Many of us will have seen the all too frequent natural disasters threatening our planet and seemingly increasing year on year - the recent flash floods in Spain, the devastating Hurricane Helene in the US, and the 32 million acres of Amazon rainforest that have burned down in 2024 alone. It’s indisputable that the countries of the world must band together in order limit global warming and its impact on humans, animals and our ecosystems.

Every year, world leaders gather at the UN Climate Conference of the Parties (COP) to tackle the climate crisis, one of the biggest challenges of our time. We know that farming is responsible for 1/3 of global manmade methane emissions, stemming primarily from cow burps, also known as enteric fermentation, and manure. Some strategies proposed to reduce these emissions would pose a significant threat to animal welfare. That’s why our international FOUR PAWS colleagues have travelled to Baku, Azerbaijan, where COP29 is taking place, to shine a light on how animal welfare is key to protecting our planet. 

Many tactics raised by the livestock farming industry appear to focus more on improving productivity than reducing emissions, and as a result, funds are directed towards ‘tech solutions’ with unknown long-term effects on both animal welfare and climate mitigation. Instead of reducing the number of farmed animals and transforming our farming systems, these so called ‘solutions’ include ideas like feeding seaweed to cows to lower methane production. In countries like Germany and the US, there are even subsidies for farms producing biogas from manure, incentivising factory farms to grow in size and resulting in even more emissions. An increase in herd size is the opposite of what we need, and would have disastrous effects on the climate, animal welfare and zoonoses due to higher stocking densities of animals exacerbating the risk of new emerging diseases spreading from animal to human.

We must make sure the environmental impact of animal farming doesn’t get overlooked at COP29. With over 92 billion farmed land animals used for food each year, we are calling on political leaders to reduce the number of farmed animals globally, whilst seeing an end to factory farming and shifting funds from intensive farming to small-scale, animal-friendly farms. 

It’s now or never. Our FOUR PAWS colleagues in Azerbaijan will be giving a voice to the millions of animals caught up in these intensive systems, but it’s also up to all of us to speak up. By demanding climate-friendly farming practices locally, nationally and internationally, we can protect our planet and safeguard the future of animal welfare.