Animal Welfare and Climate Change: Interconnected Crises

How climate change creates compounding welfare crises for wild and farmed animals, and why they must be addressed together.

Key Facts

Climate change is increasing extreme heat events that cause acute welfare harm for billions of farmed animals
Species range shifts driven by warming force animals into novel habitats with unfamiliar challenges
Ocean warming and acidification create welfare stress for marine species through reduced prey and physiological harm
Drought reduces food and water availability for wildlife, causing chronic nutritional stress at population scale
Climate change disproportionately harms the most vulnerable species — often those already facing conservation pressure

Welfare Considerations

Climate change is the most significant emerging driver of animal welfare harm globally. Its effects span every welfare domain — acute heat stress, nutritional deprivation from prey depletion, physiological stress from ocean acidification, habitat loss from sea level rise and desertification, and increased conflict from resource competition. These effects compound existing welfare pressures on species already threatened by habitat loss, hunting, and disease. Addressing climate change is therefore not merely an environmental or human welfare issue — it is one of the most significant animal welfare interventions available to individuals and societies. The connection between climate action and animal welfare deserves far more prominence in advocacy and policy.

What You Can Do

Recognize climate action as among the most important animal welfare interventions available
Reduce your carbon footprint through dietary choices — animal agriculture contributes 14-18% of global emissions
Support climate policy advocacy through animal welfare organizations that link these causes explicitly
Engage politically with candidates and parties whose climate policies align with animal welfare outcomes