Aerosol-cloud interactions remain one of the largest sources of uncertainty in estimates of anthropogenic climate forcing. Reducing aerosols to achieve air quality improvement and climate goals can cause unintended warming due to the weakening of aerosol cooling. Here we investigate the climate impacts of spatially optimized sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emission reduction under a carbon-neutral pathway in China. We find that targeting reduction in highly polluted regions in China significantly suppresses the rise in effective radiative forcing due to aerosol-cloud interactions (ERF_aci) during 2020–2060. Owing to the nonlinear aerosol-cloud interaction, the optimized emission reduction strategy limits the regional average increase in ERF_aciof more than 0.89 W m⁻² to less than 0.13 W m⁻² in the short-term future during 2020–2040 and weakens the ERFaci increase by two-thirds of in 2060 over China. These findings demonstrate the critical role of targeted emission control in mitigating short-term climate risks while pursuing air quality goals.
 

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