Marfrig executive pledges to reduce direct emissions by over 40 percent by 2035

A top executive with Brazil’s Marfrig Global Foods, the world’s top hamburger producer, says the company expects to achieve a 43 percent reduction in direct emissions by 2035.
calendar icon 23 September 2020
clock icon 2 minute read

According to reporting in Reuters, the reduced emissions would come from it meatpacking process and energy consumption.

This is the first Brazilian meat producer to join the list of nearly 1,000 members with Science Based Targets, and international initiative that helps companies set targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Marfrig’s sustainability chief, Paulo Pires, says that the move is part of a reaction to demands from investors.

"Overseas we see clients are more demanding," Pires said.

The announcement comes as Brazil's government is facing increasing criticism over its environmental policy.

The Brazilian beef industry has also found itself in the crosshairs of environmentalists, with deforested land in the Amazon usually used to raise cattle.

Earlier this year, the advocacy group Climate Observatory predicted that Brazil could produce 10-20 percent more climate-warming gases in 2020 due to deforestation and farming.

Marfrig said the company also wants to reduce by 35 percent its indirect emissions, those coming from suppliers, by 2035.

The meat producer is promoting partnerships to encourage ranchers to use genetic improvement, increased productivity and cut slaughter time - which reduces the emissions of methane gas from cattle, among other initiatives, Pires said.

In July, the company launched a programme to have 100 percent of the production chain free from deforestation over the next ten years. In August, the company began the first of Brazil's carbon neutral meat line - Viva.

By the end of the year, the company plans to launch a low-carbon meat, with emissions compensations coming from crop-livestock integration, Pires said.

Read more about this story here.

Source: Reuters

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