nitrate in their nurturings.
= The one ever so slight detail that is beyond galactic in its significance – nitrate undoes all the flowery & extravagant claims
i.e. There is No Such Thing as ‘Bread From Air‘ – as nitrate was cracked up to be by its manufacturers
For your information none of that is used in the UK
Your post is total gibberish !
well all pee has ammonia and nitrogen in it, nature will do the conversion as required Id think. best nitrogen dump is a heavy rain
The soil carbon buildup under grazing land is real but cattle/ other livestock need to be on the land not in a feedlot for this to happen
The greens think cattle are raised in a feedlot and fed corn all there lives they do not understand about finishing cattle in a feedlot
Ungrazed pasture land is a fire hazzard this should be enough to encourage landowners to graze
feedlots are foul and do create issues. hardpacked soils and runoff , and they do tend to reek
Who gives a flying burp about whether cows are good or bad for a fake climate. The very very simple fact is that all cows are carbon neutral – every carbon atom in a cow has recently come from the atmosphere. If you want to be really picky then you could argue that carbon atoms are sequestered in a cow for its lifetime.
This war against beef is all bull. Carbon-neutral bull, of course.
Does the plaintiff carry the burden of proof?
Letitia James relies on judge/jury shopping, so not really.
The AG doesn’t care. She’s got taxes, the defendant doesn’t.
Not for long if the exodus of New Yorkers continues.
Well, yes, but you would not know that if you followed the Mann v. Steyn case, where the defendant was not allowed to enter into evidence facts that refuted the plaintiff’s complaint. The NY courts and Ms. James may well have the same biases.
They are pressing hard for a shooting war and Green Fascists hanging from light poles worldwide.
Just cut all food to NY the truckers are proposing a good start
I have mixed feelings about this. I have no respect for CAGW weenies in or out of government. I have even less respect for spineless companies sucking up to the CAGW weenies.
The Meat company should require Latitia to prove that CO2 emissions cause harm, rather than promising to be at Net Zero by 2040.
There’s no evidence that CO2 needs reduction or regulation, and Latitia doesn’t have that evidence, either. Someone ought to point that out in court.
I wonder if some leftwing billionaire put Latitia up to this? Been getting any money, or embeds in the office, from a leftwing billionaire, Latitia?
Yes, the climatitis sufferers will never accept appeasement as a therapeutic treatment for their condition.
Climatitis really is untreatable.
Weenies. Why not sue the real culprits, the consumer?
They will get around to that. They will also
get around to community euthanasia centers.
Grass produces more methane if it rots on the ground than it does if it’s eaten where it also produces protein, fat & energy. It eventually produces exactly as much CO2 as it consumed when it was growing.
in your demented kindergarten dreams it does. in reality the opposite happens
Define:”Eventually” before you go on to explain where coal, oil, shale and natural gas came from
You’re the one living in the demented kindergarten. Arable is far worse for the planet than dairy.
Dan is correct, except that it depends how the grass decays whether it produces mainly methane or mainly CO2.
With sufficient oxygen, micro-organisms will eat the organic matter, giving off CO2 and CH4 and fertilising the ground.
In an anaerobic condition, bugs have a harder time, and mainly natural decay giving off CH4 happens. Better info here.
The point is that every part of the animal is part of the shorter term carbon cycle and over a period not much longer than its life span is totally carbon neutral.
Yeah, but vegans want a ban anyway.
Of course. This has never been about any hypothetical weather-related problem, it has always about making the majority conform to their minority way of life and tell them they were right all along.
The West is doing a great job tearing itself apart economically in front of their enemies who are watching this from the sidelines laughing.
Competitors I’d agree with, outright enemies is going a bit far I think.
I was talking about governments.
Easy response.
Just stop selling meat into New York until the suit is withdrawn.
Sell extra to neighbour areas so customers have to travel to buy meat.
See how long the New Yorkers like that.
Anyone ever seen a “New York Steak ”
See how many people are prepared to go without !
