Potential reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from pig production in China on the basis of households’ pork consumption

In the past decades, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from pig production in China have been increasing rapidly, which has become a huge challenge in fulfilling China’s “carbon neutral” commitment. However, few studies have focused on reducing the GHG emissions from pig production in view of households’ pork consumption. This study analyzed the temporal and spatial pattern of the GHG emissions from pig production in China in 2001–2020 through geographical information system, optimized the pig production in China, and estimated the potential GHG emissions reduction from pig production in China in 2020 through spatial analysis based on pork surplus or deficit. Results show that the temporal and spatial pattern of the GHG emissions from pig production and its proportion in the total GHG emissions from livestock production in China in 2001–2020 varied differently at the province level and conformed to the “Hu Huanyong Line” mode. The largest and smallest GHG emissions from pig production were 108.93 million tons (MT) in 2014 and 78.10 MT in 2020, respectively. The largest and smallest proportions of GHG emissions from pig production in the total GHG emissions from livestock production were 77.52% in Zhejiang in 2013 and 0.13% in Tibet in 2009, respectively. Moreover, a potential optimization scheme of pig production in China in 2020 was provided and a method of GHG emissions reduction from pig production is proposed. The results indicate that the total potential GHG emissions reduction from pig production on the basis of households’ pork consumption could reach 35.21 MT, accounting for 45.09% of the total GHG emissions from pig production and 10.27% of the total GHG emissions from livestock production in China in 2020. These findings are useful in the spatial layout planning of pig production, agricultural GHG reduction, and global warming mitigation.