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Rethink Priorities

Uniting for impact: Improving farmed animal welfare across the EU

Hannah Tookey, Rachel Norman
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Legislative changes within the European Union have the power to set global precedents, but achieving reforms requires strategy and coordination.

To drive change across the EU, advocacy groups must navigate the complex political landscapes of the 27 member countries. In 2021, Rethink Priorities recognized the urgency and potential of a legislative window: the EU was poised for the first major re-evaluation of its farmed animal welfare policy since the 1990s. The executive body had signaled a willingness to phase out cages for many species and extend these higher standards to imported products, as part of a wider reform of food policy. Our Animal Welfare Department produced data-driven strategic insights to guide and align the farmed animal welfare movement across the EU, which led to the establishment of the Farmed Animal Funders’ regranting initiative.

27

countries are members of the European Union (EU)

1.9 million

dollars from 14 funders were distributed by Rethink Priorities as a part of the Farmed Animal Funders’ regranting initiative

20

nonprofits from15 different EU countries formed a coalition to campaign against male chick culling as a part of the regranting initiative

Strategic insights

From research to action

Our research highlighted the importance of supporting animal advocacy organizations to work toward a unified strategic vision.

RP’s research team recognized early on the power of inter-organizational collaboration to drive legislative reform. Changing the EU’s animal welfare policies would be challenging without pre-existing national legislation in select EU countries and political support from politicians. Knowing this, our team provided a roadmap of how such national legislation and national-level political support could happen, and how those efforts could be focused to increase the likelihood of positive changes in EU policy.

We shared these insights with key stakeholders, including foundations, donors, and aligned organizations, helping them optimize resources and prioritize impactful projects to accelerate the EU’s shift to cage-free farming. This initiative led to an invitation to present our findings to the Farmed Animal Funders (FAF), where members committed to funding a regranting initiative focused on this critical issue.

“The typical case for EU policy work is that a relatively small advocacy effort can convince two key governments and a few members of EU agencies to champion a reform and force a change in the other 27 countries that otherwise would not have reformed or would have done so much slower and at greater expense to the advocacy movement. So, one of the unique values of the EU policy change is that you can change baseline conditions across the whole industry in one swoop backed up by enforcement mechanisms of the government and leverage public funding and resources to do the work that otherwise the advocacy movement would have to do.”
— Neil Dullaghan, Senior Research Manager speaking on the How I Learned to Love Shrimp podcast

Our influence

Through the Farmed Animal Funders’ regranting initiative, we distributed ~1.9 million from 14 funders to approximately 25 organizations across 16 EU countries.

These funds supported time-sensitive work focused on cage-free egg-laying hen legislation, EU-level recommendations for species-specific fish welfare requirements, and an EU-level banning of male chick culling. Grants were strategically allocated to countries seen as blockers to passing EU-level reforms or those with upcoming legislative opportunities, such as elections. See the map on the left; countries with organizations that received grants are marked in blue.

Our impact

Recipients of the regranting initiative worked on a variety of strategic areas.

Efforts toward a cage-free EU included:

  • Working toward a 2027 phase out in Romania and France (secured pledges from eight French presidential candidates).
  • Advocating for a 2030 phase out of cages in Italy.
  • Working to codify an industry cage-free agreement into law in Slovakia.
  • Seeking to secure support from the already-friendly countries of Sweden and Denmark for a short transition and EU ban.
  • Conducting media work ahead of Estonian 2023 elections.
  • Working to minimize the chances of Poland, Spain, and Portugal opposing the EU cage ban.

 

Efforts towards fish welfare requirements:

  • Engaging with the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on farmed fishes.
  • Launching a Dutch radio commercial to inform the public.
  • Working toward a report on fish welfare in Italy, with possible legislative proposals, and more fish farm investigations.

 

Efforts toward an EU-level banning of male chick culling

  • Gathering a coalition of 20 EU-based nonprofit organizations from 15 different EU countries campaigning against the killing of chicks and ducklings.
  • Creating a new informative website: stopgrindingandgassing.eu.
  • Running a YouGov survey, which found that 64% of French citizens support a ban on the killing of chicks and ducklings once made aware of the facts around these procedures.
  • Writing an open letter to the EU Council calling for a ban.

 

RP also regranted funding to provide specialized legal and policy expertise to our grantees and others in the farmed animal movement to ensure they were targeting the best outcomes. This project eventually led to the founding of the European Institute for Animal Law & Policy.

Further coordinated funding efforts

Following our work on the EU regranting initiative, we have seen additional interest in pursuing pooled funding to maximize advocates’ impact. 

For example, FAF’s proposed fund aims to fill unmet, high-impact needs in the movement to end factory farming. The initiative also works to recruit more funders and expand the scope of advocacy efforts.