Animal symbolic capital: a missing dimension for sustainability transitions

Animal exploitation drives biodiversity loss, climate change and pandemic risk, yet sustainability transitions involving human-animal relations consistently underperform despite scientific consensus and policy effort. Current frameworks - natural capital, ecosystem services, animal welfare - fail to account for a critical dimension: symbolic capital, defined as the resources of prestige, recognition and legitimacy that structure social fields. I argue that animals are both sources of symbolic capital extracted by humans and potential holders of symbolic capital within their own social groups, and that this dual dynamic shapes sustainability outcomes in profound ways. Symbolic capital currently operates largely against animals, through conspicuous consumption, charismatic species bias and the symbolic violence that renders animal exploitation invisible and naturala logic structurally analogous to the symbolic violence of racism and sexism. I propose that redirecting symbolic capitalbuilding prestige around sustainable human-animal relationsis a necessary and underexplored lever for sustainability transformations. Integrating animal symbolic capital into sustainability frameworks advances a more complete, socially informed understanding of human-animal bonds essential for meeting global biodiversity and climate targets.