JBS

No leading practices were identified for the company in the governance and strategy measurement area

No leading practices were identified for the company in the environment measurement area

No leading practices were identified for the company in the nutrition measurement area

No leading practices were identified for the company in the social inclusion measurement area

Sustainable development strategy
JBS discloses a sustainable development strategy and outlines its process for identifying and prioritising its key topics. However, the company discloses few time-bound targets along these and could further improve its performance by ensuring that any targets cover all three benchmark dimensions of environment, nutrition and social inclusion.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development strategy
The company has a governance structure that is made up of a board of directors, the global compliance department, a fiscal council and advisory committees, with accountability for its sustainability strategy lying with the highest governance body. The company could strengthen its accountability by linking executive level remuneration to performance against its key sustainability topics.

Stakeholder engagement
While the company has conducted stakeholder engagement activities, it has an opportunity to disclose an overview of the issues raised via these activities and how it identifies its most relevant stakeholders, along with information on how the outcomes of the engagement process are integrated into the company’s sustainable development strategy.

Protection of natural terrestrial ecosystems
The company sources three high-risk commodities. For beef, JBS reports that 100% of its purchases in 2019 came from suppliers which met its socio-environmental criteria, which includes non-deforestation sourcing regions. For soy, the company states that 100% of suppliers comply with soy moratorium criteria, yet this lacks the rigor of other certification schemes such as ProTerra or Roundtable on Responsible Soy (RTRS). Finally, the company does not disclose any significant information on its palm oil sourcing, a clear area for improvement.

Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions
The company has a time-bound target to achieve net zero emissions by 2040, encompassing its scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions. However, it displays mixed performance between 2017-19, with both scope 1 and 3 emissions increasing over this period despite scope 2 reductions.

Animal welfare
The company commits to the five fundamental freedoms of animal welfare and also notes individual welfare issues for some of its key species including teeth clipping and gestation (pigs) and debeaking (poultry), but not all (cattle). However, JBS has an opportunity to disclose more and clearer information on its auditing processes and the global application of its policy, as well as setting time-bound targets to support the attainment of its policy.

Antibiotic use and growth promoting substances
JBS reports that it works to reduce the use of antibiotics in animals year after year, across its entire supply chain and gives specific examples of implementation at its subsidiaries JBS USA and Pilgrim’s. However, the company’s reporting is inconsistent and does not refer to prohibiting the prophylactic use of antibiotics, nor does it set any related targets.

Water use
The company discloses a total reduction in total water withdrawals between 2017-19, including withdrawals by source. However, while subsidiary JBS USA disclosed a target to reduce water consumption intensity by 10% between 2015-20, JSB has an opportunity to set a group-wide target and report progress against it.

Protein diversification
The company discloses qualitative evidence of introducing plant-based product ranges into its portfolio, such as through its pea and soy-based Incredible Burger, but could further strengthen its commitment to diversifying proteins by setting a related sales-based target.

Availability of healthy food
JBS demonstrates a commitment to increasing the availability of healthy food and states that it has reduced the sodium, fat and sugar content of its products. However, it fails to support these statements with quantitative evidence or targets to increase the proportion of healthy foods within its product portfolio.

Accessibility and affordability of healthy food
The company does not disclose a commitment and activities to improve the accessibility and affordability of healthy foods for vulnerable groups.

Clear and transparent labelling
JBS only refers to product labelling in a food safety context and does not disclose whether it complies with regulations related to back-of-pack labelling or adopts a front-of-pack labelling system.

Food safety
The company reports that all of its production facilities in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia have been audited and certified by audit schemes recognized by the GFSI, in comparison to 86% in Mexico. JBS also has an opportunity to disclose how it works with suppliers on the issue of food safety.

Farmer productivity and resilience
The company discloses several activities to support farmers and small-scale producers, including partnering with the Araguaia League for the Social Fuel Seal programme, which aims to improve pasture lands, property management, herd management and genetic improvement. JBS has an opportunity to disclose quantitative data to demonstrate the impact of this and other programmes.

Child labour
While the company commits to prohibiting child labour in its own operations and requires its suppliers to adhere to the same standard, it has an opportunity to disclose a policy requiring its suppliers to have an age-verification system in place.

Forced labour
While the company commits to prohibiting forced labour in its own operations and supply chain, it has an opportunity to disclose a requirement that prohibits its suppliers from retaining workers’ personal documents and restricting workers’ freedom of movement.

Health and safety of vulnerable groups
The company does not disclose that it specifically recognises the health and safety risks to vulnerable groups, such as migrant and temporary labourers, women and young farmers.

Land rights
While JBS discloses some activities in relation to its relationship with indigenous communities in Brazil, it does not commit to recognising and respecting the legitimate tenure rights related to the ownership and use of land of local communities.

JBS discloses a commitment to respect the human rights of its workers and has a grievance mechanism that is accessible to both employees and external stakeholders. However, the company lacks disclosure on how it identifies, assesses and takes action to address its human rights salient risks in both its operations and supply chain. Similarly, although it discloses its main stakeholders it does not identify those whose human rights have potentially or actually been impacted.

While the company commits to respecting health and safety of its employees through its code of conduct, it lacks disclosure on all other indicators related to providing and promoting decent work. This includes commitments and targets towards paying a living wage, achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment and supporting practices in relation to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

JBS publicly commits to protecting personal data and has a privacy statement on the use of personal data. While it also disclose a policy and grievance mechanism relating to anti-bribery and anti-corruption, it does explicit expect the same for its supply chain partners. The company further fails to disclose information on its global tax strategy and approach to responsible lobbying and political engagement, including lobbying expenditures for the latter.