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<\/div>According to a study<\/a> published in Nature Food, more than one-third of the world\u2019s human-caused greenhouse gas emissions comes from the food system, meaning all steps related to farming, processing, transporting, consuming and disposing of food. China is home to the world\u2019s largest food system, which was responsible for roughly 13.5%<\/a> of its greenhouse gas emissions in 2019. The current priority, however, is ensuring food security<\/a>: in its first document released in 2023, the central government called<\/a> for \u201cenhanced efforts to stabilise production and ensure the supply of grain and other important agricultural products\u201d. Meanwhile, President Xi Jinping has stressed<\/a> the significance of food security and increased self-sufficiency \u2013 \u201cholding the bowl safely in one\u2019s own hand\u201d \u2013 while also \u201cdeveloping ecological and low-carbon agriculture\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Balancing this food security drive with the country\u2019s emissions reductions goals will be a delicate task \u2013 one which experts suggest rests heavily on the plate of government and producers, and the policies and changes they choose to serve up. But consumers also have a seat at the table, and bottom-up action, such as Li\u2019s efforts, could be transformational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Li came to understand the impact of the food system on biodiversity and climate during a cooking competition he took part in \u2013 and won \u2013 in 2020. The event was organised by Good Food Fund<\/a>, a Chinese non-profit promoting the sustainable transformation of food systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Li, who had been a chef for nearly 20 years by then, was shocked to learn about the implications of industrialised farming and animal rearing for the planet. He also learned about how sustainable farming, cooking and dining could improve global ecology, tackle climate change and enable people to live more healthily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had never thought that chefs could have so much power,\u201d Li says. \u201cI suddenly realised that I should do what I could to contribute to a better future for the Earth. I felt a sense of responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In May 2021, Li and his business partner opened Bistro & Bowl in the popular tourist town of Dali. In one of the most biodiverse regions in China, the restaurant duly looks to follow the sustainability principles outlined in the Good Food Fund\u2019s Good Food Pledge<\/a>, an initiative that promotes a low-carbon lifestyle, healthy eating, seasonal produce and reductions in food waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Li grows more than 10 types of herbs in-house, including oregano and mint, fertilised using a liquid created with fermented food waste from the kitchen. The restaurant is also a certified participant of \u201cMeatless Monday\u201d through the Good Food Fund, which itself is the official Chinese partner of the global movement encouraging people to practise a plant-based diet one day a week, so as to improve personal health and the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The actions taken at Bistro & Bowl are also real-life reflections of policies and documents\u00a0released by the Chinese government, including an anti-food waste law<\/a> introduced in 2021 and the latest dietary guidelines<\/a> published in 2022 by the Chinese Nutrition Society, a national non-profit, under the guidance of the National Health Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although none of these directives were published with the direct aim of reducing carbon emissions and tackling climate change, their combined results could bring climate-positive impacts, various experts have told China Dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elizabeth Robinson is a professor and director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. She tells China Dialogue that only 40% of emissions from China\u2019s food system come from actual production, with the remaining 60% relating to processes and actions before and after this stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are opportunities to reduce emissions along the whole chain,\u201d Robinson says. \u201cIn pre-production, fertilisers are an obvious example because you generally make them out of fossil fuels.\u201d Nitrogen fertilisers, for example, are made by mixing nitrogen from the air with hydrogen from natural gas. \u201cAs for post-production,\u201d Robinson adds, \u201cone of the big problems is food waste.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wasting food is a global problem that has serious climate implications. A 2021 report<\/a> by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimated that roughly 17% of global food production may be wasted, including 11% in households, 5% in catering and 2% in retail (figures are rounded).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf food loss and waste were a country, it would be the third biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions,\u201d Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP, wrote in the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In China, more than 35 million tonnes of food are lost while being stored, transported and processed each year, according to statistics quoted by China Youth Daily<\/a>. At restaurants, 11.7% of food is wasted by customers, averaging 93 grams per person per meal, the newspaper reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n China has taken a series of actions to tackle food waste over the past two years to safeguard food security and promote sustainable economic and social development, among other goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In August 2020, Xi ordered<\/a> the country to \u201cresolutely put an end to wasting food\u201d. The following April, the anti-food waste law was introduced, instructing all levels of government to \u201cenhance leadership\u201d, \u201cdetermine targets and tasks\u201d and \u201cestablish a work mechanism\u201d to tackle food waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Robinson calls this \u201ca really important policy\u201d and notes that reducing waste can help cut emissions in two ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, food production generates greenhouse gas emissions, such as those associated with fertilisers, mechanisation, rice paddies and even cows\u2019 burping. \u201cProducing that food just to throw it away has a big emissions implication,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, if food waste ends up in landfills and is broken down by bacteria via anaerobic digestion, methane is emitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By simply reducing food waste, Robinson says, \u201cthere is a tremendous opportunity to reduce emissions without even changing how we farm or how we eat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Chinese government has also been guiding its citizens to adopt more balanced and diverse diets, though largely for health reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In April last year, the country updated its dietary guidelines<\/a>, mentioned above, which encourage citizens to consume \u201cplenty of vegetables, fruits, dairy, whole grains and soybeans\u201d, to eat \u201cappropriate amounts of fish, poultry, eggs and lean meat\u201d and to \u201climit intake of salt, oil, sugar and alcohol\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Late last year, Xi called on the country to establish a \u201cbig food concept\u201d, which aims to promote food diversity on both the production and consumer sides, in a key government report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meat consumption in China is expected<\/a> to continue increasing. Amid this growth, various Chinese reports and research have been encouraging citizens to eat more poultry, instead of pork, beef or lamb, for health, to save animal feed and to protect the environment \u2013 while still meeting demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, in an article explaining the \u201cbig food concept\u201d, Globe<\/a>, a magazine affiliated to state media outlet Xinhua, underscored the importance of choosing white meat over red meat, a major driver of obesity in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A flagship report on the agricultural industry\u2019s development, published by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), also highlighted the benefits of such a swap, as Beijing News<\/a> reported. It also proposed a \u201cpoultry-multiplying plan\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mei Xurong, vice-president of CAAS, was quoted saying that poultry was healthier and more efficient in terms of animal feed and emissions than pork (which is the most consumed meat in the country). Mei said modelling showed that nearly 28 million tonnes of feed and over 7 million tonnes of carbon emissions would be saved if the country doubles its poultry production and uses this to replace pork, keeping overall meat production the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alternatively, Mei continued, if the country maintains current beef and lamb production levels and uses additional poultry output to satisfy growing meat demand \u2013 as well as replacing some pork production \u2013 it would, according to modelling, save over 30 million tonnes of carbon emissions and nearly 15 million tonnes of feed in the year 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A 2018 study<\/a> published in Science magazine estimated that the greenhouse gas emissions per 100 grams of protein for pork production can be as low as one-seventh of those from beef. Emissions from poultry production, meanwhile, were estimated to be even lower, at about three-quarters those of pork per 100 grams of protein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Globally, red meat production is the largest driver<\/a> of greenhouse gas emissions from food. However, concern<\/a> has also been raised over any global chicken-for-beef shift. A surging poultry industry would itself impact the environment, through air and water pollution, degradation of arable land, habitat destruction and other damages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Haseeb Bakhtary is a senior consultant at Climate Focus, a thinktank headquartered in Amsterdam. He says it is hard to set a universal rule for people\u2019s eating behaviours for health or environmental reasons because diets are \u201cculturally and geographically specific\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat we need to reduce in Europe is meat consumption. We also need to stop wasting food at the household level, buy less and eat less [food] and replace the unhealthy components in our diets with healthy foods,\u201d he tells China Dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut there are many other countries in the world where people don\u2019t have access to enough animal-based protein, for example. There, there may need to be balance to increase their meat consumption to a healthy level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, emissions reduction efforts in China\u2019s food system have largely been driven by government policies on the production side. However, some experts believe consumers have an equally important role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn terms of reducing emissions and tackling climate change, many people think these are matters for the government and, therefore, require government policies and technological improvement to push forward the agenda,\u201d Hou Bing, executive director of the Good Food Fund, tells China Dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, most governments are overlooking the potential emissions savings that could be realised by transforming this system<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe power of the chef<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
I had never thought that chefs could have so much power… I felt a sense of responsibility<\/blockquote>Li Yan, co-founder of Bistro & Bowl<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/div>Curbing food waste<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
If food loss and waste were a country, it would be the third biggest source of greenhouse gas<\/blockquote>Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Poultry-multiplying plan\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/div>Top-down vs bottom-up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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