Sustainable development urged in China's thriving pet economy

While cats and dogs have become indispensable members of many families in China, the booming pet economy has also faced questions of whether it can achieve sustainable development.

Luo Li'an, who opened a pet club in Beijing in late 2015, said the pet industry is on the rise, and that more and more people are not just keeping pets but spending more money to improve the quality of their life.

After nearly a decade of operation, Luo's pet shop is welcoming more and more young people as clients. In Luo's opinion, the furry and adorable dogs and cats can provide emotional sustenance for the youth who have just entered the workforce and are learning to deal with interpersonal communication and work stress.

"So that's why many people are willing to spend money and time on their pets, which in turn brings the rapid development of the pet economy," Luo said.

Luo's club, which often arranges for clients to walk their pets together on weekends or holidays, is one of the many industries related to these domestic animals.

For example, there are now shops providing food, clothes, healthcare and beauty service for pets, which in turn employ pet-related professions such as trainers and photographers.

In 2023, the size of the urban pet consumption market in China was 279.3 billion yuan (around $39 billion), and it is expected to reach 361.3 billion yuan in 2026, according to China's Pet Industry White Paper 2023-2024 (Consumption Report), which was released by Petdata.cn, a pet industry market observer.

China's not alone in witnessing a booming pet economy. The industry is poised to swell from $320 billion to almost $500 billion globally by 2030, according to a report from Bloomberg Intelligence.

The report also found that this growth is boosted by a growing pet population worldwide, as well as the "premiumization" of food and services.

But, along with the thriving pet industry, problems arise.

Analysis of the carbon footprint of global pet food production revealed that the industry emits more greenhouse gases each year than countries such as Mozambique and the Philippines, according to a study conducted by the University of Edinburgh in 2022. Besides, it's not difficult to understand that keeping pets can produce a lot of plastic and packaging in daily life.

This means the the industry needs to have sustainable development going forwards.

Jeff Hamiliton, CEO of Nestle Purina Petcare Europe, told euronews.com that as humans become more conscious about the food they consume, the pet industry is doing the same.

"Pet owners are still converting from home-prepared pet food to more commercial pet food. That will continue to be a key growth driver for the category to having both lower-carbon products as well as more recyclable packaging," Hamilton told euronews.com.

In China, more people are paying attention to environmentally friendly food and supplies for their pets as the country pursues its "dual carbon goals," which aim to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and realize carbon neutrality by 2060.

Many pet-related industries have invested in innovative products and food. For example, one pet food brand is using black water flies as raw material to produce an insect protein that is part of the natural diet of cats and dogs.

Pet owners are also being proactive. One pet owner told JingDaily that, when purchasing a large amount of supplies, she will pay more attention to the packaging and production process to find out if it is environmentally friendly and can be recycled after use.

In her view, in the face of increasingly severe environmental problems, it's necessary for pet lovers to choose brands that are more sustainable.