Healthy diets, key to sustainable food system in China

A study published in Nature Food reveals that China’s current food system trajectory does not align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Using an integrated assessment modeling framework, the researchers assessed pathways to achieving the SDGs by transforming China’s food system. The study identified that focusing on healthy diets results in the least trade-offs, improving nutrition, health, environmental sustainability, and livelihoods.

Other measures, such as climate change mitigation or rapid socio-economic development, had trade-offs between social and environmental outcomes.

First author Xiaoxi Wang emphasizes that “Action across all areas of the food system is required” to address challenges like malnutrition, climate change, and biodiversity loss.

The study suggests that a coordinated approach, combining health, environmental, and socio-economic strategies, is essential to meet China’s SDG targets.

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PIK – 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.

Journal Reference:
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, ‘Bundled measures for China’s food system transformation reveal social and environmental co-benefits’, Nature Food (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s43016-024-01100-z

Article Source:
Press Release/Material by Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
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