Analysis of the carbon-water footprint of food consumption and its driving effect in urban and rural areas of China from 2000 to 2020

With the rapid advancement of economic development and urbanization, the dietary patterns of Chinese residents have undergone significant transformations, which has produced serious environmental consequences. To identify the key drivers of the carbon-water footprint of food consumption of urban and rural residents, to mitigate water depletion and to contribute to the realization of the dual-carbon goal, this paper calculated the carbon and water footprint of per capita food consumption of urban in 31 provinces and rural residents in 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2020, compared these differences between urban and rural residents, and decomposed the driving factors of carbon footprint and water footprint by the Logarithmic Mean Index Method (LMDI). The results showed that: 1) From 2000 to 2020 years, the per capita carbon footprint of food consumption in urban China increased by 29.63% and water footprint increased by 32.94%, and carbon footprint and water footprint in rural China increased by 4.59%, and 7.91% respectively. The consumption of animal-based foods has increased and the structure of food consumption is gradually shifting towards animal-based foods. 2) From the perspective of spatial evolution, the areas with high carbon footprint and water footprint of urban per capita food consumption gradually spread from coastal provinces to inland areas, while rural areas showed a distribution pattern, that is the north and south are high and the middle is low. The change value from 2000 to 2020 of carbon footprint and water footprint in rural areas of provinces such as Qinghai, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, and Jiangxi are much lower than that in urban areas, which is the main reason for the spatial distribution of rural areas. 3) The driving factors include food consumption structure, the economic level (disposable income per capita), the consumption level, the population urbanization, the population size, and the food quantity that can be purchased per unit of food consumption expenditure. Specifically, the economic level is the main driver for the increase of the carbon footprint and water footprint of food consumption of urban and rural residents, and the consumption level is the opposite, which reduced the increment of carbon footprint and water footprint; the food consumption structure has driven the increase of the carbon footprint and water footprint of rural residents' food consumption in various provinces, partially for urban areas, which showed that urban areas have changed in the direction of reducing carbon and water footprints. Population urbanization has driven urban residents’ carbon footprint and water footprint, while playing a restraining role in rural areas, mainly due to the migration of the population to urban areas. Similarly, the population size has driven the increase of carbon and water footprint of food consumption, while the provinces such as Gansu, Jilin, and Heilongjiang are inhibiting effects, mainly because of the population emigration and difficulty in returning floating population. Food quantity that can be purchased per unit of food consumption expenditure has played a restraining role in the demand theory that with the price increase, the demand could be reduced. Finally, this paper put forward suggestions from the perspectives of improving dietary structure developing sustainable dietary guidelines for Chinese residents, and reducing economic disparities between different provinces, aiming to promote sustainable food consumption among urban and rural residents in China.