For Asia, which is currently facing the risk of accelerated glacial melt, reducing black carbon is not only part of air pollution control but should also be a key measure for protecting the “water towers of Asia,” safeguarding regional water resources, and enhancing climate resilience.

Given that greenhouse gas emissions reductions remain a long-term endeavor, addressing black carbon—a short-lived climate pollutant—may be an important pathway to linking air pollution control with climate goals and achieving synergistic pollution and carbon reduction efforts.

China has released a five-year plan dedicated to addressing climate change.

Recently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, in collaboration with the National Development and Reform Commission and 18 other departments, jointly issued the “National 15th Five-Year Plan for Climate Change Response,” establishing for the first time a comprehensive, all-encompassing system of climate change response targets at the five-year planning level.

This working paper quantitatively examines the scale and climate impact of food loss and waste (FLW) in China. It analyzes the uneven distribution of FLW across supply chain stages and food types, highlighting that while vegetables account for the largest share of losses, livestock products carry disproportionately high emissions intensity. The paper reviews China's evolving policy landscape, including the Anti-Food Waste Law and cold chain development initiatives, while identifying critical gaps in data infrastructure, sustainable cold chain coverage, and consumer behavior interventions. It explores the dual role of cold chain logistics—reducing post-harvest losses while contributing significant energy-related and refrigerant emissions—and assesses the potential of business innovations, public engagement, and food waste valorization to mitigate FLW. The paper calls for integrating FLW reduction into climate governance frameworks, proposing four priority pathways: establishing systematic FLW data systems, advancing sustainable cold chain solutions, strengthening circular utilization of food waste, and promoting green consumption patterns to unlock a cost-effective, high-potential climate mitigation opportunity.