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China will attempt to achieve its simultaneous goals in 2060, whereby carbon neutrality will be accomplished and the PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) level is expected to remain below 10 μg/m3. Identifying interaction patterns between air cleaning and climate action represents an important step to obtain cobenefits. Here, we used a random sampling strategy through the combination of chemical transport modeling and machine learning approach to capture the interaction effects from two perspectives in which the driving forces of both climate action and air cleaning measures were compared. We revealed that climate action where carbon emissions were decreased to 1.9 Bt (billion tons) could lead to a PM2.5 level of 12.4 μg/m3 (95% CI (confidence interval): 10.2–14.6 μg/m3) in 2060, while air cleaning could force carbon emissions to reach 1.93 Bt (95% CI: 0.79–3.19 Bt) to achieve net carbon neutrality based on the potential carbon sinks in 2060. Additional controls targeting primary PM2.5, ammonia, and volatile organic compounds were required as supplements to overcome the partial lack of climate action. Our study provides novel insights into the cobenefits of air-quality improvement and climate change mitigation, indicating that the effect of air cleaning on the simultaneous goals might have been underestimated before.

Despite the acknowledged importance of terrestrial ecosystems in achieving carbon neutrality, current carbon accounting predominantly focuses on CO2 uptake, neglecting indirect contributions from ecosystem services, such as temperature regulation and air purification. We established a carbon benefit (C benefit) accounting framework that integrated these services and analyzed the drivers influencing the spatial and temporal changes in the C benefit. It was found that the average annual growth rate of C benefits in Chengdu over the past 20 years was 0.91 Tg/a, and the CO2 emissions reduction due to ecosystem services was 22.47 times that of carbon sinks. Therefore, the contribution of ecosystem regulating services to carbon neutrality cannot be ignored. In addition, the elevation, gross domestic product (GDP), and normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI) are key factors affecting C benefits. It is worth noting that the intensive management of constructed ecosystems can result in significant reductions in ecosystem C benefits. Finally, our findings underline the need for low-carbon policies to not only promote carbon sink projects but also enhance the overall capacity of ecosystem services, which could substantially mitigate global climate change.