Impacts of climate change on food systems in cities: Integrating multidimensional heterogeneity and inequality

Revealing the impacts of environmental shocks, especially climate risks, on food systems in cities from a supply chain perspective provides new insights for food security. We attempt to integrate the heterogeneity and inequality impacts at multiple dimensions of production structure, city size, and income group across cities by proposing a synthetic assessment framework. The results show that the sensitivity of different crop production to climate risks varies. Distribution costs exhibit an inverted U-shaped curve as the city size increases and are continuously affected by negative impacts of high temperatures and heavy precipitation in medium cities. Environmental changes stimulate increased indirect food consumption such as meat, eggs, and dairy products, with the most pronounced consumption restructuring observed in the middle-income group. The key to enhance the sustainability of food systems in cities lies in effectively addressing the challenges posed by environmental changes, mitigating inequities within supply chains, and advancing food justice.