Half of the greenhouse gas emissions from China’s food system occur during food production
Liu Gang, Zhan Fan and Deng Xiangzheng, Chinese Academy of Sciences
China’s food system emitted 2.4 gigatons of CO2-equivalent in 2019, half of which was emitted at the production stage. About 47.6% of the GHG emissions were attributed to CO2, 0.8 Gt CO2e to CH4, 14.1% to N2O and 4.2% to F-gases.
There were substantial differences in the emission structure and sources among the provinces. Further analysis indicated that the differences among provinces were caused by the separation of food production and consumption: people living in wealthier coastal and central regions consumed food from western and northeastern regions. Therefore, the government should consider interregional synergies when developing strategies to reduce food-system greenhouse gas emissions.
