More than 200 prominent individuals from fields including showbusiness, business, religion, academia, and literature have united through an open letter to call on world leaders at the COP27 climate conference to end factory farming and transform our global food system.

The letter – organised by Compassion in World Farming as part of its new End of the Line for Factory Farming campaign – highlights the urgent need to transform our global food system and calls on world leaders to support and deliver a global agreement on food and farming at the United Nations General Assembly. It is being released on Solutions Day at the conference.

Some 208 people have signed the letter, including:

• Hollywood actors Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Steve Coogan and Eva Green
• British TV personalities Chris Packham, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Dr Amir Khan GP and actors Dame Joanna Lumley, Kate Ford and Peter Egan
• Award-winning authors Michael Morpurgo, and Barbara Kingsolver
• Religious leaders Bishop John Arnold, Bishop of Salford, Chair of CAFOD and Rabbi David Rosen CBE, International President, The World Conference on Religion and Peace
• Eminent experts Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE, Founder - the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace; Frans B. M. de Waal, Ph. D., C. H. Candler Professor Emeritus, Primate Behaviour, Emory University; Peter Singer, AC Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics Princeton University; Carl Safina, PHD, President, The Safina Center, Endowed Professor for Nature and Humanity, Stony Brook University
• Business leaders Dale Vince OBE, owner, green electricity company Ecotricity; Julian Richer, business owner

The letter states:

If the global community is to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Climate Agreement targets and the goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity, action must be taken now to end industrial animal farming. 

From pollution to the climate crisis and wildlife extinctions. From animal cruelty to human hunger and malnutrition. Take a closer look at almost any global challenge, and you’ll find food at its core. A system based on overproduction and unhealthy food is propped up by intensive farming methods.

The livestock sector produces more greenhouse gases than the direct emissions of all the world’s planes, trains and cars combined. Without urgent action, intensive animal agriculture threatens our very survival. We need a food transformation. Our people, animals and planet cannot wait any longer.

End of the Line for Factory Farming is the new global movement dedicated to ending this cruel and unnecessary practice. Launched this week by Compassion in World Farming with partner NGOs from all over the world, the campaign aims to get a global agreement to end factory farming and transform our global food system so that it benefits people, animals and the planet. New YouGov research released by Compassion this week shows that almost two thirds of people (63%) in 13 countries polled believe factory farming puts profits ahead of climate and environment. 

Stage, TV and film actor, Alan Cumming OBE FRSE, known for roles in The Good Wife and X2:X-Men United, said:

The amount of human edible food we produce just to feed the animals we slaughter for meat is beyond wasteful – especially when millions of people around the world go hungry every day. We need a food system that is fair, kind and sustainable. That’s why I’m supporting Compassion in World Farming’s End of the Line for Factory Farming campaign - to help change this broken system once and for all.

Debbie Tripley, Compassion in World Farming’s Global Director of Campaigns and Advocacy said:

This is the first campaign action from the new End of the Line for Factory Farming global movement dedicated to ending this cruel and unnecessary practice as it’s causing a climate and nature emergency – one third of global warming is driven by food production and consumption. Our open letter, released on Solutions Day at COP27, sends a clear message to world leaders highlighting the urgent need for action. It’s quite simple – without ending factory farming and transforming our food system, it will be impossible to meet climate targets. What’s needed is for world leaders to put forward a global agreement that meets our climate and SDG commitments before it’s too late.

For more information about the campaign visit END.IT

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For more information or to arrange interview please email media.team@ciwf.org or call 01483 521 615.

Notes to Editors:

1. Compassion in World Farming was founded in 1967 by a British dairy farmer who became horrified at the development of intensive factory farming. Today Compassion is a global movement dedicated to ending factory farming and achieving humane and sustainable food. With headquarters in the UK, we have offices across Europe, in the US, China and South Africa.