Greenpeace International's lawyers have issued a legal letter to Dutch notary firm Loyens & Loeff, demanding it takes immediate action to assess whether it is appropriate and in accordance with its professional duties to continue to provide legal service to JBS, the world's largest meat producer, due to its long-standing links to corruption, deforestation, climate wrecking emissions and human rights abuses.[1] This warning comes as JBS seeks to relocate its corporate headquarters to the Netherlands as part of its listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).[2] Greenpeace International warns that by aiding JBS's restructuring, Loyens & Loeff risks complicity with a company mired in financial and environmental scandals, and enabling JBS to further expand its environmental-wrecking business model.
Under Dutch law, financial service providers like international law and tax firm Loyens & Loeff, who are working with JBS, have stringent professional obligations including being expected to conduct strict due diligence to prevent their services from being used to facilitate money laundering, corruption, or other financial crimes. In certain circumstances, they are obliged to refuse to act. Notaries play a critical role in ensuring that corporate transactions do not enable companies with a record of fraud, environmental destruction, or human rights violations. Greenpeace International has warned that Loyens & Loeff's involvement in JBS's corporate restructuring could expose the firm to serious legal and reputational risks. Greenpeace International's lawyers have also submitted a copy of their legal warning to the Bureau Financieel Toezicht (BFT), urging regulators to review the firm's role in enabling JBS's expansion as well.[3]
Daniela Montalto, campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said:
"JBS has been at the center of some of the worst environmental and human rights scandals in the world, from deforestation in the Amazon to corporate corruption at the highest levels. By listing shares in New York and moving JBS' headquarters to the Netherlands, Joesley and Wesley Batista, the billionaire brothers behind the company, expect to further consolidate their power and increase their profits while wreaking havoc on the planet. Dutch authorities must send a clear signal that companies with a history of broken promises and a business plan for destruction that risks pushing the global climate over the edge, are not welcome. JBS must be stopped."
JBS' long history of links to environmental destruction and its financial misconduct is well documented, with recent data exposing the scale of its alleged illegal activities.[4] A recent investigation conservatively linked some of JBS' slaughterhouses in Brazil to nearly 470,000 hectares of deforestation in Brazil's Amazon and Cerrado biomes between 2009 and 2023-an area seven times the size of London.[5] An earlier study conservatively linked the company's indirect supply chain in Brazil to 1.5 million hectares of deforestation between 2008 and 2020.[6] Financially, JBS faces up to US$6.4 billion in liabilities from criminal, civil and other cases.[7]
Additionally, a recent Greenpeace Nordic report estimates that JBS' methane emissions rival those reported for major oil companies ExxonMobil and Shell combined, and would rank fifth among the world's top methane emitters.[8] JBS has been also accused of misleading investors over emissions reduction targets.[9] JBS' strategy is committed to growth in the meat sector.[10]
Richard Brown, legal counsel at Greenpeace International, said:
"Notaries have clear professional responsibilities and need to ensure that their services are not used to enable corruption, financial crime, or environmental destruction. Given their involvement in JBS's restructuring and the track record of JBS and its controlling shareholders, we are challenging Loyens & Loeff to demonstrate that they have clearly fulfilled those professional duties. We are also alerting the Dutch regulators so that they can take appropriate steps if they determine that there have been regulatory breaches. Companies like JBS have no place on the public markets. We are calling for JBS' listing to be blocked and for the Netherlands to take a stand."
Daniela Montalto, campaigner at Greenpeace UK, adds:
"Governments and financial institutions must stop enabling destructive agribusiness giants like JBS. The unchecked expansion of industrial meat is the biggest driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss and anthropogenic source of methane emissions. Financial institutions and regulators have the power to stop this destruction by closing legal loopholes, tightening oversight, and refusing to support companies profiting from collapsing ecosystems and the global climate. The Netherlands must not be a safe haven for JBS and Big Ag's reckless expansion."
