Multisectoral water‑carbon pressures and economic benefits in China: An embodied perspective driven by consumption

Abstract

Developing nations encounter considerable resource and environmental pressures, exhibiting diverse levels of decoupling relationships between resource-environment consumption and economic performance in different sectors. Nevertheless, there has been insufficient scrutiny from the perspective of embodied water‑carbon within the national economic system, particularly long-term analysis. This study proposes a three-stage analytical approach integrating measurement, decoupling, and decomposition modules to track such pressures, relationships and driving factors. Within this framework, a water‑carbon extended input-output model is constructed to quantify the embodied water‑carbon structure and inter-sectoral transfers between 2010 and 2020. The main findings are: a) Over the past decade, the composite water‑carbon pressure index of the energy sector has increased from 2.94 to 3.24, making it the only sector experiencing water‑carbon dual pressure in China. The service sector exhibits the lowest embodied water‑carbon pressure, boasting an average pressure index of 0.24. b) The OECD decoupling factor between embodied water consumption and economic growth in the entire national economic system increased from 0.37 to 0.40, achieving a transition from relative decoupling to absolute decoupling. However, a significant coupling relationship persists concerning CO2 emissions. c) Technological innovation primarily drives the decoupling of embodied water consumption in most sectors. Structural driving factors play an increasingly significant role in decoupling multisectoral carbon emissions and economic benefits. Strengthening technological innovation to improve multisectoral water use efficiency is still the most effective way to promote deep decoupling of water consumption within the industrial system. Achieving deep decoupling of carbon emissions necessitates both short-term technological innovation such as low-carbon process modification and long-term structural transformation such as green industrial restructuring. Differentiated findings can help identify potential sustainable development strategies for China's industrial system under resource and environmental constraints.