You may know Greenpeace for our ships, our climbers, and our boots-on-the-ground defiance. But sometimes, what it takes to stop a giant is a piece of paper.

In the world of Dutch law, a Disclosure Letter is the first step towards legal action that could stop in their tracks the biggest known industrial meat expansion plans in the world. This is not a mere request. It is a piece of paper that has the power to fundamentally disrupt the destructive business model of the Big Ag giants. 

That’s what we delivered this morning to JBS, the world’s largest meat company. They should have seen it coming.

Pollution, destruction, corruption… JBS has a LOT to answer for 

JBS is a global powerhouse. But the growth of JBS’ meat empire went hand in hand with environmental destruction, colossal emissions, corruption scandals and reported human rights abuses, all in the absence of transparency. Through its supply chain relationships, JBS has been repeatedly linked to the devastation of the Amazon rainforest, the destruction of critical wildlife habitats, and to cattle grazed illegally on indigenous lands. Make no mistake: JBS is the new Shell. Their unchecked expansion isn’t “just business”, and has been a major contributor to climate crisis and ecological collapse.

But they might have just made a major tactical error.

Last year, JBS moved their headquarters from São Paulo to Amsterdam as part of their efforts to list shares on Wall Street. JBS was warned: “If you play on Dutch soil, you play by Dutch rules.” They thought moving to Europe would grant them corporate benefits. Instead, it gave Greenpeace Netherlands the legal standing to challenge their shadowy empire.

JBS: Keep your bloody business out of Africa

Today, JBS executives and wealthy shareholders gathered at the Sheraton Hotel in Amsterdam for their first Dutch shareholder meeting. But we didn’t leave them alone to celebrate their profits. 

Activists from Greenpeace Netherlands disrupted the meeting, raining fake blood over the hotel entrance with a banner reading: ‘JBS: Keep Your Bloody Business Out of Africa’. Inside the eight-story atrium, we dropped the largest indoor banner in Greenpeace history featuring the faces of JBS’s billionaire majority shareholders, Joesley and Wesley Batista. 

The activists entered the meeting room and Marieke Vellekoop, Executive Director at Greenpeace Netherlands, presented the request for information to JBS shareholders, which is the first step towards legal action against JBS’s expansion plans. 

The action caused the shareholders’ meeting to be suspended.

The message to JBS is clear: We will not let you export your destructive business model to Sub-Saharan Africa.

Right now, JBS is plotting a catastrophic $6 billion global expansion, with a massive $2.5 billion earmarked for six meat-processing plants in Nigeria. This expansion threatens to drain vital water sources, spew massive industrial pollution, and generate enormous methane emissions – a blowtorch for climate change. 

Yet, in Nigeria, there is no evidence that independent environmental or social impact assessments or consultations with communities have been conducted, and requests for critical information from Nigerian civil society have been ignored. 

We cannot let them continue to operate behind a veil of secrecy. That is why Greenpeace Netherlands are demanding disclosure of key documents that we believe contain information that will allow us to challenge their expansion plans in the Dutch court. The ensuing litigation is likely to be the first climate case of this scale against the industrial meat sector.

Resistance against the destructive meat empire is rising 

Around the world, resistance and solidarity is rising to stop the expansion of this destructive meat empire. 

First, local communities and civil society groups in Nigeria are resisting on the ground, raising their voices to demand transparency and agency over the future of their land. 

Second, Greenpeace Africa has escalated this fight by submitting a legal filing to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, affirming that corporations have obligations to transparency and human rights regardless where they operate in the world.

Now, Greenpeace Netherlands is taking the resistance directly to JBS’ European headquarters.

The 21-Day countdown – demand the meat giant release their hidden files

We are witnessing a collision between two very different worlds. 

On one side are the billionaire Batista brothers behind JBS, whose expansion of the JBS empire within and beyond Brazil was facilitated by admitted systemic corruption at the highest level. Just yesterday, the Brazilian government reportedly filed a lawsuit against JBS for labour abuses in ‌their supply chain and are seeking nearly $24 million in damages from the company. 

On the other side, people around the world are standing in solidarity with frontline communities who seek to protect their land, their food sovereignty and their right to water against the billionaire bullies.

Today, Greenpeace Netherlands took the first step toward legal action, giving the JBS Board of Directors exactly 21 days to release their hidden files.

Under new Dutch legislation, if JBS fails to comply within three weeks, Greenpeace Netherlands can seek this information from senior JBS figures under oath, raising the prospect of the billionaire Batista brothers being forced to testify in a Dutch court.

Unless and until JBS releases the files and demonstrates that its current policies and expansion strategy won’t exacerbate dangerous climate change and ecosystem collapse, Greenpeace Netherlands calls on JBS N.V. to cease any and all expansion.

But to make sure JBS gets the message, we need an undeniable wave of public pressure behind it. We have the paper, and the activists sent them a clear message in Amsterdam. Now, we need your voice to force their hand.

The clock is ticking. They have three weeks.

Send your demand to JBS: release the files

Demand the world’s largest meat empire. JBS, to reveal the true cost of their expansion.

Send email

Isabel Willemsen is the biodiversity campaign lead at Greenpeace Netherlands.

The US and Israel’s war on Iran is not only a human tragedy. It is also a textbook example of the fossil fuel industry’s war playbook, turning oil and gas chaos into record profits while people face higher bills. Governments can either keep playing along, or break the cycle with renewables and justice‑based solutions.

War, energy shock and a playbook written in oil and gas profits

The US and Israel’s war on Iran is shattering lives across Iran and the wider region. Civilians pay first and hardest with their lives or living through fear, displacement, destroyed infrastructure and deepening environmental harm, while the risk of a wider regional war grows by the day. Greenpeace condemns these attacks, calls for an immediate end to the violence and a return to real diplomacy under credible international oversight and cooperation.

At the very same time, the conflict is triggering a huge fossil fuel and petrochemical shock. Shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical oil and gas chokepoints, are being disrupted, pushing up prices for fuel, food, plastics and everyday goods. Families in countries that had no say in this war are suddenly paying more at the pump, at the supermarket and on their energy bills. That is not an accident. It is the result of a fossil fuel based energy system that turns every crisis into a profit engine for oil and gas companies.

We have been here very recently. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, fossil fuel giants cashed in on the energy chaos, with Big Oil more than doubling its profits in what became a historic windfall year. The war on Iran is now exposing the same pattern on an even more volatile stage. From Ukraine to Hormuz, the fossil fuel industry is following a predictable war playbook designed to turn instability into power, pollution and profit.

Inside the fossil fuel industry’s war playbook

The fossil fuel industry’s war playbook has one core message: fossil fuels are essential. Around that story, the industry repeats a set of moves whenever conflict hits a major producing region.

First, fossil fuel companies and the politicians enabling them amplify fear and scarcity while ignoring their central role in the problem, and presenting themselves as the solution. European and Asian governments are told to brace for shortages and blackouts. This creates a sense that there is no alternative to more drilling, more liquefied natural gas (LNG) and more public money for fossil fuel infrastructure. And that’s precisely what oil and gas giants want: all their “solutions” are about doubling down on the fossil fuels that got us into the crisis, deepening dependence and ensuring they can continue to profit from crises for decades to come. Their tactics are all self-serving and follow a consistent pattern: protect and maximise profits, entrench dependency, and shift costs onto the public.

Second, the industry declares itself indispensable. During the gas crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, US LNG exporters presented themselves as “freedom gas” rescuers of Europe. Literally a few hours after the Russian invasion in Ukraine they asserted themselves with “a critical role to play in supporting European allies with access to a stable supply of reliable and affordable energy” Today, as Iran war disruptions ripple through shipping lanes, the same companies are positioning themselves as the answer again, promising to provide “abundant and reliable energy”  if governments approve new export terminals, pipelines and long‑term contracts. Let’s not be mistaken: these are self-serving tactics designed to protect and maximise profits, and deepen fossil fuel dependency while people bear the costs.

Third, they normalise price shocks and externalise blame. Oil and gas majors present soaring prices as an unfortunate but unavoidable result of war, sanctions or environmental rules, rather than of a system that concentrates control of essential fuels in the hands of a few countries and corporations. Central banks and market analysts talk about inflation and “market anxiety”, while fossil fuel CEOs quietly bank windfall profits and increase shareholder payouts.

Finally, they demand expansion. In Europe, Asia and beyond, industry lobbyists use the Iran war energy shock to argue for fast‑tracking LNG terminals, locking in new gas fields and weakening environmental and social safeguards that “stand in the way”. All this hardwires decades more fossil fuel dependence into our economies that goes directly to fossil fuel companies’ bottom line. Scientists and frontline communities warning that every new project deepens climate breakdown and exposure to future wars are ignored.

This is not just about energy policy. It is about power and profits. Every time governments follow the fossil fuel war playbook, they reinforce an extractive system that enriches a few while treating nature as a resource to be burned and human life as a disposable cost.