Especially the rich and famous people like the NY AG.
How about milk and cheese?
Take them out of state too.
Make it hard for NYers to get them for a short while.
Make them realise just how important these things are to LIFE and LIVING.
That’s a great plan and I would take it even further. All food producers should see the writing on the wall and they should all stop selling to NY.
Nature is red in tooth and claw applies to humans as much as any tiger, bear, or shark; it is just sometimes expressed differently. Trying to implement such a plan is doomed to total failure in any open society. Other producers would just rush in to fill the demand. Besidesn the prosecutors and their supports don’t want to solve any problem. They are simply pirates that live by raiding and pillaging .
“Other Producers” need to realise that they could easily be next !!
Time that the people found a way to put a stop to this nonsense.
Bob, and surely ban Rice which is probably the biggest emitter of Methane (with the huge population explosion in China, India and Asia) and more demand for paddy fields to grow it and the slow decrease in beef production.
been having “discussions” with rabid vegans on X
pointing out that their option would use more water and land than animals do, they dont like it;-) or the fact it uses more fuel to farm crops than cattle
How is NYC disposing it’s garbage these days? They used to put it on barges and take it off shore and dump it in the canyons. That was over 20+yrs ago.
Not exactly a clean environmental method. NYC needs to take care of it’s mess first IMO.
That hasn’t been done since the 1930’s. These days it’s barged to Staten Island, seperated into trash, which goes to Essex County for disposal, and recyclables which are handled at the Staten Island recycling centre. I must admit I was surprised to read about it but they seem to make it work. Be interesting to hear from any New Yorkers about what happens.
The trash in all the big east coast cities these days is hauled by the train load to landfills in places in other states where they have landfill space, something the big east coast cities ran out of decades ago.
Staten Island’s Fresh Kills landfill was the last NYC landfill, and at the end was receiving the entire city’s garbage. I’ll take “reasons Staten Island was Giuliani’s margin of victory in his first term as NYC mayor” for $500, Alex. Giuliani saw to it that Fresh Kills was closed.
New York and California competing for the most virtue signaling and detriment to business award.
It’s a collectivist Darwin Award!
New York proves once again that you have to be a moron to do business there.
You don’t have to be a moron there, just act like one…
Letitia James will lose her Trump civil fraud lawsuit despite tricky lawfare maneuvers concerning appeals. Reasons are three fold:
She will lose this one also, on simple basic physics facts like grounds. True, methane is produced by ruminants used by JBS. True, methane is a GHG in the dry lab atmosphere. Not true that it is a GHG in the real world with on average about 2% average specific humidity. The reason is simple, and easily fact demonstrable to any jury. Water vapor IR absorption completely overlaps methane, and is about 1000% more GHE potent.
So in the real world, methane has no GHE. So JBS is innocent. And stupid Letitia James loses again at NY taxpayer expense.
Rud: I’m still mystified as to why corpus delicti did not come into play and result in a dismissal. No victims of fraud, no fraud, no crime. I didn’t think it was possible for kangaroo courts to operate in the US without immediate and serious consequences. Apparently New York courts are now a zoo featuring large marsupials.
You know no such evidence will ever be presented to a jury.
It should be! Every time this methane emissions tripe is used to bring climate lawfare suits!
“… in the real world, methane has no GHE”
___________________________________
Very true but in that same real world the IPCC tells us that methane has a Global Warming Potential (GWP) 86 times more powerful than CO2. Of course they also say that Nitrous oxide has a GWP of 264 and refrigerants have GWPs 7,000 to 10,000. Those ridiculous GWP values are generated by a math formula designed by Sir John Houghton to produce a large number much like Dr. Michael Mann’s math produced his famous “Hockey Stick” WattsUpWithThat You can Google (Math Magic) to find other fun tricks using arithmetic that doesn’t add up.
Rid, you’re forgetting one key element. Facts/truth don’t matter to the James jurors.
