Climate-smart farming approaches that reduce agricultural emissions can be designed to improve rather than compromise farm animal welfare through appropriate implementation.
Climate and welfare goals are not inherently in conflict and can often be achieved simultaneously. Improving ruminant nutrition quality reduces both emissions and welfare compromise from nutritional deficiency. Reducing antibiotic use through welfare improvement addresses both antimicrobial resistance and climate-relevant practices. Climate-smart farming plans should explicitly assess welfare implications of proposed interventions to ensure emission reduction does not come at welfare cost.