Potential and Pathways of Carbon Emission Reduction in China’s Beef Production from the Supply Chain Perspective

Beef production is the primary contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in animal husbandry. But the carbon emission distribution, potential for carbon reduction, and pathways in the main links of the beef cattle industry chain are not yet clear. Balancing efficiency and fairness while taking tailored emission reduction paths according to local conditions is crucial in helping to achieve the low-carbon animal husbandry and “dual carbon” goals. This research adopts an industry chain perspective to assess four leading beef production regions’ carbon emissions, potential, and pathways in China from 2007 to 2021. We use life cycle assessment, the potential index which considers efficiency and fairness; the results are as follows: (1) The potential for carbon emission reduction in China’s beef industry showed an inverted U-shaped change trend from 2007 to 2021, and the average potential for carbon emission reduction in most provinces fluctuated around 0.500. (2) The main producing areas of China’s beef industry were divided into four areas of high efficiency and low fairness (Area A); high efficiency and high fairness (Area B); low efficiency and low fairness (Area C); and low efficiency and high fairness (Area D). (3) Differentiated emission reduction pathways were designed to reduce emissions, highlighting the need to implement region-specific carbon reduction policies.