Tyson Foods, Inc.
TSN
Consumer Staples
4
exclusion reasons
3 themes
This page is part of our public exclusion list — a transparency tool that shows which companies we screen out and why. It is not investment advice, and it is not an accusation. But it is subject to change as our understanding of the facts evolves.
Tyson Foods, Inc. has been the subject of greenwashing litigation concerning its climate claims. In 2024, the Environmental Working Group filed suit in D.C. Superior Court (Case No. 2024-CAB-005935) alleging the company’s “net zero” and “climate smart beef” marketing claims were misleading under consumer protection law. The court denied Tyson’s motion to dismiss, and the parties reached a settlement in November 2025. As part of that settlement, Tyson agreed to halt its “net-zero” and “climate-friendly” claims on beef products. The litigation centered on whether forward-looking net-zero claims for a company with significant greenhouse gas emissions, particularly from its livestock supply chain, were deceptive.
InfluenceMap’s assessment of corporate climate lobbying has flagged Tyson Foods as being “Against” the Paris Agreement’s goals, placing it among companies assessed as obstructing climate policy. The company’s climate governance framework, including its oversight of climate-related lobbying, has been cited by institutional investors as an area requiring development. This pattern of making public climate commitments while being assessed as opposing climate policy aligns with the definition of climate intransigence.
FAIRR Initiative / As You Sow - Tyson Foods Inc; Produces 1-in-5 pounds of chicken/beef/pork in US; 45M chickens + 155K cattle + 461K pigs slaughtered weekly; waste lagoon shareholder proposal defeated Feb 2026; $48M pork price-fixing settlement Jan 2026
Tyson Foods has been identified as a financier of the private prison industry. According to the American Friends Service Committee's Investigate database, the company has been a major financier of the two largest private prison operators in the United States, CoreCivic and The GEO Group. This financial support constitutes a material link to the for-profit incarceration system. The available evidence does not specify the exact financial mechanism or amount, but the company's inclusion on this list indicates a recognized business relationship with the prison industrial complex.
DOJ criminal fine for Clean Water Act violations; Tyson Poultry discharged acidic feed wastewater with pH of 2.5 into a Missouri waterway causing massive fish kill in excess of 100,000 fish; $2M criminal fine; EPA consent decrees also recorded for accidental ammonia and chlorine releases at multiple poultry processing facilities across multiple states
Research Sources
4 organizations
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Companies appear on our exclusion list based on our investment judgment — not because they've done anything illegal. This is a difference of values and opinion, not an accusation of wrongdoing. Exclusion does not constitute a recommendation against investing in any company, and absence from the list does not constitute a recommendation to invest.
This information is provided for educational and transparency purposes only and should not be relied upon as investment advice. Data is drawn from independent watchdogs, NGOs, government registries, and Ethical Capital's ongoing research — see Research Sources for the full list.
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