Since 2021, the role of litigation in holding animal agriculture companies responsible for their climate pollution has been a major focus of the Law, Environment & Animals Program (LEAP) at Yale Law School. Working within the Goldman Sonnenfeldt Environmental Protection Clinic, LEAP focuses on the intersection of climate change and the food system, exploring the potential for litigation in U.S. courts to help address the climate harms of industrial animal agriculture.
Even if emissions from electricity production and transportation ended immediately, global emissions related to food production alone could preclude limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius or less above pre-industrial levels, a goal of the Paris Climate Agreement. The vast majority of U.S. agriculture emissions are related to the production of livestock animals and their feed. The livestock industry’s emissions are particularly concerning because livestock and their manure are the United States’ top source of methane, a climate super-pollutant.
Yet, agribusinesses have received little legal or political scrutiny for their climate pollution, and the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions remain effectively unregulated in the United States. Given the urgency of the climate crisis and the current lack of political will to address greenhouse gas pollution from the livestock industry, climate advocates may turn to litigation as a potential leverage point for holding livestock corporations responsible for their greenhouse gas emissions. LEAP seeks to understand the nature, likelihood, and potential impacts of such strategies.
LEAP is also exploring emerging policy approaches and opportunities to address the climate harms of animal agriculture. While litigation is already showing itself to be a powerful and essential tool to address the climate responsibility of the animal agriculture industry, ultimately policy changes will be necessary to protect our collective future and to support a transition to a just, healthy and sustainable food system in line with climate science. Even in the face of political headwinds, early signs of creative and collaborative policy approaches are emerging around the world.