Climate change and animal welfare are deeply interconnected. Rising temperatures, extreme weather, and habitat loss cause direct welfare harms for wildlife and farmed animals, while industrial animal agriculture is itself a major driver of climate change.
Climate change creates welfare harms for animals at multiple levels. Individual animals experience heat stress, starvation, dehydration, injury in extreme weather events, and loss of habitat. At the population level, climate change accelerates species decline, reducing genetic diversity and making populations more vulnerable to disease. The feedback loop between animal agriculture and climate change is critical: the very industry that causes the most direct welfare harm to farmed animals is also accelerating the climate crisis that causes welfare harm to wild animals. Reducing meat consumption, particularly from ruminants, reduces both farmed animal suffering and climate-driven wild animal suffering simultaneously, making dietary change one of the most synergistic welfare and climate interventions available.