The livestock sector plays a key role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the balanced development of which lies in reducing carbon emissions and protecting animal welfare. To promote the sustainable transformation of China’s livestock sector, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), together with the International Cooperation Committee of Animal Welfare (ICCAW) of the China Association for the Promotion of International Agricultural Cooperation (CAPIAC), launched the project Strengthening private sector engagement for low-carbon and animal welfare friendly livestock development in China in 2023. The project aimed to translate into action the vision of reducing carbon emissions and improving animal welfare on farms and throughout the value chain.

The project consisted of three components, including capacity building, field research and assessment, and partnership development. In capacity building, the project provided several training sessions to the staff from dozens of Chinese farming enterprises to raise their awareness of low-carbon and animal welfare friendly livestock farming. In field research and assessment, the project organized the expert team to conduct 7 research trips to China’s Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Fujian, Sichuan, and Beijing, to carry out a quantitative assessment using the Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model (GLEAM) on 25 farms to learn about their carbon emissions and animal welfare conditions, and to send out questionnaires to 25 farming enterprises to evaluate their investment potential and willingness in the common goods of carbon emission and animal welfare. In partnership development, the project expert team conducted field visits to Queshan County of Henan Province and Jingyang County of Shaanxi Province, proposed specific approaches and interventions suitable for the transformation of local sustainable livestock farming, and exchanged views on various aspects of cooperation.

The project has provided an important platform to advance the sustainable development of China’s livestock sector and animal welfare, which was one of the follow-up actions of the Global Initiative for Sustainable Livestock Transformation. During the implementation of the project, stakeholders in the livestock farming sector received targeted trainings on animal welfare, sustainable transformation and other technical contents, which effectively enhanced the professional level of participants in low-carbon farming and animal welfare, and boosted exchanges and cooperations in different areas, such as promoting green production, stepping up the industry chain integration, stimulating scientific and technological innovation, safeguarding food safety, increasing farmers’ income, pushing for the integrative industry development, reinforcing policy support, advocating green consumption, and so on.