Tyson Foods, one of the world's largest meat producers, is being sued by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) for allegedly making false claims about its "net-zero" climate goals and marketing its industrial beef products as "climate-smart."
EWG filed the suit under the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Procedures Act (CPPA) in D.C. Superior Court. The suit targets Tyson's claims that its industrial meat production operations will reach net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 and that it produces "climate-smart" beef.
The lawsuit alleges Tyson's "climate-smart" beef marketing campaign is a pretense, as industrialized beef production inherently generates significant emissions and seeks Tyson's accountability for its shady environmental marketing.
"We are taking a stand to protect consumers and to demand transparency in an industry that significantly affects climate change," Caroline Leary of EWG said in a call with reporters on Wednesday, The New York Times reported.
The groups are calling for Tyson to retract its misleading statements and to be held accountable for violating the CPPA.
EWG noted that industrialized meat production generates huge volumes of climate-warming emissions at every stage of the process, from deforestation and overgrazing to feed production, and from cattle and manure emissions to slaughter and distribution.
"Industrial beef has a larger climate footprint than any other major food product. Tyson, which produces about 20 percent of U.S. beef, chicken and pork, has GHG emissions that exceed those of Austria or Greece. Its beef production is responsible for 85 percent of the company's emissions," EWG said in a statement.
The lawsuit alleges, Tyson's 2022 annual revenues exceed $53 billion, and yet its spending on GHG reduction practices is less than $50 million, which represents less than 0.1 percent of its revenue.
Tyson Foods, whose portfolio includes popular brands such as Jimmy Dean and Hillshire Farm, outlined plans to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 in its 2022 sustainability report.
EWG, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Earthjustice, Edelson PC, and FarmSTAND joined forces to push the lawsuit against Tyson.
"Consumers are increasingly making purchasing decisions with their climate footprint in mind. Tyson is exploiting this trend by making outrageous and unsubstantiated claims about its sustainability efforts that simply don't hold up under scrutiny," the participating organizations said in a joint statement.
"... A court order stopping Tyson's harmful conduct would represent a turning point in the fight to hold the biggest, most powerful contributors to the climate crisis – across industries – accountable for greenwashing," the statement added.
