Tesco executives and shareholders have faced protests over the supermarket’s dealings with “forest destroyers” as activists gathered outside its annual general meeting.
The Big 4 grocer has sparked fury by buying meat from JBS, a company repeatedly linked to illegal deforestation of the Amazon.
The supplier has denied the allegations but does not plan to stop deforestation in its supply chain until 2035.
Greenpeace protestors waved placards spelling “Forest Crime” and read out messages sent in by members of the public, telling the supermarket to cut its ties to JBS.
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The environmental group claims to have received around 10,000 emails in total.
“Tesco, you have a choice,” reads one message from the Brazilian indigenous leader Sonia Guajajara.
“As the Amazon burns, will you continue to do business with forest destroyers, fanning the flames of the fires?
“Or will you take your share of the responsibility and stop funding companies whose greed is destroying the forest and threatening our culture, our land and our lives?”
Activists have also stencilled “Tesco meat = deforestation” on around 200 stores.
“When Tesco sells you a British chicken, it won’t mention the forest crime that took place to produce it,” Greenpeace forests campaigner Elena Polisano said.
“Tesco’s chicken supplier is owned by a company notorious for destroying the Amazon rainforest.
“And Tesco’s chicken is reared on soya that’s driving deforestation and fires across Brazil.”
She added that Greenpeace “won’t stop campaigning” until the supermarket stops selling meat from JBS.
“We require all our suppliers to meet our environmental and zero-deforestation standards,” a Tesco spokesperson told City A.M.
“We recognise there is more to do to ensure deforestation is prevented across the sector, which is why we’ve set an additional industry-leading target for the soy we use in the UK to be from entire areas that are verified deforestation-free by 2025.”
According to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, over 290,000 acres of the Amazon rainforest was cut down in May.
