Animal-Welfare Commitment? Roadmap May Be Required By Law.

The recent settlement in New York v. JBS shows: If a company promises to do something, the company must make a plan to actually do it.

The world’s largest meat company, JBS, just agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle a lawsuit for allegedly making a public commitment that it had no plans to meet. Specifically, the state of New York sued JBS for publicly claiming that the company would be “net zero” on its greenhouse gas emissions by 2040—without any realistic roadmap to zero.

Here’s how New York Attorney General Letitia James explained the lawsuit: “JBS USA made sweeping promises about its parent company’s climate impacts despite the company having no real plan to back those promises up.”

The JBS settlement illustrates that, if a company makes a public commitment to do something, the company must make a plan for how to achieve that commitment. 

Companies that have made cage-free promises, for instance, should draw a roadmap for how they can achieve zero eggs from caged hens—as many companies have already done.

The website CageFreeCommitment.com explains: “One of the most important parts of a successful transition to cage-free is putting a clear and achievable plan in place. The best strategies often include a roadmap and annual progress reporting.”