Water-saving co-benefits of CO2 reduction in China's electricity sector

Xu Peng; Hong Chen; Honglin Zhong; Ruyin Long; Chao Zhang; Dandan Zhao; Guangfei Yang; Jingke Hong; Cuncun Duan; Xinxian Qi; Pengbang Wei; Pengfei Zhang; Jindao Chen

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106035

Water-saving co-benefits of CO₂ reduction in China's electricity sector

iScience. 2023 Jan 24;26(2):106035. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106035. eCollection 2023 Feb 17.

Authors

Xu Peng¹, Hong Chen¹, Honglin Zhong², Ruyin Long¹, Chao Zhang³, Dandan Zhao⁴, Guangfei Yang⁵, Jingke Hong⁶, Cuncun Duan⁷, Xinxian Qi⁸, Pengbang Wei⁹, Pengfei Zhang², Jindao Chen¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ School of Business, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.
² Institute of Blue and Green Development, Weihai Institute of Interdisciplinary Research, Shandong University, Weihai264209, China.
³ School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai200092, China.
⁴ Water & Development Research Group, Department of Built Environment, Aalto University, PO Box 15200, 00076Espoo, Finland.
⁵ Institute of Systems Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian116024, China.
⁶ School of Management Science and Real Estate, Chongqing University, Chongqing400045, China.
⁷ Beijing Key Laboratory of Urban Hydrological Cycle and Sponge City Technology, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing100875, China.
⁸ School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing210023, China.
⁹ School of Management, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou450001, China.
¹⁰ School of Civil Engineering & Engineering Management, Guangzhou Maritime University, Guangzhou510725, China.

Abstract

Electricity sector is the largest CO₂ emitter and water user in China's industrial sectors. The low-carbon transition of China's electricity sector reduces its cooling water consumption. Here we firstly quantify CO₂ emission and virtual water embodied in electricity trade with Quasi-Input-Output model. Then, we analyze the impacts of energy substitution, efficiency improvement, and electricity trade on water-saving co-benefits of CO₂ reduction with the differences between the baseline scenario and counterfactual scenario. Results show that the low-carbon transition contributes to water-saving in China's electricity sector. Virtual water and embodied CO₂ have relatively decoupled from electricity trade since 2012. Water-saving (+10.4% yr^-1) outweighed CO₂ reduction (+8.4% yr^-1) through energy substitution and efficiency improvement in the 'new normal' stage. Our work emphasizes the need to integrate water-saving co-benefits of CO₂ reduction into electricity system planning and highlights the challenges to facilitate coordinated development of the electricity-water nexus in China.

Keywords: Energy management; Energy policy; Natural resources.