Factory Farming Is Making Climate Disasters Worse

A just-released report shows that factory farming is fueling a dangerous “climate doom loop” that threatens our environment, our food system, and billions of animals. The report from Compassion in World Farming warns that industrial meat and dairy operations are not just major contributors to climate change — they are making our food systems and communities increasingly vulnerable to the extreme weather they help create. 

America’s factory farming system is pushing our climate to the brink while causing unbearable suffering for billions of animals every year. We need urgent federal action to move our country away from industrial animal agriculture and toward a food system that is humane, sustainable, and resilient.

Factory farming is one of the biggest — and least acknowledged — drivers of climate change. The newest research shows that intensive meat and dairy production emits more climate-warming pollution than the entire global transportation sector. It fuels deforestation, destroys wildlife habitat, pollutes waterways, and relies heavily on fertilizers that release powerful greenhouse gases.

Worse, these emissions are creating a dangerous climate “doom loop”: factory farms pump out pollution that worsens climate disasters — and then those disasters kill animals in massive numbers, wipe out farms, and threaten food security. This cycle endangers animals, workers, nearby communities, and the stability of our food system.

And the cruelty inside factory farms is impossible to ignore. Animals are packed into overcrowded sheds and cages, denied the ability to move freely or express natural behaviors, and subjected to painful mutilations and lifelong confinement. Extreme heat waves, floods, and storms — made worse by climate change — now routinely kill millions of these animals in single events.

We cannot keep propping up this broken system.

We urge Congress and the USDA to:

Redirect federal subsidies away from factory farming and toward humane, climate-friendly agriculture.

Expand support for farmers transitioning to regenerative, pasture-based, and plant-forward farming.

Strengthen national animal-welfare and environmental standards for livestock operations.

Incorporate climate impacts into all USDA policy decisions and set clear goals to reduce agricultural emissions.

Lead a national transition toward healthier, more sustainable diets in schools, military bases, and public institutions.

The United States cannot meet its climate goals — or its moral responsibilities — while continuing to rely on factory farming. Please act now to protect the climate, safeguard animals, and build a food system that works for all of us.

Add your name to demand action today.