Assessment of regional trade and virtual water flows in China

The success of China's economic development has left deep marks on resource availability and quality. Some regions in China are relatively poor with regards to water resources. This problem is exacerbated by economic growth. Flourishing trade activities on both domestic and international levels have resulted in significant amounts of water withdrawal and water pollution. Hence the goal of this paper is to evaluate the current inter-regional trade structure and its effects on water consumption and pollution via ‘virtual water flows’. Virtual water is the water embedded in products and used in the whole production chain, and that is traded between regions or exported to other countries. For this assessment of trade flows and effects on water resources, we have developed an extended regional input–output model for eight hydro-economic regions in China to account for virtual water flows between North and South China. The findings show that the current trade structure in China is not very favorable with regards to water resource allocation and efficiency. North China as a water scarce region virtually exports about 5% of its total available freshwater resources while accepting large amounts of wastewater for other regions' consumption. By contrast, South China a region with abundant water resources is virtually importing water from other regions while their imports are creating waste water polluting other regions' hydro-ecosystems

The environmental effect of car-free housing: A case in Vienna

A case-control study of the car-free model housing project in Vienna was conducted to evaluate whether people living in this settlement have more [`]sustainable lifestyles' than people living in comparable buildings in Vienna. Another aim was to identify the lifestyle characteristics and household activities which significantly influence the environmental impact of the residents of the car-free housing project and a control group. The control group, referred to as the reference settlement, was chosen from a nearby building complex, with similar characteristics, but without the car-free feature. Household consumption patterns were estimated based on interviews in combination with data from the Austrian consumer expenditure survey and the national accounts. The evaluation of household environmental impacts uses emissions estimates from the Austrian national accounting matrices including environmental accounts and data from life-cycle assessments. Households from the car-free settlement have substantially lower environmental impacts in the categories of ground transportation and energy use; their CO2 emissions of these two categories are less than 50% of those living in the reference settlement. The households in the car-free settlement have somewhat higher emissions in the categories air transport, nutrition, and [`]other' consumption, reflecting the higher income per-capita. As a result, the CO2 emissions are only slightly lower than in the reference settlement, but the emissions intensity is 20% lower. Both household groups have significantly lower environmental impacts than the Austrian average reflecting less car use and cleaner heating energy in Vienna

International Trade, Material Flows and Land Use: Developing a Physical Trade Balance for the European Union

The environmental impacts of globalization and further liberalization of international trade today are on the top of the policy agenda in a number of international organizations. While the trade relations between two countries or regions may be balanced in monetary terms, they may at the same time be characterized by a substantial inequality with regard to the flows of natural resources. Thus some regions may systematically exploit the ecological capacity of other regions by importing resource intensive products and exporting wastes. In the last 10 to 15 years there has been extensive research on material flows mainly on the national level. However, empirical studies on material flows in international trade so far are very limited. In the last few years studies have been presented, which link material flow accounting and input-output analysis (based on monetary input-output tables) for the calculation of indirect material flows through intermediate production. This procedure has also been applied for calculating direct and indirect land appropriation. The compilation of the first physical input-output tables for some western European countries in the 1990s opened new possibilities for linking physical accounting and input-output analysis. Physical input-output analysis has so far been applied only for selected materials in single-country studies. It has neither been used for assessments of material flows in international trade nor for any land-related studies. In this report first steps towards the elaboration of a physical trade balance for the EU-15 are undertaken. Concerning the methodology of input-output analysis, three alternative approaches will be presented and discussed. In the empirical part, a physical trade balance for direct material flows of the EU is presented, disaggregated by world regions as well as product and material groups. In order to assess indirect resource requirements induced by imports and exports, a physical input-output model for the EU-15 is developed, based on physical input-output tables already published. This model is then used for assessing the overall resource requirements for the production of exports from EU-15 to the rest of the world. By applying physical input-output analysis, direct and indirect resource requirements will be calculated concerning both material flows and land appropriation

