Sugar Company That Fills The Everglades With Smoke For Months Every Year Sued For Greenwashing Claims

[hatrack]

A major sugar company has been accused of harmful environmental practices while claiming to be a leader in the fight against the climate crisis, in a class-action lawsuit filed on Wednesday. Florida Crystals, one of the US’s biggest sugar firms, and its parent company, the Fanjul Corporation, are accused of deceiving consumers and endangering public health by continuing to use environmentally harmful pre-harvest burning.

The accusations come while the firm has been branding its products as the nation’s eco-friendly sugar option, according to the lawsuit filed in the US district court for the northern district of California.

According to the court filing, the sugar company’s leaf-burning practices “emit substantial volumes of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change as well as toxic particulate matter (PM2.5), dioxins, carbon monoxide, ammonia, elemental carbon, and volatile organic compounds that fill the air of the Florida Glades region on a daily basis during the six-to-eight-month harvesting season, poisoning local residents, who are disproportionately poor and people of color.”

In order to remove excess leaves before harvesting, sugarcane growers have two options: slashing, also known as green harvesting – which is cleaner but requires investment in machinery – or burning, which is cheaper on the front end but causes harm to the environment and public health. Yet Florida Crystals, in partnership with the Fanjul Corporation, markets itself as the country’s most environmentally conscious and climate-friendly sugar company, the lawsuit alleges.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/05/florida-crystals-sugar-lawsuit