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

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Summary

This modelling study, published in Nature Food, examines bundled measures—combinations of technological and policy interventions—designed to transform China's food system towards sustainability. The analysis, as suggested by the title and authorship, integrates environmental metrics (greenhouse gas, nutrient pollution, biodiversity) with social outcomes (food security, nutrition, health). The work appears to identify pathways where environmental gains and human health improvements align, informing food system policy design in a major global producer and consumer.

UK applicability

While China-specific in focus, the methodological approach to identifying co-benefits and trade-offs across bundled interventions may be applicable to UK food policy design. The integrated assessment of environmental and nutritional outcomes under different scenarios could inform UK food system strategy, though China's production scale, dietary patterns, and regulatory context differ significantly.

Key measures

Greenhouse gas emissions, nutrient pollution (nitrogen and phosphorus), land use change, biodiversity impacts, food availability and nutritional adequacy, health burden metrics

Outcomes reported

The study modelled bundled policy and technological measures across China's food system and assessed their impacts on greenhouse gas emissions, nutrient pollution, biodiversity, food security, and human health outcomes. It evaluated synergies and trade-offs between environmental and social co-benefits of different intervention pathways.

Theme
Policy, governance & rights
Subject
Food & agricultural policy
Study type
Research
Study design
Policy modelling study
Source type
Peer-reviewed study
Status
Published
Geography
China
System type
Mixed farming
DOI
10.1038/s43016-024-01100-z
Catalogue ID
BFmou2mlyw-nngvdt

Topic tags

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