Rud, what are your thoughts on Trump being required to front the entirety of the “fine” before being allowed to appeal? I don’t know if that’s even legal, but it seems completely contrary to the supposed spirit of our legal system.
Let it be someone else – an average person (unlikely to have $25,000 in liquid assets) is fined $25,000 and must put up the full amount in order to appeal – isn’t that denying justice due to financial status?
I think if I were a CEO of these companies I wouldn’t lie about how green my company is… instead I’d tell all these greenies to get stuffed instead.
And that’s why it’s probably not a good idea for me to be a CEO of a major company.
I suspect a lot of actual consumers would be delighted by your honesty. The MSM and the elites, not so much.
Why? The only people that would be offended are the Eco-Nazi climate foamers. Most would cheer your derision for their bullshit.
Trying to appease the Eco-Nazis only encourages them to push for more of their colossally stupid agenda.
I’m reminded of Churchill’s quote about feeding the crocodile, hoping it will eat you last.
First they go after Trump, now food production. I guess they really do want to reduce world population to a billion or less just as the WEF seems to support. I guess they think death by starvation is more humane than gas showers. Adolph would be proud!
No, they are only after the free money. Notice they are after the “disgorgement of all ill-gotten profits, and penalties”.
The Trump case showed them the way.
They don’t care one Rats Brass Razoo about the population, it is money to reduce state/city deficit and line pockets..
yeah the debts from illegals being housed and fed and the rest are massive already
or they think the new newyorkers will be happy with beans , after the originals leave in desperation.
Story Tip…
Poor UK….. Candle manufacturers needed. ! 🙁
T-4 2027/28 Capacity Auction | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT (wordpress.com)
Only 1.6 GW of new build generation is contracted,
Pointless re candle makers.
Modern candles are all paraffin based.
The beeswax version are expensive enough already, so the plebs would not be able to afford them any way.
Also, the beeswax supply is not big enough to make a nation worth of candles.
We are going to be in the dark again.
Bees make methane as well as wax.
Bees should suffer law suits like cattle producers are facing.
(BTW, Attorneys-General also emit methane, some similar pathways to cattle, but not identical to ruminant cattle.) Geoff S
Rendered animal fats. …. Save the whales !!
Or maybe a candle version of Soylent Green !
Hopefully those “contracts” will be canceled like many others. The sooner these stupid thing stop being built, the better.
This nothing other than Banana Republic extortion. Pure and simple.
Nothing but old fashioned extortion. NY should be ashamed.
I thought the governor said it was only Trump they wanted to destroy with “law-fare”
“Only” as a test case.
Could US companies use this as a reason not to report their environmental impacts.
Plead the fifth amendment as their defence?
Well there’s a lie right at the start. “Beef production emits the most greenhouse gasses of any major food commodity, and animal agriculture accounts for 14.5 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions”
who cares about ammonium nitrate, just bring back “CARBONIC ACID”
CO2 meets water and
whamits all over.I
m surprised they havent reverted to that yet as it would be a fantastic scary name that will install fear to anyone that meets it.The NY AG is a simpleton with no understanding of history. In the 1700’s and into the 1800’s MASSIVE herds of buffalo covered the central US generating CO2 and methane. Yet this was also considered by climate science to be the “temperature nirvana” we should be striving for. James would be suing the beef producers for not producing enough meat if she had any brains at all!
Businesses have to get out of New York and California. The case Phat Lettia ran against Trump was not about Trump at all, it was merely to set the precedent, now they are using the same tactics against all businesses. That was the goal from the start, not Trump.
Well, it WAS about “GETTING” Trump. And now about “getting” anyone else they can “milk” through lawfare.
The way NY is going, suing for nonexistent “grievances” will be their only business.
“The overall lesson seems to be, don’t pander to environmentalists, it will come back to haunt you”.
Exactly. Don’t make the kind of idiotic claims JBS USA made to begin with. As they say, go woke, go broke. Idiots.