Climate Change and Animal Welfare

Climate change is intensifying welfare threats for wild and farmed animals through extreme heat, habitat loss, altered disease patterns, and ecosystem disruption.

Key Facts

Rising temperatures increase heat stress mortality in livestock, particularly poultry and pigs without cooling.
Coral bleaching from ocean warming has caused catastrophic mortality across reef ecosystems since 2016.
Climate change is shifting the ranges of vector-borne diseases, exposing naive animal populations.
Extreme weather events including floods and wildfires cause acute mass mortality of wild and farmed animals.
Arctic species including polar bears and walruses face existential habitat loss from sea ice decline.

Welfare Considerations

Climate change represents a systemic, accelerating welfare threat to animals across all environments. For farmed animals, heatwaves cause acute suffering and mass mortality in inadequately ventilated facilities. For wild animals, habitat destruction, altered food availability, and novel disease exposure cause chronic stress and mortality. Addressing climate change through emissions reduction is therefore also an animal welfare imperative. Adaptation measures including shade provision, cooling systems, disease monitoring, and wildlife corridor design improve near-term resilience.

What You Can Do

Reduce your carbon footprint by eating a more plant-based diet — animal agriculture contributes significantly to emissions.
Support climate policy and political candidates committed to strong emissions reduction targets.
Donate to wildlife conservation organisations adapting management strategies to climate change.
Advocate for improved ventilation and cooling standards in livestock housing to reduce heat stress mortality.
Support renewable energy transition to reduce the emissions driving habitat and ecosystem destruction.