Potential reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from pig production in China on the basis of households' pork consumption

Bojie Yan; Yaxing Li; Jingjie Yan; Wenjiao Shi

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2023.108008

Potential reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from pig production in China on the basis of households' pork consumption

Environ Int. 2023 Jul:177:108008. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108008. Epub 2023 Jun 3.

Authors

Bojie Yan¹, Yaxing Li², Jingjie Yan³, Wenjiao Shi⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Geography and Oceanography, Minjiang University, Fuzhou 350108, China.
² School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China. Electronic address: yanjjzj2018@163.com.
³ College of Telecommunications and Information Engineering, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210003, China. Electronic address: yanjjzj2018@163.com.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China; College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.

PMID: 37295165
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108008

Abstract

In the past decades, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from pig production in China have been increasing rapidly, which has become a huge challenge in fulfilling China's "carbon neutral" commitment. However, few studies have focused on reducing the GHG emissions from pig production in view of households' pork consumption. This study analyzed the temporal and spatial pattern of the GHG emissions from pig production in China in 2001-2020 through geographical information system, optimized the pig production in China, and estimated thepotentialGHG emissions reduction from pig production in China in 2020 through spatial analysis based on pork surplus or deficit. Results show that the temporal and spatial pattern of the GHG emissions from pig production and its proportion in the total GHG emissions from livestock production in China in 2001-2020 varied differently at the province level and conformed to the "Hu Huanyong Line" mode. The largest and smallest GHG emissions from pig production were 108.93 million tons (MT) in 2014 and 78.10 MT in 2020, respectively. The largest and smallest proportions of GHG emissions from pig production in the total GHG emissions from livestock production were 77.52% in Zhejiang in 2013 and 0.13% in Tibet in 2009, respectively. Moreover, a potential optimization scheme of pig production in China in 2020 was provided and a method of GHG emissions reduction from pig production is proposed. The results indicate that the total potentialGHG emissions reduction from pig production on the basis of households' pork consumption could reach 35.21 MT, accounting for 45.09% of the total GHG emissions from pig production and 10.27% of the total GHG emissions from livestock production in China in 2020. These findings areusefulin the spatial layout planning of pig production, agricultural GHG reduction, and global warming mitigation.

Keywords: Greenhouse gas emission; Optimization; Pig production; Reduction; Spatial analysis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
China
Greenhouse Effect
Greenhouse Gases*
Pork Meat*
Red Meat*
Swine

Substances

Greenhouse Gases