The Meat Agenda: Agricultural Exceptionalism and Greenwash in Brazil

The report examines how Brazil's agribusiness sector, despite being the country's largest climate polluter, maintains a privileged position through lobbying and 'corporate capture'. It highlights the omission of agricultural methane from Brazil's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and warns that industry-led efforts at COP30, such as the 'AgriZone', aim to position the sector as a climate solution while resisting meaningful regulation.

• Agriculture is the primary source of climate pollution in Brazil, accounting for 74% of total emissions and 75.6% of methane emissions. In 2023, enteric fermentation from livestock produced 405 million tonnes of CO2e, and methane emissions from beef and dairy cattle grew by 6% between 2020 and 2023.
• Brazil's updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) submitted in November 2024 contains a significant 'blind spot' by failing to mention agricultural methane, effectively shielding the country's largest methane polluters from scrutiny.
• The agribusiness sector is actively attempting to influence the COP30 agenda through the 'AgriZone', which will host approximately 400 events, and through corporate sponsorships of media coverage by companies like JBS. There are also efforts to promote the GWP* metric for emissions calculations to downplay methane pollution, a method the IPCC has rejected for national climate accounting.
• Several key Brazilian climate policies are described as structurally weak or compromised by industry influence: the Emissions Trading System excludes agricultural emissions, the ABC+ Plan for sustainable agriculture has seen 75% of degraded areas remain unchanged four years after funding, and the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) suffers from poor oversight and illegal registrations.

APA

Changing Markets Foundation (2025). The Meat Agenda: Agricultural Exceptionalism and Greenwash in Brazil. https://changingmarkets.org/report/the-meat-agenda-agricultural-exceptionalism-and-greenwash-in-brazil/

Chicago

Changing Markets Foundation. The Meat Agenda: Agricultural Exceptionalism and Greenwash in Brazil. 2025. https://changingmarkets.org/report/the-meat-agenda-agricultural-exceptionalism-and-greenwash-in-brazil/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Changing Markets Foundation |title=The Meat Agenda: Agricultural Exceptionalism and Greenwash in Brazil |date=5 November 2025 |url=https://changingmarkets.org/report/the-meat-agenda-agricultural-exceptionalism-and-greenwash-in-brazil/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{changingmarketsfoundation2025meat, author = {{Changing Markets Foundation}}, title = {{The Meat Agenda: Agricultural Exceptionalism and Greenwash in Brazil}}, institution = {Changing Markets Foundation}, year = {2025}, month = nov, url = {https://changingmarkets.org/report/the-meat-agenda-agricultural-exceptionalism-and-greenwash-in-brazil/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }