Study Exposes Widespread Greenwashing in Meat and Dairy Sector

(SeaPRwire) –   Meat and dairy production ranks among the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions. A growing number of companies in the sector are increasingly aware of their climate footprint and claim to be eager to take mitigating action. But according to new research published today, most sustainability claims and commitments made by meat and dairy firms qualify as greenwashing.

Meat production for both human and animal feed accounts for 57% of total emissions linked to global food production, while the global dairy sector alone makes up 4% of total worldwide emissions. The world’s five highest-emitting firms in the space — JBS, Marfrig, Tyson, Minerva, and Cargill — generated an estimated 496 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2023, a figure higher than the reported emissions of Chevron, Shell, or BP.  

“Meat and dairy companies are under heavy scrutiny and pressure to address their environmental impacts,” says Jennifer Jacquet, professor of environmental science and policy at the University of Miami and one of the study’s co-authors. 

The researchers, whose work was published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS Climate, analyzed 1,233 environmental claims put forward by 33 of the largest meat and dairy firms between 2021 and 2024, sourced from publicly accessible sustainability reports and corporate websites. They used a greenwashing assessment framework developed by researchers in 2022, and found that 98% of the claims reviewed fall into the greenwashing category: misleading statements designed to make a company’s sustainability efforts seem more robust to the public.

Many of the statements were excessively vague or consisted of unprovable future projections. Only 356, or 29%, of the claims were backed by supporting evidence from sources such as government agencies or trade groups, and peer-reviewed scientific evidence was provided to validate just three of these claims, two of which were climate-related. 

While 17 of the companies included in the study have released net-zero commitments — up from just 4 in 2020 — these pledges appear to rely heavily on carbon offsetting, a practice that involves funding external projects to compensate for emissions, rather than decarbonization efforts that would directly cut emissions at their source.  

While it is a promising sign that more meat and dairy firms are taking their emissions impact into account, they have far more work to do, says Maya Bach, the study’s lead author. “What we see here is that these companies are only scratching the surface, sharing pilot projects or initiatives that do reduce emissions, yes, but not at the scale or scope required to drive meaningful change.”

In some cases, per the study, companies announced ambitious-sounding climate initiatives that were actually extremely small in scale. One firm announced it would launch a “regenerative agriculture pilot” across 24 farms, which represented just 0.0019% of its total operations. Other examples highlighted by the researchers include firms pointing to minor, low-impact adjustments, such as adding microwaves to office cafeterias to encourage staff to bring their own lunches, or cutting plastic use by switching to narrower packaging tape. 

Though these misleading claims may seem insignificant at first glance, releasing them distorts public perceptions of the company in question. “It shapes how consumers view their products,” says Jacquet. “It also impacts what policymakers believe they need to do in terms of regulation — if they think companies are already solving the problem effectively, they will be less motivated to implement strict rules for the sector.”

Major overhauls are required to drastically cut the emissions footprint of meat and dairy production. The global livestock industry on its own is one of the world’s highest-emitting sectors, estimated to be responsible for 12% to 19% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Most of the sector’s climate impact comes from methane, a gas that cattle and other livestock burp out as part of their digestive process. Methane traps 86 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, and makes up more than half of the total climate pollution linked to meat and dairy production. 

Even with the well-documented climate impact of meat consumption, demand for it is continuing to rise worldwide. A 2018 study found that without shifts to policy or consumer behavior, global meat consumption is projected to increase by 60% to 70% by 2050. 

That is why, no matter how harmless they may seem, these companies need to be held accountable for any misleading claims they make, the study’s authors argue. “These signs of greenwashing that we have identified enable and encourage firms to keep delaying the action needed to meet global climate goals,” says Bach. “Public interest in sustainability efforts is growing, and these efforts can heavily shape how a company is perceived. So it is critical to pull back the curtain, so to speak, and check whether their actions align with their public statements.”