An overview of the most promising trends in animal welfare science, policy, technology, and social change that offer realistic pathways to dramatically improved outcomes for animals globally.
The future of animal welfare contains genuine reasons for optimism alongside the immensity of the ongoing challenge. Corporate commitments have already improved welfare for hundreds of millions of chickens. Alternative protein technologies offer the prospect of eliminating the welfare costs of animal agriculture for major product categories. Welfare science is advancing rapidly on invertebrates, wild animals, and aquatic species that were previously outside the welfare conversation. Monitoring technology is making welfare outcomes measurable and transparent in ways that will make it harder to hide the gap between standards and actual animal experience. These trends do not diminish the current scale of animal suffering — billions of animals in welfare-compromising conditions today — but they provide a realistic basis for believing that sustained, strategic action can produce dramatic improvement over the coming decades. The welfare of animals is increasingly a mainstream ethical and scientific concern, not a fringe position.