JBS, the world’s largest meat company with capacity to slaughter 76,000 cows and 14 million chickens daily, is secretly planning a US$2.5 billion expansion in Nigeria involving six massive processing plants on 1.2 million hectares of land—threatening to displace over 20 million pastoralists—while refusing to disclose environmental impact assessments or the agreement signed with Nigeria’s government, prompting Greenpeace Africa to file a submission with the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights demanding transparency and accountability.
When we talk about the climate crisis, fossil fuel giants like Shell or Exxon usually take the spotlight. But there is another titan of industry driving dangerous climate destruction and it is currently setting its sights on a massive expansion in Africa. Meet JBS: the world’s largest meat company, and the biggest climate threat you have never heard of.
To grasp the sheer scale of JBS, consider this: it has the capacity to slaughter around 76,000 cows, 14 million chickens, 147,000 pigs, and 23,500 lambs every single day. JBS’ estimated methane emissions exceed the combined livestock emissions of France, Germany, Canada, and New Zealand. For decades, JBS has been the market leader in Brazil’s beef industry, which is the primary engine behind destruction of the Amazon rainforest.
Now, to line the pockets of its billionaire shareholders, it is exporting this toxic model to a new frontier: Sub-Saharan Africa. Half of JBS’ predatory $6 billion global expansion has been earmarked for Nigeria, where they have signed an agreement with the Nigerian government to build six massive meat-processing plants. At least 1.2 million hectares of land has already been committed to the project—an area larger than some small nations, slated for conversion into large-scale industrial farming.
The catch? Secrecy. JBS has failed to disclose significant information about its plans, from the agreement it signed with Nigeria’s government to environmental and human rights impact assessments. In a region where traditional pastoralism supports over 20 million people, this is a direct threat to food sovereignty, human dignity, and local livelihoods.
Local communities and civil society groups in Nigeria are resisting, demanding transparency and raising serious concerns about dispossession, mass displacement and disruption of their pastoralist way of life. Greenpeace Africa has escalated the issue as part of a recent submission to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, arguing that governments and corporations alike have a binding duty under the African Charter to prevent harm and ensure public participation and access to information.
Multinational corporations like JBS thrive by operating in the dark, quietly building empires in back rooms while leaving local communities to deal with polluted air, drained water sources, and an unstable climate. But we are fighting for a renewed future—one where food is for people, not for corporate profit.