UK Livestock Megafarms Hide Climate Impact Data from Councils

Local councils across the UK are approving large-scale pig and poultry operations without adequate climate impact assessments, creating what critics call an “emissions scandal” in the agriculture sector.

An investigation has revealed that intensive livestock facilities—often called “megafarms”—are systematically failing to declare their full greenhouse gas emissions when seeking planning permission. These industrial-scale operations can house tens of thousands of animals and produce significant carbon emissions through feed production, waste management, and other activities, yet many applications contain incomplete or missing climate data.

The revelations come despite a landmark 2024 Supreme Court ruling in the Finch case, which established that major development projects must assess all direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. That decision, stemming from a Surrey oil drilling case, led environmental campaigners to declare it could mark the “beginning of the end” for polluting factory farming operations.

However, the new findings suggest that livestock developers may be exploiting gaps in the planning system to avoid comprehensive climate assessments. This allows potentially high-emission facilities to gain approval without full scrutiny of their environmental impact. Environmental groups argue this undermines the UK’s climate commitments and prevents communities from understanding the true environmental cost of these industrial farming operations.

The issue highlights broader concerns about the expansion of intensive agriculture and whether current planning regulations adequately protect against climate-damaging developments in the farming sector.