Bundled measures for China’s food system transformation reveal social and 
environmental co-benefits

Wang, Xiaoxi; Cai, Hao; Xuan, Jiaqi; Du, Ruiying; Lin, Bin; Bodirsky, Benjamin Leon; Stevanović, Miodrag; Collignon, Quitterie; Yuan, Changzhen; Yu, Lu; Crawford, Michael; Beier, Felicitas; Xu, Meng; Chen, Hui; Springmann, Marco; Leip, Debbora; Chen, David Meng-Chuen; Humpenöder, Florian; von Jeetze, Patrick José; Fan, Shenggen; Sörgel, Björn; Dietrich, Jan Philipp; Müller, Christoph; Popp, Alexander; Lotze-Campen, Hermann

doi:10.1038/s43016-024-01100-z

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Bundled measures for China’s food system transformation reveal social and environmental co-benefits

Authors

/persons/resource/xiaoxi.wang

Wang, Xiaoxi
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

Cai, Hao
External Organizations;

Xuan, Jiaqi
External Organizations;

Du, Ruiying
External Organizations;

Lin, Bin
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/Bodirsky

Bodirsky, Benjamin Leon
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

/persons/resource/stevanovic

Stevanović, Miodrag
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

/persons/resource/collignon

Collignon, Quitterie
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

Yuan, Changzhen
External Organizations;

Yu, Lu
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/michael.crawford

Crawford, Michael
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

/persons/resource/felicitas.beier

Beier, Felicitas
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

Xu, Meng
External Organizations;

Chen, Hui
External Organizations;

Springmann, Marco
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/debbora.leip

Leip, Debbora
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

/persons/resource/david.chen

Chen, David Meng-Chuen
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

/persons/resource/Florian.Humpenoeder

Humpenöder, Florian
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

/persons/resource/vjeetze

von Jeetze, Patrick José
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

Fan, Shenggen
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/bjoern.soergel

Sörgel, Björn
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

/persons/resource/Jan.Dietrich

Dietrich, Jan Philipp
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

/persons/resource/Christoph.Mueller

Müller, Christoph
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

/persons/resource/Alexander.Popp

Popp, Alexander
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

/persons/resource/Lotze-Campen

Lotze-Campen, Hermann
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

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https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1418752
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Bundled_measures_for_Chinas_food_system.pdf
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Citation

Wang, X., Cai, H., Xuan, J., Du, R., Lin, B., Bodirsky, B. L., Stevanović, M., Collignon, Q., Yuan, C., Yu, L., Crawford, M., Beier, F., Xu, M., Chen, H., Springmann, M., Leip, D., Chen, D.-M.-C., Humpenöder, F., von Jeetze, P. J., Fan, S., Sörgel, B., Dietrich, J. P., Müller, C., Popp, A., Lotze-Campen, H. (2025): Bundled measures for China’s food system transformation reveal social and environmental co-benefits. - Nature Food, 6, 72-84.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-01100-z

Cite as: https://publications.pik-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_31769

Abstract

Food systems are essential for the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in China. Here, using an integrated assessment modelling framework that considers country-specific pathways and covers 18 indicators, we find that most social and environmental targets for the Chinese food system under current trends are not aligned with the United Nations Agenda 2030. We further quantify the impacts of multiple measures, revealing potential trade-offs in pursuing strategies aimed at public health, environmental sustainability and livelihood improvement in isolation. Among the individual packages of measures, a shift towards healthy diets exhibits the lowest level of trade-offs, leading to improvements in nutrition, health, environment and livelihoods. In contrast, focusing efforts on climate change mitigation and ecological conservation, or promoting faster socioeconomic development alone, have trade-offs between social and environmental outcomes. These trade-offs could be minimized by bundling all three aspects of measures.