Researchers logged more than 1,200 environmental commitments made by 33 of the sector\u2019s largest companies between 2021 and 2024. They found a pattern of \u201cdeceptive\u201d information about environment strategies, goals and actions that \u201ccan create the illusion of progress,\u201d lead author Maya Bach, an environmental science and policy researcher at the University of Miami in the U.S., said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n At least 16.5%<\/a> of human-generated greenhouse gas emissions, including from deforestation, come from meat and dairy production. More than one-third of all environmental claims, 467 in total, include vague climate goals such as emissions reduction and net-zero targets. Yet these promises were found to lack plans for implementation and were rarely evaluated for practicality, the study\u2019s authors wrote.<\/p>\n They categorized each commitment by the type of greenwashing, including selective disclosure, vagueness, empty claims, and no proof. They quoted<\/a> the companies\u2019 own sustainability claims and analyzed them for greenwashing.<\/p>\n For example, in 2023, commodity-trading giant Cargill wrote in its sustainability report that it would \u201celiminate deforestation and land conversion from direct and indirect supply chain of key row crops in Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay by 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2024, Mongabay reported<\/a> that Cargill had pushed its baseline year for evaluating deforestation ahead by 12 years. Its original cutoff year, 2008, aligned with Brazil\u2019s soy moratorium. However, its 2024 sustainability report moved this to 2020, the cutoff date for the European Union Deforestation Regulation<\/a> (EUDR), the EU\u2019s antideforestation law, expected to take effect at the end of this year.<\/p>\n That change allowed Cargill to claim that 99.3% of its soy, rather than 94% under the 2008 baseline, was grown on deforestation-free land \u2014 without changing anything about where it gets its soy from.<\/p>\n Other companies employed vague and selective wording. Minerva Foods, one of the Brazil-based meatpackers responsible for huge<\/a> amounts<\/a> of deforestation<\/a>, said it would \u201caim for zero illegal deforestation throughout the South American supply chain by 2030.\u201d<\/p>\n Danone, one of the world\u2019s largest dairy companies, promised in 2023 that it would have \u201cno deforestation across its primary deforestation-linked commodities\u201d by 2025. Researchers pointed out there was \u201cno proof\u201d it had done so, and that it was \u201cunclear how this will be measured or independently verified.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2024, in preparation for the implementation of the EUDR, Danone had more difficulty<\/a> than its competitors in tracing its suppliers.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen so much of what these companies say seem to be empty promises that are not backed up with evidence or investments, it starts to look more like a public relations exercise rather than caring for the planet,\u201d said co-author\u00a0Jennifer Jacquet, an environmental scientist at the University of Miami.<\/p>\n
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