Economic and Societal Changes in China and their Effects on Water Use

China's development over the last few decades has been characterized by high rates of economic growth, large-scale migration from rural areas to the fast-growing cities accompanied by changes in lifestyles, and steady population growth. These developments have left deep marks on resource availability and quality. In this article we conduct a scenario analysis of how lifestyle changes and other major developments might affect water resources. China has the longest tradition in river and water resource management in the world. Its civilization has sought to control the effects of floods and drought for thousands of years and has utilized water flows for irrigation and navigation. In the last century, competing uses such as domestic, municipal, and industrial water consumption have also become reasons for the regulation of and large-scale abstraction of water. To investigate the major changes in economy and society and their effects on the water situation in China, a set of scenarios is developed and analyzed within a structural economics framework. A hydrological model that represents water flows in the major watersheds is linked to a regional input-output model that represents socioeconomic activities in the major economic-administrative regions of China. The regional analysis shows that the North and Northwest regions are water-scarce and that lifestyle changes and technical shifts are the most important factors driving future water consumption

Land Use Change at the National and Regional Level in China: A Scenario Analysis Based on Input-Output Modeling

Land availability is of crucial importance for China's development in the 21 century. Economic growth, urbanization, changes in life styles such diet changes, and population growth will influence both the demand for and the supply of land. In this study, an input-output model expanded by a set of land categories is developed to synthesize various scenarios of changes in the economy and society, and to evaluate their impact on land-use changes in China. The scenario analysis is conducted at both the national and regional levels and for the time horizon of over 30-years. The analysis aims to show how different development paths will influence the available land base as well as the inter-regional and international trade flows of primary products for China in the coming decades. To do this is a mixed model with supply-constraints for the major land-consuming sectors is used. Given the moderate pace of technological progress, as commonly assumed in the literature, the resultant increases in final demands and sectoral outputs would drive the associated land requirements to exceed the then available land area. Scarcity of cultivated land, grassland, and forestland will be persistent. If the traditional policy of grain and food self-sufficiency were maintained intact, to keep the farmland requirement feasible, an annual growth rate of land-productivity of about 1.28 percent would be required, which is higher than what is usually expected for the next 30 years. In addition, faster technological advancement in the livestock sector will be necessary

The Economics of Land Use Change

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview for non-economists of how land has been treated in economic theory. Land is an aggregate of many different attributes, providing many important functions, which are not part of market transactions. An analysis of the economics of land use change has to include the unique character of land. This uniqueness arises from its distinct "physical, ecological, and institutional" properties. Land use decisions are influenced by three groups of factors. First, physical, biological, and technical factors include the quantity, nature, availability and characteristics of land resources, which set definite limits on what operators can do in using land resources. These physical properties refer to the "raw land." But what an owner of land really owns is not raw land but "real estate." The existence of parcels of land or real estate is a matter of human institutions. Real estate comes into existence and is maintained in its existence as a result of complicated networks of institutional facts, whereas raw land is not. Second, institutional factors provide the 'rules of the game' in a society, establishing the human devised constraints and unconscious habits that shape human interactions. Contributing to this institutional setting are cultural, economic, political, religious, social, and traditional factors. Third, economic factors, such as supply and demand, shape present land use. Economic analysis of land use change should not be solely occupied with price signals and shadow prices but has to include historical and institutional factors as well. Land is a much social product as it is a physical reality. Interdisciplinarity and plurality are therefore essential and irreducible requirements in land use research. In this spirit, it is hoped that this paper will promote exchange of ideas and concepts among disciplines

