In a letter to European Commissioner Christophe Hansen and the European Commission, we called for the forthcoming strategy on animal farming to deliver real sustainability, resilience and improved animal welfare.
Intensive animal farming is incompatible with the EU’s climate and biodiversity goals. The sector is responsible for over 80% of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and didn’t achieve any meaningful reduction the past decades. It is also driving deforestation-linked feed imports, biodiversity loss and poor welfare conditions.
We urge the Commission to set binding environmental targets, place animal welfare measurable objectives at the heart of sustainability, reduce stocking densities, support agroecological farming and protein diversification, and redirect subsidies away from high-emission factory farming.
Europe has the tools to lead a genuine transition. In the case of this Strategy, sustainability must mean lower emissions, restored ecosystems and better lives for animals, not greenwashing.