Water first, then energy

China’s energy demands are great and growing, but water comes first. As Li Junfeng, Director General of China’s National Center of Climate Change Strategy Research says, unlike oil, China cannot import water to develop the economy and so water will determine future energy mix. Read our in-depth interview with him on why water security takes priority over energy security. Also check out our key takeaways on ‘Water & Energy’ at the World Water Week in Stockholm last month. With governments & companies grappling to balance energy development with limited water, can countries unlock their energy reserves & manage their water resources? WRI’s Adam Maddocks & Paul Reig share three shale tales from China, Argentina & the UK whilst Tommy Patterson from Kreab Gavin Anderson says proceed with caution regarding desalination despite rapid growth. It’s apparent we need innovation across all sectors in order to meet growing demands. An example of this is the new Water Benefit Standard – Brendan Smith from the the Gold Standard Foundation explains how this finance-based framework helps drive financing into water projects. Another innovation is the KAF bio-sand filter – Patrick Cox & Fan Chen of Geo-Life Inc. walks us through how this filters out arsenic contamination in water.