Animal Welfare and Climate Change: Interconnected Crises

Climate change and animal welfare are deeply interconnected - climate impacts harm animal welfare directly, while animal agriculture is a major driver of greenhouse gas emissions.

Key Facts

Animal agriculture contributes approximately 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions (FAO estimate)
Heat stress in livestock causes significant welfare impacts already, and will worsen under climate projections
Marine heatwaves have caused mass mortality events in fish, coral, and marine mammal populations
Arctic wildlife species including polar bears, walruses, and Arctic foxes face habitat collapse
Climate change is disrupting bird migration timing, causing mismatches with food availability
Extreme weather events including wildfires cause mass wildlife suffering and displacement
A global shift toward plant-based diets would substantially reduce both emissions and animal suffering

Welfare Considerations

Climate change and animal welfare exist in a tragic reinforcing loop. Animal agriculture drives climate change through methane, nitrous oxide, and deforestation, while climate change causes expanding animal suffering through heat stress, habitat loss, ocean warming, and extreme weather. The interconnection creates a powerful argument for systemic dietary change: reducing meat and dairy consumption simultaneously reduces greenhouse gas emissions and reduces the number of farmed animals experiencing poor welfare conditions. The direct climate welfare impacts are already severe and will worsen: livestock heat stress is a chronic welfare problem in warming regions, marine heatwave mortality events kill hundreds of millions of animals at a time, and Arctic species face existential habitat loss. Climate action is animal welfare action.

What You Can Do

Reduce meat and dairy consumption to lower both your emissions footprint and farmed animal welfare impact
Support climate organisations that acknowledge the animal agriculture contribution to climate change
Advocate for climate adaptation policies that include provisions for wildlife welfare
Support rewilding and habitat restoration as both climate and wildlife welfare investments
Engage with the intersection of animal welfare and climate policy in your advocacy work