The Role of Land in Economic Theory

Changes in land use and land cover are among the issues central to the study of global environmental change. In addition to their cumulative long-term global dimensions, such changes can have profound regional environmental implications during the life span of current generations. A better understanding of the dynamics in land and water use is thus critical for an informed debate of sustainability. Land use represents a critical intersection of economic and ecological systems. Land-use changes are most often directly linked with economic decisions. This recognition has led LUC to choose an economic framework as the organizing principle, resulting in a broad set of project activities geared towards providing a biophysical and geographical underpinning to the representation of land-based economic sectors in modeling land and water use decisions. This report addresses foremost researchers outside economics and should be viewed as a modest step towards reducing the deficit in transdisciplinary research, which, until now, has permitted only modest advances in closing the gaps between environment and economic analysis. The role of land in economic theory is surveyed, both from a conceptual and historical perspective. Land has been incorporated in economic theories in various ways. Originally, land used by agriculture was the main motivation for an economic treatment of land. This was gradually extended with various other land use categories. Neoclassical core economic theory gave less attention to land use, generally regarding it as a production factor of relatively little importance. Nevertheless specialized sub-fields within economics such as regional and urban economics met the demand for explicit spatial analysis including land use considerations. More recently, attention for environmental and resource problems has provided incentives for new perspectives on, and conceptualization of, land in economic analysis. To some extent, this is based on an interaction with other disciplines as well as on the use of spatially disaggregate methods of analysis

Challenges faced when energy meets water: CO2 and water implications of power generation in inner Mongolia of China

The number of energy–water nexus studies has been increasing recently due to the significant linkages between energy generation and water consumption, but no study has looked at water quantity and quality impacts as well as carbon emissions associated with electricity production. Using integrated hybrid life cycle analysis, this study examines the life cycle impacts of pulverized coal, wind power and solar power on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, water consumption and water quality in Inner Mongolia, China. Our research findings show that pulverized coal emits 1213.5 g of CO2 per kilowatt-hour (g/kW h) of electricity output, compared with 34.4 g/kW h for wind power and 67.4 g/kW h for solar photovoltaic. Water consumption for pulverized coal, wind power and solar photovoltaic are 3.3, 0.7 and 0.9 l/kW h, respectively. The water requirement to dilute the life cycle chemical oxygen demand (COD) discharge would increase water consumption during production processes of pulverized coal, wind power and solar photovoltaic systems by 0.11, 0.09 and 0.19 l/kW h, respectively. Given that the State Grid Corporation of China aims to increase the power generation capacity that provides power supply to regions outside Inner Mongolia to 120 GW by 2020, electricity outflows could contribute 520 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, which would be similar to the CO2 emissions of the UK in 2010, and 1460.8 million m3 of water. This study reveals that substantial reductions in CO2 emissions and water consumption can be attained if the existing coal-dominated power generation was substituted by wind power in Inner Mongolia

Outsourcing CO2 within China

Recent studies have shown that the high standard of living enjoyed by people in the richest countries often comes at the expense of CO2 emissions produced with technologies of low efficiency in less affluent, developing countries. Less apparent is that this relationship between developed and developing can exist within a single country’s borders, with rich regions consuming and exporting high-value goods and services that depend upon production of low-cost and emission-intensive goods and services from poorer regions in the same country. As the world’s largest emitter of CO2, China is a prominent and important example, struggling to balance rapid economic growth and environmental sustainability across provinces that are in very different stages of development. In this study, we track CO2 emissions embodied in products traded among Chinese provinces and internationally. We find that 57% of China’s emissions are related to goods that are consumed outside of the province where they are produced. For instance, up to 80% of the emissions related to goods consumed in the highly developed coastal provinces are imported from less developed provinces in central and western China where many low–value-added but high–carbon-intensive goods are produced. Without policy attention to this sort of interprovincial carbon leakage, the less developed provinces will struggle to meet their emissions intensity targets, whereas the more developed provinces might achieve their own targets by further outsourcing. Consumption-based accounting of emissions can thus inform effective and equitable climate policy within China

Correspondence: Reply to ‘Reassessing the contribution of natural gas to US CO2 emission reductions since 2007’

Our recent study in this journal quantified the drivers of US CO2 emissions between 1997 and 2013, with particular focus on the decline in emissions after 2007. Based on our findings, we argued that economic recession was more important than substitution of natural gas for coal in the power sector. In their comment, Kotchen and Mansur reevaluate and reinterpret our results to challenge this conclusion. Because their calculations, using two alternative methods, are consistent with our findings, here we respond to their alternative interpretation