Intra-rural inequality of diet-related carbon footprint in China

The transition to sustainable diet has mitigated climate risks and improved human health. With the rapidly increasing demand for food and high carbon mitigation pressure, food consumption in rural China has emerged as a pivotal factor in the transition process. Although diet-related carbon footprint (DCF) has been widely discussed worldwide, little is known about intra-group differences in DCFs, particularly in rural regions. Additionally, a sustainable transition pathway is unclear because of the trade-offs between DCF, nutritional quality, and affordability. In this study, inequality in intra-rural food consumption and the associated carbon footprints of different food categories were revealed based on the latest and most updated social household survey data. Future transition pathways encompassing DCFs, affordability, and nutrition were comprehensively considered. The results revealed stark intragroup differences in the DCF of rural residents, and the consumption of animal-based food exhibited a more pronounced level of inequality than plant-based food. Compared with other groups, high-income households had a higher per capita DCF, larger emission share from animal-based food, and lower share from plant-based food. Based on future sustainable transition analysis, fully adopting optimized dietary patterns can reduce the DCF by 2.28–48.84% and improve nutritional quality, especially in low-income populations (16.98–38.62%). However, regardless of the transition pathway, affordability for low-income groups needs to be considered, which may hinder sustainable transitions in the future. Our study has implications for sustainable dietary transitions in rural areas, which will bring co-benefits to both humans and the environment.