People are paying the price, polluters are counting the wins

For millions of people, the war on Iran energy shock is  making the cost of living crisis worse. When oil and gas prices spike, fuel and electricity bills rise. Food and transport costs follow, with low income households and communities in the global South hit hardest. No one should have to choose between heating and eating, or between paying the rent and paying for a bus to work, because of a war they did not choose.

Meanwhile, the winners are painfully clear. Energy researchers estimate that US oil producers alone could see tens of billions of dollars in additional profits as crude prices climb past US$100 a barrel. Russia’s oil income reportedly doubled in April compared with before the conflict, and major European oil companies have already made hundreds of millions by trading on war‑driven price swings. This is on top of the record profits that oil and gas firms made during the previous crises, from Covid‑19 supply shocks to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Price shocks are not a bug in this system. They are a feature. Every time war, sanctions or blockades disrupt fossil fuel flows, the same pattern repeats. Import‑dependent countries scramble for supply. Households and small businesses pay higher bills. Oil and gas majors, petrochemical firms and their shareholders collect extraordinary gains. The system is working exactly as designed, but not for us.

Governments that respond to this crisis by expanding fossil fuels are choosing to reinforce the very cause of the problem. They are letting the industry that engineered our dependence write the rules.

Breaking the war playbook: protection, renewables and justice

The way out of this fossil fuel war cycle is clear. Governments can choose a crisis response that does two things at once: ensure people’s access to energy at lower cost and cut fossil fuel dependence for good.

In the short term, that means targeted support for households and small businesses, funded by bold taxes on oil and gas profits. Polluters that profit from instability and environmental harm must pay for the damage they cause, instead of being buffered against price shocks with public money while people already suffering with the cost of living bear the burden of the energy crisis. Tax cuts and fossil fuel subsidies only protect the profit of the powerful oil companies. On the other hand, new national level surtaxes and a global tax on fossil fuel superprofits under a UN tax convention could raise hundreds of billions to lower energy bills, strengthen social protection and invest in climate‑safe solutions.

Governments must stop pouring public money into new oil, gas and petrochemical projects. Every euro, dollar or rupee invested in LNG terminals, pipelines or refineries today locks in decades more exposure to volatile prices, autocrats and climate chaos. Instead, public funds should flow into projects that ensure long-term economic resilience and energy security: renewable‑centred energy systems, home insulation, public transport, local and sustainable food systems and reuse infrastructure that reduce overall demand for fossil fuels and plastics.

Renewables are already showing what real energy security can look like. You cannot blockade the sun or sanction the wind. Countries that have scaled up solar, wind and storage are less exposed to fossil fuel price shocks than those that still rely heavily on imported oil and gas. Decentralised and democratically owned renewable systems are harder to sabotage, less vulnerable to shipping disruptions and better able to keep homes, schools and hospitals running during crises.

From the war on Iran to the war in Ukraine, this crisis keeps proving the same point: a fossil‑fuelled economy creates fossil‑fuelled wars and price shocks. We can keep following this fossil fuel war playbook, or scrap it and build energy systems that put people, peace and the planet ahead of corporate profit.

Dimitris Ibrahim is a climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace International, based in Athens. Mehdi Leman is a Content Editor for Greenpeace International, based in France.

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Amsterdam, Netherlands – Greenpeace Netherlands has taken the first step towards legal action against meat giant JBS, demanding disclosure of information on its climate, nature and human rights impacts in order to challenge in court its business policies, including its planned US$6 billion global expansion, of which almost half is for Nigeria.

Just hours later, Greenpeace Netherlands activists shut down JBS’ first shareholder meeting in the Netherlands since relocating to the country last year. Activists from across Europe disrupted the meeting at the Sheraton Hotel at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, installing a banner bearing the slogan ‘JBS: Keep Your Bloody Business Out of Africa’, which rained fake blood over the entrance to the hotel. 

Inside the hotel, a 10m x 15m banner featuring JBS’ majority shareholders, Brazilian billionaires Joesley and Wesley Batista, was unveiled in the 8-story hotel atrium. Activists then entered the conference room where the meeting was taking place, leading to the suspension of the meeting.

Elizabeth Atieno, Food Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, said: “The growth of JBS’ meat empire has been hand-in-glove with environmental destruction, colossal emissions, human rights abuses, corruption, and a total lack of transparency. Now it plans to export this business model to other sub-Saharan Africa countries . As well as locking-in spiralling emissions for decades to come, JBS’ predatory expansion in Nigeria threatens to cause irreversible environmental damage and displace smallholder farmers to line the pockets of wealthy international elites.

