The Bioenergy and water nexus (UNEP, 2011)

Energy and water are key to development: they were prerequisites for the first industrial revolution and they will be key to a new kind of 21st century development path that echoes to the risks but also opportunities of modern times. UNEP’s report  Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication estimates that investing 2% of global GDP into ten key sectors - among which energy and water are central - can catalyze this transition if supported by forward-looking national and international public policymaking. Good public policy, however requires good scientific and analytical evidence on the risks and the opportunities of different kinds of technologies and development choices.  This new report, building on the work of various new initiatives including UNEP’s International Resource Panel, provides recommendations and outlines options in respect to bioenergy in support of a Green Economy transition. The first point is that all forms of energy have, to a greater or lesser extent, an impact on water resources. Fossil fuel and nuclear power stations, for example require a significant quantity of water for cooling. Bioenergy’s water demands are in large part linked with the growing and processing of feedstocks such as crops which, in turn, has important implications for sustainable agriculture, land use and food production.

Creator	© United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Oeko-Institut and IEA Bioenergy Task 43, 2011
Publisher	© United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Oeko-Institut and IEA Bioenergy Task 43, 2011
Type of document	Report
Rights	Public
File link	http://www.unep.org/pdf/Water_Nexus.pdf
File link local	Water_Nexus.pdf (PDF, 4474 Kb)
Source of information	UNEP
Keyword(s)	water nexus, bioenergy
Subject(s)	ENERGY , HYDRAULICS - HYDROLOGY , INDUSTRY , INFRASTRUCTURES , NATURAL MEDIUM
Geographical coverage	n/a