Carbon footprint and water footprint in China: Similarities and differences

Abstract Water crisis and carbon emissions are the biggest challenges facing China's environment. International trade has exacerbated the pressures of China's carbon emission and water consumption. This work establishes a multi-region input-output model for time series analysis. It aims to understand how human final demands affect an economy's water consumption and carbon emission by contrasting the similarity and dissimilarity of China's carbon footprint and water footprint. The results show that >90% of China's carbon and water footprints are embodied in trade, and China was a net exporter of embodied carbon and virtual water from 1990 to 2010. This could mean that China is burdened with more environmental pollution and resource pressures in the global supply and demand chain. We find that China's main net export destination of carbon-water-intensive products are developed areas such as North America and Europe, while China's main net import sources are developing areas such as Africa and Southeast Asia. Heavy industry and transportation contain the most carbon footprint in China, while agriculture, fishery and light industry contain the most water footprint. Also, China's embodied carbon and virtual water in diverse sectors in different years vary from region to region. The similarities and differences between China's carbon and water footprints should be considered when making decisions to better governance of climate change and water crisis.