Balancing clean water-climate change mitigation trade-offs
Energy systems support technical solutions fulfilling the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal for clean water and sanitation (SDG6), with implications for future energy demands and greenhouse gas emissions. The energy sector is also a large consumer of water, making water efficiency targets...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2019-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf2a3 |
| _version_ | 1827870726589251584 |
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| author | Simon Parkinson Volker Krey Daniel Huppmann Taher Kahil David McCollum Oliver Fricko Edward Byers Matthew J Gidden Beatriz Mayor Zarrar Khan Catherine Raptis Narasimha D Rao Nils Johnson Yoshihide Wada Ned Djilali Keywan Riahi |
| author_facet | Simon Parkinson Volker Krey Daniel Huppmann Taher Kahil David McCollum Oliver Fricko Edward Byers Matthew J Gidden Beatriz Mayor Zarrar Khan Catherine Raptis Narasimha D Rao Nils Johnson Yoshihide Wada Ned Djilali Keywan Riahi |
| author_sort | Simon Parkinson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Energy systems support technical solutions fulfilling the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal for clean water and sanitation (SDG6), with implications for future energy demands and greenhouse gas emissions. The energy sector is also a large consumer of water, making water efficiency targets ingrained in SDG6 important constraints for long-term energy planning. Here, we apply a global integrated assessment model to quantify the cost and characteristics of infrastructure pathways balancing SDG6 targets for water access, scarcity, treatment and efficiency with long-term energy transformations limiting climate warming to 1.5 °C. Under a mid-range human development scenario, we find that approximately 1 trillion USD2010 per year is required to close water infrastructure gaps and operate water systems consistent with achieving SDG6 goals by 2030. Adding a 1.5 °C climate policy constraint increases these costs by up to 8%. In the reverse direction, when the SDG6 targets are added on top of the 1.5 °C policy constraint, the cost to transform and operate energy systems increases 2%–9% relative to a baseline 1.5 °C scenario that does not achieve the SDG6 targets by 2030. Cost increases in the SDG6 pathways are due to expanded use of energy-intensive water treatment and costs associated with water conservation measures in power generation, municipal, manufacturing and agricultural sectors. Combined global spending (capital and operational expenditures) to 2030 on water, energy and land systems increases 92%–125% in the integrated SDG6-1.5 °C scenarios relative to a baseline ‘no policy’ scenario. Evaluation of the multi-sectoral policies underscores the importance of water conservation and integrated water–energy planning for avoiding costs from interacting water, energy and climate goals. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:00:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ce7069225b5b40c498c4380ab693e710 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:00:00Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-ce7069225b5b40c498c4380ab693e7102023-08-09T14:40:32ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262019-01-0114101400910.1088/1748-9326/aaf2a3Balancing clean water-climate change mitigation trade-offsSimon Parkinson0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4753-5198Volker Krey1Daniel Huppmann2Taher Kahil3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7812-5271David McCollum4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1293-0179Oliver Fricko5Edward Byers6https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0349-5742Matthew J Gidden7Beatriz Mayor8Zarrar Khan9Catherine Raptis10https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0187-8133Narasimha D Rao11Nils Johnson12Yoshihide Wada13https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4770-2539Ned Djilali14https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9047-0289Keywan Riahi15International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria; University of Victoria , PO Box 3055 STN CSC, V8W 3P6 Victoria BC, CanadaInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria; Norwegian University of Science and Technology , NO-7491, Trondheim, NorwayInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, AustriaInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, AustriaInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria; University of Tennessee , 1640 Cumberland Avenue, 37996-3340 Knoxville TN, United States of AmericaInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, AustriaInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, AustriaInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, AustriaInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, AustriaInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria; Universidad Pontificia Comillas , Calle de Santa Cruz de Marcenado 26, E-28015 Madrid, SpainETH Zurich, John-von-Neumann-Weg 9, 8093 Zurich, SwitzerlandInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, AustriaInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, AustriaInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria; Utrecht University , PO Box 80.115, 3508 Utrecht, The NetherlandsUniversity of Victoria , PO Box 3055 STN CSC, V8W 3P6 Victoria BC, CanadaInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria; TU Graz, Inffeldgasse 21, A-8010 Graz, Austria; Colorado School of Mines, 1500 Illinois Street, Golden, CO 80401, United States of AmericaEnergy systems support technical solutions fulfilling the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal for clean water and sanitation (SDG6), with implications for future energy demands and greenhouse gas emissions. The energy sector is also a large consumer of water, making water efficiency targets ingrained in SDG6 important constraints for long-term energy planning. Here, we apply a global integrated assessment model to quantify the cost and characteristics of infrastructure pathways balancing SDG6 targets for water access, scarcity, treatment and efficiency with long-term energy transformations limiting climate warming to 1.5 °C. Under a mid-range human development scenario, we find that approximately 1 trillion USD2010 per year is required to close water infrastructure gaps and operate water systems consistent with achieving SDG6 goals by 2030. Adding a 1.5 °C climate policy constraint increases these costs by up to 8%. In the reverse direction, when the SDG6 targets are added on top of the 1.5 °C policy constraint, the cost to transform and operate energy systems increases 2%–9% relative to a baseline 1.5 °C scenario that does not achieve the SDG6 targets by 2030. Cost increases in the SDG6 pathways are due to expanded use of energy-intensive water treatment and costs associated with water conservation measures in power generation, municipal, manufacturing and agricultural sectors. Combined global spending (capital and operational expenditures) to 2030 on water, energy and land systems increases 92%–125% in the integrated SDG6-1.5 °C scenarios relative to a baseline ‘no policy’ scenario. Evaluation of the multi-sectoral policies underscores the importance of water conservation and integrated water–energy planning for avoiding costs from interacting water, energy and climate goals.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf2a3water–energy nexusSustainable Development GoalsParis Agreementintegrated assessment modeling |
| spellingShingle | Simon Parkinson Volker Krey Daniel Huppmann Taher Kahil David McCollum Oliver Fricko Edward Byers Matthew J Gidden Beatriz Mayor Zarrar Khan Catherine Raptis Narasimha D Rao Nils Johnson Yoshihide Wada Ned Djilali Keywan Riahi Balancing clean water-climate change mitigation trade-offs Environmental Research Letters water–energy nexus Sustainable Development Goals Paris Agreement integrated assessment modeling |
| title | Balancing clean water-climate change mitigation trade-offs |
| title_full | Balancing clean water-climate change mitigation trade-offs |
| title_fullStr | Balancing clean water-climate change mitigation trade-offs |
| title_full_unstemmed | Balancing clean water-climate change mitigation trade-offs |
| title_short | Balancing clean water-climate change mitigation trade-offs |
| title_sort | balancing clean water climate change mitigation trade offs |
| topic | water–energy nexus Sustainable Development Goals Paris Agreement integrated assessment modeling |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf2a3 |
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