Carbon footprints in pork production and consumption in China from 2005 to 2020

Abstract

Livestock farming accounts for 14.5% of global total anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. China has been a major contributor to global GHG emissions from livestock and is the biggest pork producer and consumer worldwide. However, those factors driving GHG emissions from pork production and consumption in China have not been thoroughly assessed. Here, we used the Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model (GLEAM) and the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method to identify and assess the major drivers contributing to the life-cycle carbon emissions embodied in China's pork production and consumption from 2005 to 2020. Our results show that CO2 emissions accounted for 99% of the total GHG emissions in the pig industry, primarily released from the processing and transporting of pig feed. These two sectors contributed more than 90% to the total CO2 emission. CH4 was mainly emitted from enteric fermentation and manure management of pigs, which accounted for a tiny portion of total carbon emissions in the pork industry. Among the primary factors driving pork-induced carbon emissions in China, the reduction of pork emission intensity (PPE) significantly slowed down growing carbon emissions, attributed to the improvements in pork production technology and the promotion of green farming. Our finding reveals that the growing population primarily contributed to elevated carbon emissions before 2015 due to increasing demands for pork meat. Since 2015, the rapid growth of the aged population in China has decreased pork consumption capacity and carbon emissions from pork consumption. The result indicates, for the first time, that the population aging in China, the largest pork consumer in the world, would play a vital role in reducing pork consumption-induced carbon emissions. Such an effect would become more significant in the future, along with the growing aged population in China, favoring the country's GHG emission mitigation increasingly.