‘Climate-friendly,’ net-zero beef: Possible or just PR?

Last year, the New York attorney general’s office and the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization, filed lawsuits against JBS Foods U.S.A. and Tyson Foods over the claims, accusing the companies of “greenwashing.”

Two settlements announced this month would force the companies to walk back some of their environmental claims. 

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Thanks in large part to the immense amount of land required to grow cattle feed, beef has some of the highest environmental costs of any food. Cows also belch methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas responsible for up to a third of global warming.

So when Tyson Foods began marketing “climate-friendly” beef and advertising plans to stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, experts were skeptical. 

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For the next five years, an independent expert will have to verify Tyson’s climate commitments before the company can continue to make certain advertising claims about its beef products or emissions. In the meantime, the company will need to remove phrases like “climate smart” and “climate friendly” from beef marketing materials.

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