The European Union is today (25 June) being urged to step up action to fix our broken food system as a new report released by Compassion in World Farming reveals, for the first time, the immense toll of climate crisis-linked extreme weather events on farmed animals, farmers’ livelihoods and food security.

Climate Doom Loop: Factory Farming’s Toll on Animals, Farmers and Food is published just as policymakers from around the world meet at the Climate Change Conference in Bonn and the European Commission is expected to unveil the EU’s climate emission targets for 2040. This critical moment will ultimately influence whether industrial animal agriculture continues to be propped up by subsidies or phased out.

To break the destructive loop, the report advises governments and the EU to substantially reduce livestock production, switch to more climate and nature-friendly farming practices, and ensure our food system aligns with planetary boundaries.

From heatwaves in the UK to hurricanes in the US, flooding in Italy and Brazil and other extreme weather events across Europe, Asia and Africa, the report’s case studies – just a snapshot of the bigger picture – reveal that 14.8 million farmed animals have been killed as a direct result and 56.4 million people impacted, at an estimated global cost of €103 ($120) billion.

The report spotlights the huge suffering of farmed animals – many in cages who are left to drown in floods and suffocate in heatwaves when these increasingly common climate-linked disasters strike – whilst highlighting the major role industrial farming plays in driving climate change.

Some disasters outlined in the report include:

Italy, 2023: Witnesses saw ‘piles of hundreds of dead pigs’, alongside other animals swimming for their lives, following flooding in Emilia-Romagna, the Italian region famous for Parma ham and Parmigiano cheese.
France, 2023: 750,000 poultry died of suffocation and exhaustion during extreme heatwaves.

Food systems are responsible for a third of total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The livestock sector – dominated by factory farming – produces more direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than all the world’s planes, trains and cars combined. But with a growing global population, 200 leading climate, food and agriculture scientists refute sustainable intensification as a solution for reducing animal agriculture emissions. Most (90%) believe that reducing meat consumption – particularly in the Global North – is the most effective action.

Vinciane Patelou, Head of EU at Compassion in World Farming, said:

Millions of farmed animals are killed each year by floods, storms and heatwaves driven by climate change, yet the very system they are reared in is making the situation worse. These increasingly common extreme weather events are also catastrophic for people, food security and farmers’ livelihoods. Simply put, we’re trapped in a doom loop.

With the upcoming Climate Law and reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, the European Union must take urgent action to reduce emissions and move away from cruel, unsustainable factory farming and towards responsible climate- and nature-friendly practices. Farmed animals, economies, and the food on our plates are all under serious threat – we must act now before it’s too late.

Supporters are being asked to sign the END.IT petition calling for a sustainable food system that protects animals, people, and the planet.

Factory farming’s toll on farmed animals, farmers and food security exposed in new ‘climate doom loop’ report