Environmental lobby group targets buyers of Australian beef in latest attack

Greenpeace has attacked Australian beef’s sustainability but its claims on deforestation have been shot down by a UN report that states Australia leads on reforestation efforts.

Greenpeace has gone after major domestic buyers of Australian beef, with a new attack accusing the sector of “failing to adequately address deforestation in their supply chains”.

Dubbed a deforestation scorecard, Greenpeace ranked Australia’s retailers and beef processors against its goal of “becoming deforestation free by 2025”, and alleges Australia had “one of the worst rates of deforestation in the world, driven largely by the bulldozing of forests for beef cattle grazing”.

Greenpeace spokesman Glenn Walker said beef industry bodies were attempting to “greenwash their way to community acceptance through weak so-called sustainability frameworks and completely watered-down definitions of deforestation”.

“Big beef purchasers like McDonald’s, Coles and Woolies need to show leadership and fix this serious problem once and for all.”

But the Greenpeace attack has been called out as a misrepresentation of the facts by the Red Meat Advisory Council – the body representing industry from producers to retailers.

Australia was leading the world when it came to reforestation, as shown by a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report, RMAC chair John McKillop said.

Mr McKillop said Australia had “some of the toughest vegetation management regulations in the world and despite what activists want you to believe, the amount of forest cover in Australia has actually increased over recent years despite significant impacts of fire and drought in that time”.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Forest Resources Assessment report ranks Australia as second in the world for reforestation, as described as annual net gain in forest area from 2010 to 2020, while Brazil was the nation ranked as having the highest loss of forested areas.

Mr McKillop said Greenpeace’s attack on Australia’s beef was “yet another misrepresentation of claims about deforestation in our production systems by environmental activist organisations that benefit from inciting emotional responses from their donors”.

Meanwhile, at the launch of the Australian Beef Sustainability Framework update last week, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said there was “very real concern” about potential impacts on Australian exporters over the direction the EU was taking regulating deforestation-free supply chains for imports.

“The Australian Government’s strong view is that it won’t, and should not, impact Australian beef exports,” Mr Watt said, adding he had “recently written to the EU Commissioner for the Environment outlining Australia’s concerns with the potential impact of this regulation on trade with the EU” and requesting a delayed implementation to avoid adverse impact on Australia’s agriculture trade.

In response to Greenpeace, a Woolworths spokesperson said the company was “not aware of any deforestation claims made by Greenpeace about beef producers it works with”.

The spokesperson added Woolworths “accounts for just 7 per cent of all beef produced in Australia annually”, and suppliers “must adhere to all federal and state laws, including those that relate to land management”.

A Coles spokesperson said Greenpeace’s position did not “reflect the importance we place on deforestation”. Coles had “a number of programs in place across a variety of Own Brand supply chains which help to mitigate deforestation and support environmental outcomes including the use of independent certification of Coles Own Brand products associated with higher environmental risks and programs for Own Brand commodities”.

McDonald’s was contacted for comment.