Thanks to our campaigns and political engagement, we’ve made progress this year as we strive to give farmed animals a voice.

Here is some of the important work we’ve done in 2025 to ensure we keep these issues in the spotlight and create lasting change for farmed animals.

Using our voices to give farmed animals a better life

In 2019, over 1.4 million citizens called on the EU Commission to ban cages for farmed animals, a move that would improve the lives of nearly 300 million hens, pigs, rabbits, and more. In 2025, we continue to make their voices heard in Brussels.

In February, we co-hosted the high-level event From Dialogue to Vision to Action: What is needed for more sustainable and higher welfare animal farming, where Animal Welfare Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi signalled his support for the ‘modernisation of animal welfare legislation’ by the end of 2026.

Shortly after, the Vision on the Future of EU Agriculture confirmed the Commission’s commitment to deliver the long-overdue proposals to modernise the EU animal welfare rules and ban cages. While the post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy proposal includes positive elements for animal welfare and the extensification of animal farming, it fails to maintain a significant amount of budget to respond to citizens’ expectations in terms of climate, the environment and animal welfare.

Higher-welfare farmers from across Europe agreed with us that substantial funding and ambitious animal welfare legislation are key to ensure the successful transition to higher welfare, cage-free farming in Europe. In September, we discussed with them challenges and opportunities to making this happen in the powerful roundtable Farmers’ Voices: Animal Welfare Success Stories to Inform Fair EU Policy Reform.

Responding to the End the Cage Age European Citizens’ Initiative is not only key to improve animal welfare, but also to ensure the health of participatory democracy, as we explored in the high-level event How Can European Citizens’ Initiatives Make a Difference for Civil Society? attended by the European Ombudsman and representatives of the European Commission.

In autumn, with little over a year until the expected proposals, we launched Our Voices, an End the Cage Age campaign urging citizens to speak up and ensure the EU delivers its promise to ban cages for all species in 2026.

Despite repeated assurances that new legislative proposals would be introduced to ban cages and modernise EU animal welfare laws in 2026, these proposals were regrettably left out of the European Commission’s work programme for next year. This prompted us to step up our campaigning, urging supporters to take part in the European Commission public consultation on animal welfare, and call on the EU delivers its promise to relegate cages to the history books.

In December, we spoke at the high-level conference Welfare of Farm Animals in the EU of 2050 – A Pathway to the Future organised by the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU. There, we called on EU lawmakers to put animal welfare at the heart of the EU’s food system transformation, or risk ecological collapse by 2050.

We continue to lead coalitions and work with food businesses to show that cage-free farming is not only better for animals, farmers, and the planet, but also financially viable.

Driving change to END.IT

Our global END.IT campaign, calling for a move away from factory farming and a shift to a sustainable food future, reached over one million signatures on our petition, from over 242 countries , and was delivered to the United Nations with the clear message that factory farming must end.

In October, on World Food Day, we launched an open letter urging national governments to end the immense waste behind factory farming: feed production. Our report, Food not Feed, revealed that feeding crops to factory farmed animals wastes more food than households, retail, or food service combined. Ending this practice could feed an extra two billion people every year.

We published Climate Doom Loop: Factory farming’s toll on animals, farmers and food, a report exposing how industrial animal agriculture fuels climate disasters. Eleven case studies revealed the immense toll of extreme weather on farmed animals, farmers’ livelihoods, and food security.

Our message to world leaders and European policymakers working on climate and the sustainability of animal agriculture has been clear: we cannot solve the climate crisis without transforming the way we produce and consume food.

Putting aquatic animals back in the spotlight

Aquatic animals continue to be the silent victims of the EU’s inaction on animal welfare.

In April we invited supporters to call on MEPs in the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee (PECH) urging them to vote for specific measures to be included to protect fish during transport. Our supporters shared images and a video on social media depicting some of the awful conditions up to 1.3 billion fish and other aquatic animals are subjected to when transported.

On World Octopus Day, as part of a global #KeepThemWild campaign, we released research exposing the devastating environmental impacts of octopus farming and carnivorous aquaculture. We also shared new footage of cruel slaughter practices, urging policymakers to sign a global pledge to ban octopus farming and prevent expansion into other carnivorous species.

In December, we co-hosted the Time for the EU to Stop Octopus Farming event in the European Parliament, where we showcased powerful evidence of octopus sentience, the negative impact of octopus farming on fishstocks due to its reliance on wild-caught fish for feed, and discussed legal pathways for the European Commission to ban octopus farming on welfare and environmental grounds.

In December, our undercover investigation revealed widespread suffering of farmed carp in the EU and exposed the urgent need for specific legislation to protect fish welfare across Europe. Despite strong scientific evidence and recognition in EU law that fish are sentient beings capable for feeling pain and suffering, there is currently no species-specific legislation to prevent these cruel practices.  Supporters were urged to sign an EU-wide petition calling for urgent action. 

No let up in our efforts to end cruel animal transport

Every year, millions of farmed animals endure long, exhausting journeys in appalling conditions, so we have continued to shine a spotlight on this needless cruelty, and to demand change.

In March, Brittany Ferries resumed live exports after a 30-year pause, transporting vulnerable calves under six weeks old from Ireland to France. These animals face 18-hour sea journeys, confined to trucks bound for countries across the EU including Spain, Poland, and the Netherlands.

Over 120 NGOs, scientists, academics, and celebrities have urged Brittany Ferries to reverse this decision. More than 120,000 emails from our supporters have flooded their inbox.

This year’s Ban Live Exports International Awareness Day in June, united NGOs worldwide in calling for an end to this brutal trade. We marked this tenth awareness day with gatherings at ports in the UK, France, and Ireland, alongside billboard campaigns exposing Brittany Ferries’ customers to the suffering of animals onboard.

Our efforts escalated to the highest levels of policymaking in Brussels, resulting in a meeting with Animal Welfare Commission Olivér Várhelyi and in an oral question being raised in the European Parliament by MEP Lynn Boylan.

Six months after Brittany Ferries resumed their involvement in this cruel trade we held a further four days of action in UK, Ireland, and France. Christophe Mathieu, Chief Executive of Brittany Ferris and Frédéric Pouget, director of Operations agreed to meet with us and hear our demands.

Our CEO reflections on 2025

Philip Lymbery, Compassion’s CEO, reflects about the year:

2025 was a year when ideas turned into action, reshaping our food system toward a future where animals are respected, farming is regenerative, and nourishing food is accessible for all. From the UN Food Systems Summit in Ethiopia to COP30 in Brazil, food system transformation finally featured in global policy discussions. And thanks to your unwavering support, Compassion was there, speaking up for animals, influencing decisions, and driving change.

What 2025 meant for farmed animals in the EU