Assessing GHG emissions of food consumption towards low-carbon transformation in China

Abstract

Food is the link between sustainable development and human nutrition and health. The unreasonable diet structure not only increase health risks, but also increases GHG emissions. However, existing dietary guidelines concentrate on human nutritional intake requirements, without considering the impact on GHG emissions. Here, we measure China's food GHG emissions at four stages. We find that emissions from the production and processing stages are higher than those from the transportation and marketing stages for all the food types. Three fifths of provinces have higher GHG emissions from plant-based foods than from animal-based foods due to different dietary habits. By comparing different dietary guidelines, we propose a Low-carbon Health Dietary Guideline (LDG) that fully considered nutritional and emission reduction targets, and tailor the diet to suit differences in age, race, gender and income. The results show that under the LDG diet, food-related GHG emissions of China in 2050 are 167 Mt. CO2-eq, 19% less than under Business as Usual (BAU) and 34% less than under Chinese Dietary Guidelines (CDG).