Members of European Parliament urge SEC to reject JBS IPO
A cross-committee letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission quotes Mighty Earth as saying JBS’ plan to list on NYSE is ‘the biggest climate risk IPO in history.’
In July 2023, JBS announced plans to dual list its shares on the world’s largest stock market, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). These plans have faced growing scrutiny over the past year from environmental NGOs, investors, policymakers, and animal welfare groups. In the latest opposition, four members of the European Parliament have written to SEC Chair Gary Gensler, urging him to “deny JBS’ application to list on the New York Stock Exchange, in light of significant risks associated with the company’s operations.”
Responding to the letter, Julian Oram, Policy Director at Mighty Earth said:
“As the four European politicians point out in their letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Mighty Earth has dubbed JBS’ plan to list on the New York Stock Exchange as ‘the biggest climate risk IPO in history.’ We welcome this intervention by the European Parliament as a further blow to the JBS IPO.”
The letter outlines JBS’ well-documented history of Amazon deforestation and environment degradation of other sensitive ecosystems, its outsized methane emissions which are greater than any other agricultural company, and JBS’ litany of abuses and corruption. It warns that “allowing JBS to proceed with its IPO would send a dangerous signal that environmental degradation and corporate malfeasance are to be tolerated in the financial markets”
Miriam M. Lexmann MEP, Committee on International Trade, who shared the letter on X on October 29, stated:
“When a company causes such harm, it becomes more than just an issue confined to Wall Street.”
The letter, dated September 24, 2024, was also signed by Pina Picierno MEP, Committee on Petitions, Engin Eroglu MEP, Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, and Christine Singer MEP, Committee on Agricultural and Rural Development.
This latest political intervention follows letters sent to the SEC earlier this year by a cross-party group of UK Parliamentarians and a bi-partisan group of US Senators, as well as the New York Attorney General Letitia James’s lawsuit against JBS, signaling global concern over JBS’ planned IPO.
See Mighty Earth’s submission to the SEC below:
