Animal Welfare and Climate Change: A Two-Way Crisis

Climate change is creating welfare emergencies for animals through habitat loss, extreme weather, and food system disruption, while animal agriculture is a major driver of the emissions causing climate change.

Key Facts

Animal agriculture accounts for approximately 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions according to FAO estimates
Heat stress events are increasing in frequency and severity for both wild and farmed animals
Extreme weather events including flooding, drought, and storms cause mass mortality and suffering in wild and farmed animals
Ocean warming and acidification cause welfare harms to marine animals through habitat loss and physiological stress
A shift to plant-based diets in high-income countries would reduce food system emissions by up to 70% in some models
Wild species are shifting their ranges to follow suitable climate zones, creating new human-wildlife conflicts
Zoonotic disease emergence risk increases with climate change through altered wildlife-human-livestock interfaces

Welfare Considerations

The relationship between animal welfare and climate change is bidirectional and urgent. Climate change is causing increasing welfare harm to animals through thermal stress, habitat disruption, and food availability changes. Animal agriculture is simultaneously a major driver of the climate change causing these harms. Addressing both requires systemic change: reducing animal agriculture's climate footprint through dietary shifts and production efficiency, while building resilience in both farmed and wild animal populations to the climate impacts already locked in. Individual and collective action on climate change is inseparable from a commitment to animal welfare.

What You Can Do

Reduce meat and dairy consumption as the highest-impact personal action for both animal welfare and climate
Engage in climate advocacy as a direct contribution to reducing future animal welfare harms
Support organisations working on both climate and animal welfare - these agendas are increasingly aligned
Choose products from lower-emission production systems where certified
Advocate for climate adaptation planning that explicitly includes wildlife and farmed animal welfare