China's Electricity-Water Nexus in Global Supply Chains: the Dominant Role of Non-electricity Trade and Consumption

Enormous electricity demand puts heavy pressure on China's water resources. Therefore, this study explores the historical evolution of China's electricity-related water use embodied in global supply chains from 1995 to 2022 by means of embodiment accounting. Though China's international electricity trade continues expanding, a larger volume of electricity-related water is associated with non-electricity trade (especially through the service and public sectors). Consequently, China is a net importer of electricity-related embodied water in electricity trade, whereas it turns out to be a net exporter when considering non-electricity trade. Non-electricity sectors also contribute 62.34%--97.89% to embodied water use in China's final consumption. Besides, China is getting closer to more trade partners over time. The USA, India, and Mexico are major recipients of China's electricity-related embodied water use. Their net imports from China in 2022 were approximately 2, 339, and 15 times their 1995 levels, respectively, together accounting for 48.31% of China's net electricity-related embodied water outflows. While large amounts of electricity-related water flows from China to the world, over 99% of electricity-related water use embodied in China's final consumption is constituted by the local water source. The results highlight the significance of designing water-electricity policies based on systematic embodiment accounting, which not only includes on-site water exploitation of power generation from the production side, but also the influence of non-electricity commodities on electricity-related water use from the consumption side.