The Near-Term Horizon (2025–2030)
📌 EU Cage Phase-Out Implemented
The EU commitment to phase out all cage systems by 2027 — if implemented — will be the largest single legislative welfare improvement in history, affecting hundreds of millions of laying hens, rabbits, and other birds across 27 countries. Every advocacy action supporting implementation matters.
📌 In-Ovo Sexing Goes Global
Technology that eliminates male chick culling is commercially deployed in multiple countries. If mandated or widely adopted globally, it eliminates the killing of ~7 billion male chicks annually — a relatively achievable, near-term welfare win of enormous scale.
📌 Cultivated Meat Approaches Cost Parity
The cost of cultivated meat continues falling. If cost parity with conventional meat is achieved in the 2030s — a realistic projection by major researchers — the most powerful structural change in the history of animal farming becomes possible: food production that doesn't require animal suffering at scale.
The Medium-Term Vision (2030–2040)
🌿 Global Fish Welfare Standards
As the scientific consensus on fish sentience solidifies and regulatory frameworks evolve, fish welfare standards — stunning requirements, stocking densities, enrichment — become legally required in major aquaculture markets. The welfare of trillions of fish finally receives the attention it deserves.
🌿 AI Welfare Monitoring at Scale
Continuous AI-powered welfare assessment becomes standard in commercial animal agriculture — creating transparency, accountability, and rapid identification of welfare failures. Combined with mandatory welfare labeling, this empowers consumers and drives market competition on welfare.
🌿 Alternative Protein Market Share >20%
Plant-based, fermentation-derived, and cultivated proteins reach significant market share in major economies, directly reducing the number of animals in conventional farming. Each percentage point represents hundreds of millions of animals spared.
The Long-Term Vision (2040+)
🌟 A World Where Animals Thrive
The vision toward which the entire animal welfare movement is working: a world in which animal sentience is universally recognized and protected by law; in which farmed animals live in conditions that allow expression of natural behaviors; in which wild animals are protected from human-caused suffering; in which alternative proteins have largely replaced factory farming; and in which the moral circle has expanded to include all sentient life in its concern.
"Every generation thinks the moral progress that happened before them was inevitable and the progress that will happen after them is impossible. They are always wrong on both counts." — Animal welfare advocate
What You Can Do Today
Building the Future for Animals
The future described above requires action from millions of people, right now. Here's how to contribute.
Donate Effectively Change Your Diet Advocate Effectively Take Action Now- Donate to effective animal welfare organizations — the work needs resources now
- Reduce animal product consumption — demand reduction drives structural change
- Try and promote cultivated and plant-based foods — you're funding the transition with every purchase
- Advocate for legislative progress in your jurisdiction
- Talk to people you know — expanding the community of people who care about animals is how movements grow
- Consider a career in animal advocacy — the movement needs more talent and dedication
The animals are counting on us. Let's not let them down.