ARTICLE | Journal of Cleaner Production | Vol.352, 2023

Abstract

The nexus of energy, water and greenhouse gas plays a vital role in resource management and response to climate change for all nations. Actions in China is decisive. In this study, the environmentally-extended inputoutput model and structural path analysis are combined to analyze the energy-water-greenhouse gas nexus for China 2017. The sectors of Mining and washing of coal, Production and distribution of water, Mining and washing of coal are revealed to show the highest embodied energy consumption intensity, embodied water consumption intensity, and embodied greenhouse gas emission intensity, respectively. Among all 149 sectors, some sectors are identified to be more sensitive than others: Farming, Production and supply of electricity and steam are more energy water-greenhouse gas sensitive, and Mining and washing of coal, Extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas are more energy-greenhouse gas sensitive, and Animal husbandry, Manufacture of pharmaceutical products are more water-greenhouse gas sensitive. Structural path analysis shows that the top 30 supply chain paths contribute to 34.99% of energy consumption, to 39.18% of water consumption, and to 40.18% of greenhouse gas emissions. By studying the main paths, critical sectors of the energy-water-greenhouse gas nexus are further identified as Farming, Mining and washing of coal, Extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas, Production and supply of electricity and steam, Construction of buildings, Civil engineering. Exploring the energy-water-greenhouse gas nexus of 149 sectors could help to lock the key nodes of China's resource management and greenhouse gas emission control in the supply chains.