Transforming China’s food system: Healthy diets lead the way

21/01/2025 - Transforming the Chinese food system could put the country on a better path toward achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, a new study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Zhejiang University (ZJU) in Hangzhou, China, finds. The study analyses the trade-offs and outcomes of various policy measures aimed at transforming the country’s food system. A shift towards healthy diets is thereby a no-regret option for a more sustainable Chinese food system. In contrast, focusing exclusively on climate mitigation, ecological conservation, or accelerated socio-economic development creates significant trade-offs between social and environmental outcomes.
Transforming China’s food system: Healthy diets lead the way
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According to the study published in Nature Food, China’s current trajectory is misaligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The researchers assessed potential pathways for achieving the SDGs in China by transforming its food system, focusing on dietary changes, climate change mitigation, ecological conservation, and socio-economic development. “Action across all areas of the food system is required to achieve a sustainable food system and efficiently address the wide range of social and environmental challenges such as reducing malnutrition, mitigating climate change, protecting biodiversity, and ensuring livelihoods,” says lead author Xiaoxi Wang, scientist at PIK and ZJU.

“We found that transitioning to healthy diets resulted in the fewest trade-offs, improving nutrition, health, the environment, and livelihoods,” says PIK scientist Benjamin Bodirsky, author of the study. These trade-offs can be minimised by bundling measures aimed at public health, environmental sustainability, and livelihood improvement into a comprehensive approach. This emphasizes the importance of coordinated efforts to achieve a sustainable food system.

Using an integrated modelling framework that evaluates 18 outcome indicators, the scientists quantified the impacts of various policy measures and the trade-offs associated with pursuing public health, environmental sustainability, and livelihood improvements separately. “Our findings suggest that a holistic approach to food system transformation, addressing these challenges together, is essential for steering China towards its SDG targets,” says PIK scientist Hermann Lotze-Campen, author of the study.

Article:

Xiaoxi Wang, Hao Cai, Jiaqi Xuan, Ruiying Du, Bin Lin, Benjamin Leon Bodirsky, Miodrag Stevanović, Quitterie Collignon, Changzheng Yuan, Lu Yu, Michael Crawford, Felicitas Beier, Meng Xu, Hui Chen, Marco Springmann, Debbora Leip, David Meng-Chuen Chen, Florian Humpenöder, Patrick von Jeetze, Shenggen Fan, Bjoern Soergel, Jan Philipp Dietrich, Christoph Müller, Alexander Popp & Hermann Lotze-Campen (2025): Bundled measures for China’s food system transformation reveal social and environmental co-benefits. Nature Food. [DOI: 10.1038/s43016-024-01100-z]

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