Greenpeace UK urges Tesco to end ties with Amazon rainforest destroyers

Environmental campaign group Greenpeace UK is urging supermarket chain Tesco to stop purchasing meat and dairy from companies that are involved in destroying the Amazon rainforest.

It has also asked Tesco to reduce meat sales at its supermarkets in the country by 50% by 2025 to protect people, wildlife and the climate.

The supermarket chain is purchasing meat products from companies such as Moy Park and Tulip that are controlled by forest destroyer, JBS.

The group noted that it has been exposing activities of the meat-packing company, which was also fined by the Brazilian regulators.

Greenpeace UK forests head Anna Jones said: “The Amazon is perilously close to the tipping point. Scientists warn that in fewer than 20 years it could collapse with catastrophic consequences for Indigenous groups, forest wildlife, our health and the climate.

“Tesco’s CEO knows we need to eat less meat and dairy to protect forests and stop climate breakdown. And yet the supermarket sells more of it than any other UK company and continues to buy from suppliers owned by Amazon destroyers.”

Greenpeace said that industrial-scale meat production requires land for beef production and growing crops such as soya for animal feed, and these activities serve as the biggest driver for global deforestation.

Each year, UK imports 3.2 million tonnes of soya, of which 68% is said to be sourced from South America.

Greenpeace added that Tesco retails more meat than any other supermarket in the country thereby making its soya footprint the largest in the UK.

However, the company told Greenpeace that it only uses 516,000t of soya that is imported into the country, and 99% is used as feed to produce meat and dairy.

Other supermarkets and fast food companies in the UK, including Sainsbury’s, Asda, Burger King, KFC and McDonald’s, are also guilty of using industrial meat that is said to have been fuelling deforestation.

In March 2018, Greenpeace published a report indicating that major food producers such as Kellogg’s, PepsiCo and Kraft Heinz are failing in their promise to eliminate Indonesian palm oil from their supply chains.