Global Meat Industry (Think JBS) Prepared To Swamp COP 28 With 100s Of Lobbyists, Barrels Of Greenwash

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The meat sector’s largest emitters plan to be on the ground at Cop28 in large numbers, the documents show. At Cop27, JBS, the world’s most polluting meat company, gained access to talks because it came as part of Brazil’s national delegation. Companies at the summit will be accompanied by lobby groups that represent them, some of which have a history of obstructive action. They include the North American Meat Institute (Nami), which represents large meat producers in the US and which in 2022 was still questioning on its website whether climate change was caused by humans.

While the leaked documents are aimed at the meat sector, they also show that dairy companies are planning on sending a “large delegation” to Cop28. Earlier this year, backlash from several countries with interests in meat led to the watering down of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recommendations on diets. Companies and trade groups are told in the documents that one of the ways to “have the most influence” is to “equip delegates with your key messages and solutions”, a list of which are provided in the pack.

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Several of these arguments reference the idea that grazing livestock can help maintain healthy soils, which can store carbon. This is often described as “regenerative agriculture”. It is a favoured line with many food companies, despite the fact that scientists have said that soils are not a reliable way to store carbon in the long term, and that removals can be easily undone. In its messaging, the industry also heavily references the role of meat in relieving hunger in the global south, claiming that it “plays a key role in reducing food insecurity and malnutrition”. However, the UN-linked Committee on World Food Security has repeatedly pointed out that hunger and malnutrition are not caused by a lack of food, pointing instead to problems with access, distribution and power.

Meat eating worldwide is very unequal. Europeans eat more than twice the global average, and consumption levels in north America and Australia are even higher. One 2018 study found western countries would have to reduce their meat intake by 90% to limit global heating to acceptable levels. The documents make passing reference to cutting methane, and encourage participation in events where this is discussed. This is despite the fact that emissions from beef production globally are roughly equal to the emissions of the entire nation of India, with science pointing to a shift in diets as the one surefire way to cut emissions.

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/29/plans-to-present-meat-as-sustainable-nutrition-at-cop28-revealed

[Think. Again.]

1. K&R