UK Megafarms Skip Climate Reporting in ‘Emissions Scandal’

Local councils across the UK are approving massive industrial pig and poultry operations without requiring proper climate impact assessments, despite these facilities being significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

An investigation has revealed that plans for intensive livestock “megafarms” are systematically failing to include crucial data about their environmental footprint. These large-scale operations contribute to climate change through methane emissions from animals, energy consumption for heating and ventilation, and the environmental costs of feed production and waste management.

The approvals appear to violate the spirit of last year’s landmark Finch Supreme Court ruling, which environmental campaigners hailed as the “beginning of the end” for polluting factory farming. The court decision, originally concerning a Surrey oil well project, established that planning applications for major developments must consider all significant direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions throughout a project’s lifecycle.

This requirement should apply to intensive livestock operations, which can house tens of thousands of animals and generate emissions comparable to small industrial facilities. However, the gap between legal precedent and local planning practice means these climate impacts are going unexamined and unreported.

Environmental advocates argue this represents a serious oversight in the UK’s efforts to meet its net-zero climate commitments. As the country grapples with reducing emissions across all sectors, the failure to properly assess and regulate the climate impact of industrial agriculture undermines broader environmental goals and allows significant pollution sources to operate without adequate scrutiny.