In the context of global warming, the frequency of drought events has increased. Frequent droughts in arid regions of Central Asia have intensified vegetation degradation, presenting a considerable challenge to meeting the United Nations "zero net land degradation" objective. However, the sensitivity of vegetation productivity in Central Asia to drought events remains poorly understood. To tackle this issue, the study utilized land use data, ERA5-Land data, and the aridity index. The sensitivity of vegetation productivity to drought events in Central Asia was investigated through methods including run theory, sensitivity calculation, and the Boosted Regression Tree (BRT) model. The fundamental characteristics of drought events over SPEI3-12 periods and the spatiotemporal variations of vegetation anomalies were identified. The sensitivity of different vegetation types to drought events was assessed and the relative importance of drought characteristics on vegetation anomalies was quantified based on the BRT model. Findings indicate that with an expanding time scale, drought characteristics generally worsen, with the exception of intervals and frequencies of drought events. Particularly in semi-arid and sub-humid regions, drought events occurred more frequently and the severity remained high, with drought severity (SPEI12) reaching up to 25.11. With the time scale variation, the negative anomalies of Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) dropped to -30 in SPEI12 in semi-arid and semi-humid areas, notably impacting western Kazakhstan, central and eastern portions of Central Asia, and eastern Turkmenistan. There were differences in GPP anomalies between SPEI3 and SPEI12, with cropland showing the lowest negative median anomalies, and sparse vegetation exhibited the greatest fluctuation in GPP anomalies. The sensitivity of different vegetation types to drought events gradually decreased as the time scale expanded. In the semi-arid and semi-humid regions of Central Asia, croplands and sparse vegetation were more sensitive. The BRT model indicated that drought severity was the most important factor affecting vegetation changes. In the model, the mean sensitivity of grasslands and forests to drought severity between SPEI3-12 was 37.41% and 31.70%, respectively. Therefore, understanding the sensitivity of vegetation productivity to drought events, especially in ecologically vulnerable areas, will help provide decision-making references for preventing vegetation degradation.