<p>In this study, we meticulously separated the effects of climate and human activities on the NDVI across China’s diverse vegetation zones using a combination of residual decomposition and first-order differencing methods. We found a significant upwards trend in the NDVI across China, with an average annual increase rate of 0.0024 during the study period. The most rapid increase occurred in the temperate grassland zone, where both human-induced (NDVI_Res) and climate-driven (NDVI_Pre) growth rates were the highest. The cold-temperate coniferous forest zone has notable human impacts, whereas the subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest zone is more influenced by climate. We attributed 48.5% of the variation in the NDVI to human activity and 51.5% to climate, with the alpine vegetation zone uniquely being less affected by humans. Climate factors such as the mean temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, and atmospheric pressure were found to have predominantly positive effects on NDVI_Pre. In terms of their contributions to changes in NDVI_Pre across China, mean temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, and atmospheric pressure account for 32.4%, 20.6%, 17.6%, and 29.4%, respectively. The cold-temperate coniferous forest zone, warm-temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest zone, alpine vegetation zone, and subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest zone are particularly sensitive to changes in temperature. In the desert zone, relative humidity has the most significant impact, whereas atmospheric pressure plays the largest role in the temperate mixed forest zone, temperate grassland zone, and tropical rainforest zone.</p>