Goldman Environmental Prize Recognizes Brazilian Investigation Linking JBS to Deforestation
[Washington D.C.] Marcel Gomes, the executive secretary at investigative journalism organization Repórter Brasil was named one of the seven 2024 awardees of the Goldman Environmental Prize, the world’s leading distinction honoring environmental activists.
In partnership with Mighty Earth, Gomes led and coordinated an international investigation in December 2021 that linked JBS’s beef supply chain to illegal deforestation in Brazil’s most threatened ecosystems. Ultimately, this pushed six major European supermarket chains in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom to halt the sale of JBS products indefinitely that same year. Gomes’s efforts have led the groundwork for government officials and environmental groups to scrutinize JBS’s operations, including work to block JBS’s bid to list on the New York Stock exchange.
Alex Wijeratna, Senior Director of the Global Protein Campaign at Mighty Earth said:
“Marcel Gomes is a deserved winner of the Goldman Prize, highlighting the seismic impact of investigative journalism on environmental accountability. Through meticulous tracking of the cattle supply chain, Gomes and his team have ripped the veil off major meatpackers’, like JBS’, involvement in ravaging Brazil’s critical biomes, threatening Indigenous communities and exacerbating climate pollution. Reporter Brasil’s relentless pursuit of bad actors laid the foundation for Mighty Earth and countless others to use its data and on-the-ground investigations to exert pressure on the multibillion-dollar meat industry.”
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