To summary Central Asian paleoclimate history and its forcing mechanisms, we launched the special issue of “Central Asian paleoclimate” in 2019. After peer-reviewed by experts in relevant fields, 28 manuscripts have been accepted for publication. Considering the demand of article numbers in one special issue, we classify these papers into two parts based on the involved study areas i.e. Core Area of Central Asia (CACA) (SI1) and Eastern Central Asia (Northwestern of China except for Xinjiang, mainly including Northern Tibetan Plateau and Chinese Loess Plateau) (SI2). The former (SI1) mainly focuses on Quaternary climate and environment reconstruction based on loess and lacustrine sediments. The latter (SI2) mainly illustrates the tectonic-orbital scale climate evolution and tectonic history during the late Cenozoic based on aeolian and fluvio-lacustrine records from Qaidam Basin and Chinese Loess Plateau and also discusses their possible driving mechanism based on integration and simulation of paleoclimate.