Animal agriculture is a major contributor to climate change, habitat loss and water pollution. The connection between environmental sustainability and animal welfare is direct: habitat loss reduces wild animal welfare; climate change threatens farm animal welfare.
The welfare implications of animal agriculture's environmental footprint are both direct and indirect. Directly: climate change worsens heat stress welfare for livestock; increased flooding and drought threaten farm animal welfare; habitat loss reduces wild animal welfare. Indirectly: the scale of animal agriculture requires land that could support wild animals; the resource intensity of meat production drives food system pressures that affect all animals. The alignment between environmental sustainability goals and animal welfare goals is substantial: reducing animal product consumption reduces both environmental impact and the number of animals in welfare-compromised production systems.