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In a new working paper, New Green Normal considers how to optimize broiler chicken production for two outcomes: higher welfare and lower environmental impact
There is a clear scientific case for improving the welfare of chickens raised for meat consumption -- otherwise known as broilers. But what tradeoffs exist between higher-welfare production practices and environmental sustainability?
That's a key question for companies prioritizing both animal welfare and supply chain decarbonization. Some observers have declared these two aspirations — higher welfare chicken and emissions reductions — as incompatible. Are they right?
That is the subject of New Green Normal's new working paper, "Impact Mitigation Strategies for Higher-Welfare Broiler Production."
The paper begins by asking a key question: What are the incremental environmental impacts of raising higher-welfare broiler chickens, and can these impacts be mitigated? We draw upon peer-reviewed life cycle assessments and other published research to estimate what we call the "emissions gap" between conventional and higher-welfare systems.
Next, we review nine strategies for decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions of broiler production. These strategies encompass upstream, on-farm, and downstream impacts. Seven of the nine strategies reviewed have quantified decarbonization benefits -- indicating that the emissions gap between higher-welfare and conventional broilers can be narrowed or even eliminated.
This working paper arose from discussions with supply chain and sustainability managers who wanted to explore the tradeoffs between welfare and environmental sustainability. It was produced on behalf of the global animal welfare organization Compassion in World Farming (which was started by a dairy farmer in 1967).