How banks are funding JBS and fuelling animal cruelty
Blog
Many people trust their banks to act responsibly, but what if your savings were being used to finance one of the world's factory farming giants?
The sad reality is that major banks, and possibly even yours, are investing in JBS, the largest meat producer in the world. This company is linked to extreme animal cruelty, deforestation, and human rights abuses.
Who is JBS?
JBS is a Brazilian multinational corporation that dominates the global meat industry. It slaughters an estimated 4.8 billion animals each year, supplying beef, chicken, and pork to markets worldwide, even making it to our supermarket shelves here in the UK.
Behind its massive profits lies a shocking record of:
- Horrific animal cruelty: Investigations have exposed JBS facilities cramming animals into filthy, overcrowded conditions, mutilating them without pain relief, and slaughtering them in brutal ways.
- Amazon deforestation: JBS has been repeatedly linked to illegal deforestation in the Amazon, clearing very large areas of rainforest for cattle ranching and driving climate change.
- Corruption and scandals: The company has been involved in bribery scandals, labour rights abuses, and misleading sustainability claims.
Despite this, JBS continues to grow thanks to billions in financial backing from banks and investors.
How banks are funding JBS
Banks play a crucial role in enabling factory farming giants like JBS. Through loans, investments, and credit facilities, financial institutions help fund JBS’s expansion, allowing it to buy up more farms, slaughter more animals, and continue its environmentally destructive practices.
Research shows that major banks, including HSBC, Barclays, Santander, and others, have provided financial support to JBS in recent years. This means that if you bank with them, your money could be contributing to animal cruelty, deforestation, and climate destruction.
What can you do?
- Sign our petition to tell Barclays to stop funding JBS: Visit our petition page here.
- Check where your bank stands: Some banks are more ethical than others. Look into whether your bank has investments in JBS or other factory farming companies. You can reach out to your bank’s customer service or corporate social responsibility (CSR) team and directly ask if they provide funding to JBS. You can also search for organisations that focus on animal welfare or the environment as they may share which banks are linked to companies like JBS.
- Move your money: Ethical banks and financial institutions exist. Consider switching to a bank that doesn’t fund factory farming and deforestation. Click here to find out more about how you can switch banks.
- Demand transparency: Call on banks to stop financing JBS and other companies that profit from animal cruelty. More transparency and ethical investment policies are urgently needed.
- Support plant-based alternatives: Reducing demand for factory-farmed meat sends a clear message that cruelty has no place in our food system.
Tell Barclays to stop funding animal cruelty
Barclays is the UK’s biggest investor in factory farming, using their customers’ money to pour billions into JBS, the world’s largest meat producer and one of the worst offenders for animal cruelty and environmental destruction.
Tell them to stop nowThe power of your money
Banks rely on customer deposits to fund their investments. That means your money has power and by choosing an ethical bank, you can ensure it’s not being used to support animal suffering.
It’s time to hold banks accountable and demand a food system that doesn’t rely on cruelty and destruction. Let’s take a stand against JBS and the financial institutions enabling its abuses.