Greenhouse gas emissions from Chinese livestock sector can be decreased by one third in 2030 by the improvement in management

Abstract

China is one of the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and the livestock sector is a major source of non-CO2 GHG emissions. Mitigation of GHG emissions from the livestock sector is beneficial to the sustainable development of the livestock sector in China. This study investigated the provincial level of GHG emissions from the livestock sector between 2000 and 2020 in China, to determine the driving factors affecting the provincial-level GHG emissions from the livestock sector, based on the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) model, which took into account of technological progress, livestock structure, economic factor, and agricultural population. Moreover, a gray model GM (1, 1) was used to predict livestock GHG emissions in each province until 2030 in China. The results showed that the GHG of Chinese livestock sector was decreased from 195.1 million tons (MT) CO2e in 2000 to 157.2 MT CO2e in 2020. Henan, Shandong, and Hebei provinces were the main contributors to the reduction in Chinese livestock GHG emissions, with their livestock GHG emissions reduced by 60.1%, 53.5% and 45.5%, respectively, in 2020 as compared to 2000. The reduction in GHG emissions from the Chinese livestock sector can be attributed to two main factors: technological progress and the shrinking of the agricultural laborers. In contrast, the agricultural economic development model with high input and high emissions showed a negative impact on GHG emission reduction in China’s livestock sector. Furthermore, the different livestock structure in each province led to different GHG reduction effects on the livestock sector. Under the gray model GM (1,1), the GHG emissions of the livestock sector will be reduced by 33.7% in 2030 as compared with 2020 in China, and the efficiency factor will account for 76.6% of the positive effect of GHG reduction in 2030. The eastern coastal region will be the main contributor to the reduction of GHG emissions from the Chinese livestock sector in 2030. Moreover, recommendations (such as upgrading livestock management methods and promoting carbon emission mitigation industries) should be proposed for the environmentally sustainable development of the livestock sector in the future.