The Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, PR China.
State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, 550002, China.
J Environ Manage. 2022 Jan 1;301:113934. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113934. Epub 2021 Oct 11.
As China urbanized and its economy grew rapidly, its food production and consumption patterns changed dramatically over the past three decades. With this in mind, we evaluate how the nation's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to food production and consumption altered from 1987 to 2017. We further explore key factors that affect GHG emission changes from agricultural production and household diet perspectives. We find that the GHG emissions from China's food production rose 51 percent, while that from food consumption rose 64 percent. The rise in GHG footprint of China's food production was largely caused by the increasing material- and energy-intensive food production system. Agricultural modernization was a main cause of the rise in GHGs, as China was late to the game in improving agricultural productivity. But a more meat-intensive diet accompanied by a general rise in households' use of processed food also helped to drive these transformations. China's growing appetite for meat not only intensified GHG mitigation pressures domestically, but also abroad, as Chinese households began to demand greater variety that was satisfied via imports. Indeed, GHG emissions embodied in imported meats rose over eleven-fold from 2007 to 2017. Through this study, we highlight the importance of future policy-making focused on a more sustainable food system in China to benefit the world's environment, health, and climate.
随着中国城市化和经济的快速发展，过去三十年来，其食品生产和消费模式发生了巨大变化。有鉴于此，我们评估了 1987 年至 2017 年期间，与食品生产和消费相关的温室气体（GHG）排放如何变化。我们进一步探讨了从农业生产和家庭饮食角度影响 GHG 排放变化的关键因素。我们发现，中国食品生产的温室气体排放量增长了 51%，而食品消费的温室气体排放量增长了 64%。中国食品生产温室气体足迹的增加主要是由于物质和能源密集型食品生产系统的增加。农业现代化是 GHG 上升的主要原因，因为中国在提高农业生产力方面起步较晚。但更肉类密集型的饮食伴随着家庭对加工食品使用的普遍增加，也有助于推动这些转变。中国对肉类的需求不断增长不仅加剧了国内温室气体减排压力，也加剧了国际上的压力，因为中国家庭开始要求更多的通过进口来满足的品种。事实上，2007 年至 2017 年间，进口肉类所包含的温室气体排放量增长了 11 倍以上。通过这项研究，我们强调了未来政策制定的重要性，重点是建立一个更可持续的中国食品体系，以造福世界的环境、健康和气候。