“Nigerians know well from the legacy of companies like Shell the destructive impact wrought by unchecked corporate power. This legal intervention affirms that corporations have obligations to transparency and human rights regardless where they operate in the world. The time of extractive industries operating with impunity on this continent is over. We must stop this new wave of destruction before it starts.”

In a legal letter delivered to the Amsterdam headquarters of JBS parent company JBS N.V. this morning, Greenpeace Netherlands’ lawyers set out multiple alleged breaches by JBS of Dutch law stemming from the extensive emissions and long history of environmental damage and human rights abuses linked to its business. JBS’ expansion plans risk further exacerbating these harms, it argues, raising serious concerns that expansion will be inconsistent with the company’s climate and biodiversity obligations and represent a continued breach of Dutch duty of care, which requires companies to act in line with international human rights law.[1]

Under new legislation that allows access to data held by Dutch companies for the purpose of bringing litigation, the letter demands that JBS disclose within three weeks assessments it holds relating to the climate, nature and human rights impacts of its historic operations and its planned expansion. Should the company fail to comply, Greenpeace Netherlands is entitled to seek the required information in the form of documents and from senior JBS figures under oath, raising the prospect of the Batista brothers being forced to testify in Dutch court.

Marieke Vellekoop, Executive Director at Greenpeace Netherlands, said: “JBS was warned that if it brought its bloody business to the Netherlands, we would do everything in our power to ensure it complies with Dutch law. Today, we are following through on that promise.

“JBS’ six billion dollar global expansion is following its usual playbook: peddling empty promises, refusing transparency and sidelining communities. Greenpeace Netherlands’ innovative legal intervention forces JBS out of the shadows, exposing its historic and ongoing destructive impacts and laying the ground for a first major climate and nature lawsuit against the predatory expansion of the global meat industry.”

In November 2024, JBS announced an agreement with the government of Nigeria for US$ 2.5 billion investment over five years comprising the construction of six meat-processing plants.[2] Civil society groups in Nigeria have raised serious concerns, citing environmental, health, and social risks associated with industrial animal farming, which is yet to establish a foothold in Africa.[3]

“We have seen this before,” said Elujulo Opeyemi, Executive Director at Youth in Agroecology and Restoration Network (YARN), on behalf of Nigeria’s Climate Justice Movement. “A foreign company arrives with big promises: jobs, development, progress, and instead leaves a trail of destruction whose price communities pay for decades. The Niger Delta is our reminder of what happens when governments open the door to destructive corporations without asking the hard questions first. We are asking those questions now, and we expect answers before a single plant is built.”

There is no available evidence that JBS has conducted any environmental and social impact assessments or consultations with communities and other stakeholders in Nigeria, and efforts by civil society to gather more information via Freedom of Information requests have reportedly been ignored.[4] Last month, Greenpeace Africa submitted an amicus curiae brief before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights arguing that allowing multinational corporations to expand without meaningful environmental safeguards constitutes a failure of the State’s duty to protect human rights. The brief points specifically to JBS’ Nigeria expansion as an example

In June 2025, JBS concluded a decade-long effort to list shares on the New York Stock Exchange. As part of the listing, JBS reconstituted as a Dutch company, moving its headquarters from Sao Paulo to Amsterdam. Before the listing, Greenpeace International warned JBS shareholders that it would ‘do its part to make sure JBS operates within Dutch law’.

ENDS

Photos and videos available from the Greenpeace Media Library

[1] This follows a similar legal reasoning to the recently filed Milieudefensie v Shell case. Media briefing with further details on the legal letter and JBS’ global expansion plans, including in Nigeria. Full letter available at Greenpeace Netherlands: Information request Greenpeace Netherlands to JBS (in English)

[2] JBS announcement

[3][4] Experts raise concerns over the risks of industrial animal farming (The Sun Nigeria)

Contacts:

Joe Evans, Agriculture Global Comms Lead at Greenpeace UK,  +44 7890 595387, jevans@greenpeace.org

Valerie Kierkels, Press Officer at Greenpeace Netherlands, +31621296895, vkierkels@greenpeace.org 

Ferdinand Omondi, Communications and Story Manager at Greenpeace Africa, +254 722 505 233, fomondi@greenpeace.org 

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org. 

Note: This release headline and text was updated on 30 April to include photos and details of activists disrupting the JBS shareholders conference.