The Paris pledges and the energy-water-land nexus in Latin America: Exploring implications of greenhouse gas emission reductions

Santos Da Silva, Silvia Regina; Miralles-Wilhelm, Fernando R.; Muñoz Castillo, Raúl; Clarke, Leon E.; Braun, Caleb J.; Delgado, Alison; Edmonds, James A.; Hejazi, Mohamad I.; Horing, Jill D.; Horowitz, Russell L.; Kyle, Gordon P.; Link, Robert P.; Patel, Pralit L.; Turner, Sean WD; McJeon, Haewon C.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0215013

The Paris pledges and the energy-water-land nexus in Latin America: Exploring implications of greenhouse gas emission reductions

Journal Article · Tue Apr 16 04:00:00 EDT 2019 · PLoS One

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215013· OSTI ID:1530591

Santos Da Silva, Silvia Regina ^[1]; Miralles-Wilhelm, Fernando R. ^[1]; Muñoz Castillo, Raúl ^[2]; Clarke, Leon E. ^[3]; Braun, Caleb J. ^[3]; Delgado, Alison ^[3]; ^[3]; Hejazi, Mohamad I. ^[3]; Horing, Jill D. ^[3]; Horowitz, Russell L. ^[3]; Kyle, Gordon P. ^[3]; ^[3]; Patel, Pralit L. ^[3]; Turner, Sean WD ^[3]; McJeon, Haewon C. ^[3]

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
Inter-American Development Bank
BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)

In the 2015 Paris Agreement, nations worldwide pledged emissions reductions (Nationally Determined Contributions—NDCs) to avert the threat of climate change, and agreed to periodically review these pledges to strengthen their level of ambition. Previous studies have analyzed NDCs largely in terms of their implied contribution to limit global warming, their implications on the energy sector or on mitigation costs. Nevertheless, a gap in the literature exists regarding the understanding of implications of the NDCs on countries’ Energy-Water-Land nexus resource systems. The present paper explores this angle within the regional context of Latin America by employing the Global Change Assessment Model, a state-of-the-art integrated assessment model capable of representing key system-wide interactions among nexus sectors and mitigation policies. By focusing on Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia, we stress potential implications on national level water demands depending on countries’ strategies to enforce energy-related emissions reductions and their interplays with the land sector. Despite the differential implications of the Paris pledges on each country, increased water demands for crop and biomass irrigation and for electricity generation stand out as potential trade-offs that may emerge under the NDC policy. Hence, this study underscores the need of considering a nexus resource planning framework (known as “Nexus Approach”) in the forthcoming NDCs updating cycles as a mean to contribute toward sustainable development.

Research Organization:: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

DOE Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830

OSTI ID:: 1530591

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-136697

Journal Information:: PLoS One, Journal Name: PLoS One Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 14

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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