Virtual Water Embodied in International Energy Trade of China

Abstract

There exists a large amount of water consumption embodied in the global energy trade. Global energy trades among countries may have influences on global water environment. China plays an indispensable role on global energy trade, which thereby has a huge influence on global water scarcity. In this paper, we studied the virtual water flows embodied in the international energy trade in China, and investigated the scarcity-weighted virtual water flows, region-based scarcity-weighted virtual water flows based on China's water scarcity. In the past 14 years (2001-2014), China's net virtual water import hidden in energy trade has increased from 221.1 million m3 in 2001 to 1709.0 million m3 in 2014, implying China is a virtual water importer. China's net scarcity-weighted virtual water import is also increasing. The import of scarcity-weighted virtual water embodied in crude oil from the Middle East has the most profound effect on global water scarcity because the Middle East is in severe water stress. Through regional-based scarcity-weighted virtual water flow in energy trade, we can figure out that importing virtual water from Mexico and Russia through crude oil, the impact on global water scarcity will be mitigated. All the results show that importing virtual water embodied in crude oil trade play the most crucial role in the whole energy-water nexus.