Global food trade can mitigate substantial health burdens attributed to ambient PM_2.5 pollution

Zhencheng Xing^#^{1

2

3

4}, Yifan Liu^#⁵, Maksym Chepeliev⁶, Xiang Liu^{1

7}, Klaus Hubacek⁸, Kuishuang Feng⁹, Honglin Zhong¹⁰, Zongwei Ma⁵, Haikun Wang^{11

12

13

14}

Affiliations

¹ Joint International Research Laboratory of Atmospheric and Earth System Sciences, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
² School of Government, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
³ Frontiers Science Center for Critical Earth Material Cycling, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
⁴ The Jiangsu Province Collaborative Innovation Center of Climate Change, Nanjing, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
⁶ Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
⁷ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁸ Integrated Research for Energy, Environment and Society (IREES), Energy and Sustainability Research Institute Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.
⁹ Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
¹⁰ Institute of Blue and Green Development, Weihai Institute of Interdisciplinary Research, Shandong University, Weihai, China.
¹¹ Joint International Research Laboratory of Atmospheric and Earth System Sciences, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China. wanghk@nju.edu.cn.
¹² Frontiers Science Center for Critical Earth Material Cycling, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China. wanghk@nju.edu.cn.
¹³ The Jiangsu Province Collaborative Innovation Center of Climate Change, Nanjing, China. wanghk@nju.edu.cn.
¹⁴ Nanjing-Helsinki Institute in Atmospheric and Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China. wanghk@nju.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 41760786
DOI: 10.1038/s43016-026-01303-6

Global food trade can mitigate substantial health burdens attributed to ambient PM_2.5 pollution

Zhencheng Xing et al. Nat Food. 2026.

. 2026 Feb 27.

doi: 10.1038/s43016-026-01303-6. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Zhencheng Xing^#^{1

2

3

4}, Yifan Liu^#⁵, Maksym Chepeliev⁶, Xiang Liu^{1

7}, Klaus Hubacek⁸, Kuishuang Feng⁹, Honglin Zhong¹⁰, Zongwei Ma⁵, Haikun Wang^{11

12

13

14}

Affiliations

¹ Joint International Research Laboratory of Atmospheric and Earth System Sciences, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
² School of Government, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
³ Frontiers Science Center for Critical Earth Material Cycling, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
⁴ The Jiangsu Province Collaborative Innovation Center of Climate Change, Nanjing, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
⁶ Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
⁷ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁸ Integrated Research for Energy, Environment and Society (IREES), Energy and Sustainability Research Institute Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.
⁹ Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
¹⁰ Institute of Blue and Green Development, Weihai Institute of Interdisciplinary Research, Shandong University, Weihai, China.
¹¹ Joint International Research Laboratory of Atmospheric and Earth System Sciences, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China. wanghk@nju.edu.cn.
¹² Frontiers Science Center for Critical Earth Material Cycling, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China. wanghk@nju.edu.cn.
¹³ The Jiangsu Province Collaborative Innovation Center of Climate Change, Nanjing, China. wanghk@nju.edu.cn.
¹⁴ Nanjing-Helsinki Institute in Atmospheric and Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China. wanghk@nju.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 41760786
DOI: 10.1038/s43016-026-01303-6

Abstract

Current estimates of PM_2.5-related mortality associated with global food systems primarily focus on local food production, overlooking the impacts of food trade and food consumption across distant regions. Here we integrate four advanced global models to investigate how international food trade relocates air pollutant emissions from food production and its subsequent impacts on global air quality and public health. Our findings show that food-related emissions were responsible for an estimated 840,400 deaths due to PM_2.5 pollution in 2017. Of these, approximately 11% (or 94,100 deaths) were linked to the global food trade, representing an economic value of a statistical life of around US$3.15 trillion. Shifting food exports from sparsely populated to densely populated countries has helped prevent 44,900 deaths in 2017. These findings underscore the potential of food trade partnerships for optimizing trade routes and thereby reducing global food-related health risks.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

References

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Global food trade can mitigate substantial health burdens attributed to ambient PM_2.5 pollution

Affiliations

Global food trade can mitigate substantial health burdens attributed to ambient PM_2.5 pollution

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

References

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources