China faces a wide range of climate challenges shaped by its vast geographic diversity—from drought‑prone northern plains and rapidly urbanizing coastal zones vulnerable to sea‑level rise, to the fragile ecosystems of the Tibetan Plateau. Intensifying floods, heatwaves, and water scarcity increasingly threaten agriculture, energy production, and urban development.
As one of the world’s most populous nations and a major emitter of greenhouse gases, China plays a crucial role in global climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. Networks of Chinese field trials and data bases enable scientific research on agricultural productivity, land use, biodiversity, and decarbonization pathways that provides valuable insights into regional vulnerabilities and trade‑offs between food production, climate action, and environmental protection. Such evidence‑based assessments are key to guiding sustainable and resilient long‑term development.
Our work in China
China is undergoing rapid dietary transitions that are transforming food demand and affecting health, land use, and the environment. Our research shows that promoting healthier diets, alongside coordinated actions in agricultural production, consumption, and livelihoods, can deliver multiple benefits—improving nutrition, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water use, and protecting biodiversity.
We also study land‑based mitigation strategies and bioeconomy pathways, exploring how these approaches interact with food security and ecosystem services. This integrated perspective supports the development of sustainable food systems that align human well‑being with climate and environmental goals.
- Cai, H., Xuan, J., Wang, X., Yuan, C., Bodirsky, B.L., Stevanović, M., Dietrich, J.P., Popp, A., Lotze-Campen, H., 2025. The multiple benefits of Chinese dietary transformation. Nature Sustainability 1–13. org/10.1038/s41893-025-01560-6.
- Luo N, Meng Q, Feng P, Qu Z, Yu Y, Liu DL, Müller C, and Wang P. 2023, China can be self-sufficient in maize production by 2030 with optimal crop management, Nat. Commun., 14, 2637, doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38355-2.
- Wang S, van Groenigen KJ, Müller C, Wang X, Song L, Liu Y, Jiang Y, Peñuelas J, and Ding Y. 2025, Improved Estimates of Regional Rice Yield Responses to Elevated CO2 by Considering Sub-Species Discrepancies, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 130, e2024JG008438, doi.org/10.1029/2024JG008438.
- Wang, X., Cai, H., Xuan, J., Du, R., Lin, B., Bodirsky, B.L., Stevanović, M., Collignon, Q., Yuan, C., Yu, L., Crawford, M., Beier, F., Xu, M., Chen, H., Springmann, M., Leip, D., Chen, D.M.-C., Humpenöder, F., von Jeetze, P., Fan, S., Soergel, B., Dietrich, J.P., Müller, C., Popp, A., Lotze-Campen, H., 2025. Bundled measures for China’s food system transformation reveal social and environmental co-benefits. Nature Food 6, 72–84. org/10.1038/s43016-024-01100-z.
- Wang, C., Wang, X., Sang, Y., Müller, C., Huang, Y., Li, L., Cooke, D., Zhao, Q., Zhang, L., Lu, Y., Zhou, F., Liu, H., Tao, F., Lin, T., Piao, S. (2025): Oscillation-induced yield loss in China partially driven by migratory pests from mainland Southeast Asia. - Nature Food, 6, 681-691.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01158-3
