The next decades will bring new welfare challenges from climate change, emerging technologies, and expanding human footprints, as well as new opportunities from science, policy, and culture.
The future of animal welfare depends on choices made in the next decade across food systems, technology policy, legal frameworks, and cultural norms. The potential for dramatic welfare improvement is real — cultured meat, welfare-monitoring technology, stronger legislation, and shifting consumer values could substantially reduce the scale of animal suffering. But so is the potential for welfare decline if factory farming scales globally, climate change multiplies wildlife suffering, and new technologies are deployed without welfare safeguards. The trajectory depends on the quality and scale of human choices.