Measuring the environmental performance of the EU27 from the Water-Energy-Carbon nexus perspective

This study seeks to estimate the Water-Energy-Carbon (WEC) nexus in the EU27 by using the Environmental Input-Output (EIO) model. The Embodied Water Consumption Coefficients (EWCC), Embodied Energy Consumption Coefficients (EECC) and Embodied CO2 Emission Coefficients (ECEC) are explored. Both the direct and indirect values of the above indicators are investigated. Water efficiency, energy efficiency and CO2 emission index per capita are calculated as well. The results identify the water and energy efficiencies, and carbon emission intensity of different countries in the EU27: 1) EU27 has higher average water efficiency (27 m3/k€) and energy efficiency (8.8 MJ/€) than the worldwide (75 m3/k€, 13.9 MJ/€), however, with more per capita consumption of water (1,332 m3) and energy (0.43 TJ), and CO2 emission (14 t); 2) Germany, France and Austria are the most eco-friendly countries, on the contrary, Bulgaria, Greece, Poland and Romania are water- energy- and carbon-intensivee; 3) France (0.42 TJ/cap), Sweden (0.7 TJ/cap), Lithuania (0.36 TJ/cap) and Portugal (0.29 TJ/cap) consume more energy and have less CO2 emissions because of higher renewable energy share; 4) Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Estonia and Malta import the most embodied water and energy per GDP, and transfer the most CO2 emission to the upstream countries. This study can contribute to understanding the environmental performance in the EU27, and provide a reference for future studies of other regions in the world.