According to a report published ahead of Cop30, the world's 45 largest meat and dairy companies pollute more than the second-largest oil-producing country.
The world's leading meat and dairy companies are generating greenhouse gas emissions comparable to those of some of the largest fossil fuel producers: the latest estimate to confirm this is the analysis Roasting the planet: big meat and dairy's big emissions, authored by Foodrise, Friends of the Earth U.S., Greenpeace Nordic and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, published ahead of Cop30, scheduled to take place in Belém, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November.
According to the data collected, between 2022 and 2023, the world's 45 largest meat and dairy producers collectively generated more than one billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions (in CO₂ equivalents) — more than those of Saudi Arabia, the world's second-largest oil producer, and more methane emissions than those generated by all European Union and United Kingdom countries combined in 2023 alone.
The top five emitters in the ranking alone – Jbs, Marfrig, Tyson, Minerva and Cargill – together produced around 480 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2023, surpassing those generated by oil giants Chevron, Shell or BP. If all the companies considered in the study were a country, the report states, they would represent the ninth nation in the world by greenhouse gas emissions. More than half of the estimated emissions (51 per cent) come from methane which, according to scientists, must be drastically reduced by the end of the decade in order to keep global warming within 1.5°C.
Brazilian meat giant Jbs generates nearly a quarter of all emissions produced by the companies analysed, with more than 240 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents in 2023. Meanwhile, three quarters of the estimated greenhouse gas emissions come from just 15 of the 45 companies examined: a figure that highlights the disproportionate weight of the meat and dairy giants.
Among the 45 companies on the list there is also an Italian name, ranking twentieth, with 14.41 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalents produced in 2023, compared to a total of 42.8 million tonnes of livestock emissions estimated by the FAO for our country. It is Gruppo Cremonini, which controls Inalca, the leader in beef and known for several of its brands including Montana and Manzotin.
"As world leaders prepare to attend Cop30, which this year is being held in the heart of the Amazon devastated by meat giants, scientists are well aware that failing to reduce livestock emissions will push us well beyond the 1.5°C global warming threshold, one step away from climate catastrophe," says Simona Savini, Agriculture campaigner at Greenpeace Italia. "Farms that contribute to the restoration of nature and communities, with production based on agroecological models, should be at the centre of our agri-food system, not the mega-farms controlled by multinationals. It is not too late for governments to stop ignoring the climate impact of industrial meat and dairy production and commit to a genuine transition, implementing it in their national climate plans that will follow the next Cop."
In order to meet the climate objective of keeping average global temperature within 1.5°C established by the Paris Agreement, and in line with United Nations estimates that global methane emissions must decrease by 45 per cent by 2030, the report's authors are calling for the introduction of mandatory and transparent data on corporate production and emissions reporting; for the establishment of binding targets for the total reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, including separate and specific targets for methane reduction; for the implementation of policies that limit the overproduction and excessive consumption of meat and dairy products; and for the support of a just transition towards agroecology, food sovereignty and plant-based foods, by shifting public funds away from large-scale industrial agriculture.
Research repeatedly shows that dietary changes in high-income countries represent the primary option available to us for reducing food system emissions. According to a recent study, an estimated 83 per cent of global meat production and 77 per cent of global meat consumption occur in high- and upper-middle-income countries, compared to just 2 per cent in low-income countries.
Shifting to a diet rich in plant-based foods in high-income countries would reduce food emissions by around 61 per cent and save an area roughly the size of the EU. If this area were returned to nature, the land could absorb approximately 14 years of global agricultural emissions.