‘Green’ diesel producer’s supplier linked to Amazon deforestation
Diamond Green Diesel, or DGD, an American leader in renewable diesel production, imports a beef tallow from a supplier powered by Brazilian slaughterhouses sentenced to a fine for illegal deforestation. This is in particular a factory which bought livestock from a breeder described by the Brazilian authorities as the “greatest destructive of the Amazon” never studied.
Repórter Brasil obtained documents on the DGD supplier chain and identified, in addition to this case, the connections to at least two other slaughterhouses which bought livestock from breeders sentenced to a fine for practices associated with illegal deforestation on a large scale.
These cases raise a red flag on the potential impacts of the harmful climate of alternative fuels. Despite the image of biofuels as a “green” fuel, the use of cattle inputs in their production can increase deforestation, warned Tim Searcher, principal researcher at Princeton University. “The reason for which the land is in the process of debating is to meet the growing demand for food and biofuels,” he said.
Deforestation represents approximately 13% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations estimates. In Brazil, this is the main engine of such emissions.
On its website, DGD claims that its industrial factory can reduce greenhouse gas emissions up to 80% compared to fossil diesel. However, he does not mention any measure to prevent the purchase of tallow from deforests. The company did not respond to requests for comments.
In addition to feeding cars and trucks, DGD Texas installations produce SAF – abbreviation of “sustainable aviation fuel”, a product intended to reduce the climate footprint of the aeronautical industry. Avfuel Corporation, one of the main independent suppliers of reaction fuel to the United States, received the first SAF DGD delivery in December 2024.
From forest destruction to the production of biofuels
According to customs documents examined by Repórter Brasil, DGD regularly buys beef tallow from the Fasa group, a Brazilian company specializing in the treatment of slaughter by-products. The DGD and the FASA belong to the same economic group, because the Brazilian company was acquired in 2022 by multinational ingredients from Texas, one of the DGD owners through a joint venture with Valero Energy. Also based in Texas, Valero Energy is one of the largest fuel producers in the United States
The Fasa group has subsidiaries in the Amazon called Araguaia and Rio Verde, which comes from the tallow of various slaughterhouses in the region. The history of the supplier, according to official documents obtained by the report, includes Frialto, a Mato Grosso slaughterhouse identified through GTA (animal transport guides) buying cattle from a breeder arrested by the Brazilian federal police in 2023.
A month after arrest, Repórter Brasil revealed that Friallto had bought cattle from the breeder and his loved ones. Now, the point of sale has obtained an official letter from the Mato Grosso government, dated October 2023, linked to the renewal of the Frialto operating license. In the document, a Fasa subsidiary is listed as a recipient of residues generated by Frialto. According to customs recordings, this same Fasa unit sent a beef tallow to DGD several times between 2023 and 2024.
At the time of the arrest, Frialto said that he had suspended business with the properties of the breeder. Repórter Brasil again contacted the Slaughterhouse to find out about its transactions with the Fasa and all the measures taken to avoid supply in the illegally unleashed areas, but has received no response.
The Fasa, the Darling Ingredients, Valero Energy and the DGD also did not respond to requests for comments.
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Another case of illegal deforestation linked to the DGD supply chain implies the LKJ slaughterhouse. The motion registers of cattle accessible by Repórter Brasil show that in July 2023, LKJ bought animals in a ranch in the Brazil of Brazil – called Apucarana Farm – which had 381 hectares embargo after the environmental authorities confirmed illegal deforestation. Cerrado is another native biome in Brazil in the face of rapid destruction and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.
A subsidiary of the Fasa in the state of Pará regularly received LKJ residues between 2022 and 2023, according to corporate documents obtained by Repórter Brasil showing truck tracks for deliveries of raw materials. This same subsidiary also provided a beef tallow to the DGD from 2023 to 2024, according to customs records.
When contacted, LKJ allocated the purchase of cattle from the Apucarana farm to a failure of its internal procedures, declaring that it had the policy not to buy in the embargo areas. (See the complete answer here.) The company said it has since blocked the farm and another property of the same supplier of future sales. LKJ did not comment on its commercial relationship with the Fasa.
Like other slaughterhouses, LKJ is signatory to an agreement with the Federal Prosecution Brazil – known under its Portuguese acronym, MPF – which requires the adoption of anti -deformity criteria in the supply of livestock in the Amazon. In May this year, the MPF published the audit results focused on LKJ operations, revealing that around 2,700 animals slaughtered by the company in 2022 – around 8% of the audited sample – did not meet the criteria of the agreement. It was the worst result among the six verified slaughterhouses in the state of Tocantins, where LKJ is located.
In 2023 and 2024, in addition to the FASA Suif Supply, DGD also imported a tallow directly from Minerva, the second largest beef company in Brazil, according to customs data.
Last year, a study by the Mighty Earth organization identified the company as one of the customers provided by the largest Deforerster of the Brazilian Pantanal, who was imposed on the highest penalty ever imposed by the State Department of the Mato Grosso. The individual was held responsible by the civilian civilian police for the destruction of 81,200 hectares of native vegetation – a larger area than the island of Manhattan – by the aerial spray of pesticides containing chemicals also found in “Orange Agent”. At the time of the publication, which used data collected by Repórter Brasil, the company indicated that it had blocked the farmer of future affairs.
The Minerva factory in Araguaína, in the state of Tocantins, is one of those listed in customs documents exporting the tallow to the DGD. A Brasil report in 2021 Repórter showed that this installation had bought cattle from a breeder sentenced to a fine to illegally clean 198 Amazon forest acres. Another survey the same year revealed that the indirect factory supply chain included a farm where the Brazilian authorities saved workers from the conditions similar to slavery.
Minerva was contacted to comment on her cattle supply policies and his relationship with DGD, but did not respond.
Brazil exports more tallow in the United States
In 2022, Brazil exported 63,000 tonnes of tallow to the United States in 2023, this number increased to 202,000 tonnes. And in the first five months of 2025, Brazil had already sent 111,000 tonnes, according to data from the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services.
The increase coincides with the acquisition of the Fasa group by dear ingredients. Last year, the United States was the destination of 90% of all Brazilian tallow exports.
Beef tif is derived from cattle tissue waste and has a relatively low production cost, because it is extracted from less precious parts of the animal, such as carcass. Its use is often described as “recycling of animals” and is generally favored as a solution to eliminate slaughterhouse residues.
Can Lula still save the Amazon?
Because it is considered a by-product, the tallow is not subject to the same traceability requirements as the beef. However, according to Searchinger, tallow is a precious product for the food industry – it is, for example, widely used in animal feed. When he is diverted to fuel production, he explains, he increases the demand for vegetable oils and other fats to replace it. “This, in turn, increases the pressure on the land,” he said.
Searchinger argued that the growth of biofuels is only viable because of public subsidies. He believes that instead of supporting the sector, rich countries should finance environmental conservation in the world.
“A CO2 tax at $ 100 per tonne on plane tickets could generate an annual fund of $ 100 billion. This money could be used to pay countries like Brazil to keep their forests and stimulate livestock productivity in areas already cleaned, ”suggested Searchinger.
