Assessing the impact of changing environment on coal mining water use in China

Abstract

The unequal distribution of coal and water resources, coupled with efforts to enhance coal production efficiency, has exacerbated the issue of water scarcity in China’s coal mining industry. There is an urgent need to analyze the impact mechanism of external environmental changes on coal mining water use. With partial least square regression and vector autoregressive model under the framework of STIRPAT (stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence, and technology) model, this paper systematically investigates the impact of population, economic level, energy consumption structure, and water intensity on coal mining water use, as well as the long-term dynamic response of coal mining water use to various variables. Results show a significant positive correlation between the economic level and coal mining water use, and the economic level has the greatest impact on changes in coal mining water use. Water intensity is negatively correlated with water used for coal mining. Decreasing water intensity in coal mining has a rebound effect. Water intensity shows a negative effect in the short term, but gradually disappears in the long run. Energy consumption structure positively correlated with coal mining, but its correlation and influence degree are weak. Promote green and low-carbon energy transformation, water-saving technologies application, and unconventional water utilization, and further improve the sustainable development guarantee capacity of the coal industry.