Brazilian meatpacker’s A- sustainability rating has campaigners up in arms

Environmentalists question high grade given to JBS and accuse it of deforestation in the Amazon and under-reporting emissions

The award of an A-minus sustainability grade to the world’s biggest meat company has raised eyebrows, hackles and kicked off a debate about the rating system for environmental and social governance.

Brazilian meat company JBS has previously been linked to deforestation in the Amazon, where its slaughterhouses process beef from ranches carved out of the Amazon, Cerrado and other biomes. But in the latest Climate Change Report by the influential rating organisation CDP, the multinational meatpacker got a grade of A- for its efforts to tackle climate change – up from B in the previous assessment – and was given a “Leadership” status award.