The world is changing drastically year to year, and not always in the most positive ways. The past few years have given us an unprecedented crisis to navigate as a global community. One issue that deserves an uprising of advocates for change is the battle against factory farming.

Per the Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return(FAIRR), industrial animal and factory farming companies are associated with 28 environmental, social, and governance issues ranging from greenhouse gas emissions to the emergence of global pandemics.

The problems posed by factory farming are clear and well documented. Yet, World Bank and other development banks invest large amounts of money in factory farming and animal agriculture. Currently, 83% of farmland supplies only 18% of the global caloric intake. With all of the negative aspects of factory farming, the investments from World Bank seem untenable.

Climate Implications

It is projected that factory farming and animal agriculture could account for upwards of 49% of the world’s emissions budget by 2030. To meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, including limiting global warming and reaching climate neutrality by mid-century, the influx of investment by powerful development banks in factory farming needs to stop. They are essentially feeding the machine that destroys the climate year by year.

Animal agriculture also leads to deforestation, as rainforests (such as those in the Amazon) are razed to make room for more farmland. This not only leads to increased global warming but destroys native wildlife and the livelihoods and homes of indigenous people.

Natural environments are finite, and reforestation is not happening at the rate sufficient to combat the deforestation efforts of factory farmers.

World Bank investments facilitate this deforestation, making it easier to destroy acres upon acres, never to return.

Health Implications

There are many adverse health issues associated with factory farming. An increase in inexpensive meat and dairy production since World War II has contributed to high levels of chronic disease worldwide. Factory farming has been linked to the emergence of pandemic-level viruses, and the World Health Organization has classified processed and red meat as a “carcinogenic”.

Another issue is the proliferation of “super bugs”, which are antibiotic resistant bacteria that grow among confined animals in factory farming situations. World Bank investments have contributed to a massive increase in antibiotic use in the United States and Europe, with hopes of combating these super bugs. This attempt to eradicate the threat of the bacteria has been relatively unsuccessful. Yes, World Bank and other development banks continue to throw money at the problem, hoping it will be enough to slow the adverse effects of factory farming.

World Bank’s Unsustainable Investments

However problematic the results of World Bank’s investments have been, they do not seem ready to stop the flow of obscene amounts of funding any time soon. Recently, the International Finance Corporation, a commercial arm of World Bank, invested over 2 billion dollars in models of factory farming that are largely unsustainable. These included supporting an expansion for Brazilian beef producer Minerva, who failed to halt their negative effects on the Amazon rainforest and reliance on slave labor despite promises to the contrary.

Pleas to World Bank and similar development banks to slow or stop their investment in factory farming have largely gone unanswered. The money flow continues, and the problems increase in severity with each passing year.

Combating the Giants

Going up against giants is a difficult task, but one that must be taken on if we are to secure real change for future generations. Our social and economic systems rely on interconnectedness and a concerted effort to draw attention to insufficiencies in the system and ways to correct them.

World Bank divesting from factory farming would be a big win in the battle to sever worldwide reliance on processed meat and dairy products and the havoc it has wrought.