Pulse Brain · Growing Health Evidence Index
Tier 3 — Observational / field trialPeer-reviewed

Bundled measures for China’s food system transformation reveal social and environmental co-benefits

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 M. Chen, Florian Humpenöder, Patrick von Jeetze, Shenggen Fan, Bjoern Soergel, Jan Philipp Dietrich, Christoph Müller, Alexander Popp, Hermann Lotze‐Campen

Nature Food · 2025

Read source ↗ All evidence

Summary

This 2025 modelling study uses integrated assessment methods to evaluate how bundled policy interventions across China's food system—spanning production, consumption and waste management—can simultaneously advance climate mitigation, air quality, dietary health and economic viability. The authors quantify synergies and trade-offs between competing policy objectives, finding that well-coordinated multi-sectoral approaches outperform isolated interventions. The work addresses the need to balance China's competing food security, environmental and public health challenges through evidence-based policy design.

UK applicability

Whilst the analysis focuses on China's specific food system context and policy landscape, the methodological approach to quantifying multi-sectoral co-benefits and trade-offs has relevance to UK policy-making. The integrated assessment framework could inform UK efforts to align food system policies with climate, air quality and nutrition objectives, though China's dietary patterns, production systems and policy instruments differ substantially.

Key measures

Climate mitigation potential, air quality improvements, dietary adequacy metrics, economic feasibility indicators, trade-offs and synergies between environmental and health outcomes

Outcomes reported

The study quantified trade-offs and synergies between climate mitigation, air quality improvement, dietary adequacy and economic feasibility across multiple food system transformation pathways in China. The analysis evaluated how bundled policies addressing production, consumption and waste simultaneously deliver environmental and public health co-benefits.

Theme
Policy, governance & rights
Subject
Other / interdisciplinary
Study type
Research
Study design
Integrated assessment modelling
Source type
Peer-reviewed study
Status
Published
Geography
China
System type
Food supply chain
DOI
10.1038/s43016-024-01100-z
Catalogue ID
BFmokjof1a-g33z4x

Topic tags

Pulse AI · ask about this record

Dig deeper with Pulse AI.

Pulse AI has read the whole catalogue. Ask about this record, its theme, or how the findings apply to UK farming and policy — every answer cites the underlying studies.