Towards carbon-neutral sustainable development of China

As a major economy with large amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ecosystem carbon sink, China’s commitment and pathway towards carbon neutrality is of global importance. Faced with the dual challenges of sustained economic growth and environmental protection, there is pressing need to integrate scientific knowledge from multiple disciplines to support policymaking on emission mitigation and carbon sink enhancement. This focus issue, with a companion workshop with the same theme, offers an opportunity to meet such need. With a total of 21 published papers, the focus issue provides more solid evidence of intensifying weather extremes caused by anthropogenic emissions, evaluates the potential of exploitation of terrestrial carbon sink which is in turn under the threat of warming, and reveals the challenges and opportunities of anthropogenic emission mitigation from perspectives of GHG types, economic sectors, environmental co-benefits, and disproportional impacts across the stakeholders. A comprehensive framework to combine data and models from related disciplines is a crucial next step to form integrated information much needed for climate action.