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Balancing clean water-climate change mitigation trade-offs
- Publisher :
- ETH Zurich
-
Abstract
- Energy systems support technical solutions fulfilling the United Nations’Sustainable DevelopmentGoal for clean water and sanitation(SDG6), with implications for future energy demands andgreenhouse gas emissions. The energy sector is also a large consumer of water, making water efficiencytargets ingrained in SDG6 important constraints for long-term energy planning. Here, we apply aglobal integrated assessment model to quantify the cost and characteristics of infrastructure pathwaysbalancing SDG6 targets for water access, scarcity, treatment and efficiency with long-term energytransformations limiting climate warming to 1.5°C. Under a mid-range human developmentscenario, wefind that approximately 1 trillion USD2010 per year is required to close waterinfrastructure gaps and operate water systems consistent with achieving SDG6 goals by 2030. Adding a1.5°C climate policy constraint increases these costs by up to 8%. In the reverse direction, when theSDG6 targets are added on top of the 1.5°C policy constraint, the cost to transform and operate energysystems increases 2%–9% relative to a baseline 1.5°C scenario that does not achieve the SDG6 targetsby 2030. Cost increases in the SDG6 pathways are due to expanded use of energy-intensive watertreatment and costs associated with water conservation measures in power generation, municipal,manufacturing and agricultural sectors. Combined global spending(capital and operationalexpenditures)to 2030 on water, energy and land systems increases 92%–125% in the integratedSDG6-1.5°C scenarios relative to a baseline‘no policy’scenario. Evaluation of the multi-sectoralpolicies underscores the importance of water conservation and integrated water–energy planning foravoiding costs from interacting water, energy and climate goals.<br />Environmental Research Letters, 14 (1)<br />ISSN:1748-9326<br />ISSN:1748-9318
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 17489326 and 17489318
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........9837e9c939c4487e086c7573adfebf9c