Sustainable water and emissions management in agriculture: The water-emissions-food nexus in China

Studying the water-emissions-food nexus (WEF Nexus) is crucial for the sustainability of agricultural economic systems. The multi-regional input–output (MRIO) model provides insights for water-emissions-food integrated collaborative management. This study develops a detailed agriculture-oriented MRIO model based on the RAS method, which disaggregates the agricultural sector into 12 sub-sectors. The water consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are allocated to the entire supply chain to identify the key regions and routes of the WEF Nexus in China for 2017. Then the environmental output level of the agricultural sector and its sub-sectors is analyzed using productivity indicators. Results demonstrate that the agricultural sector exhibits a strongly connected WEF Nexus (coefficient of 0.87), particularly in Coastal and Southwest regions. The synergistic relationship between water and emissions suggests significant opportunities for implementing integrated management strategies. 73.3% of virtual water and 71.7% of embodied emissions are concentrated in downstream non-agricultural sectors of supply chains, highlighting the substantial impact of trade transmission on the environment. The water and emissions productivity in the agricultural sector are spatially aligned except in the Central and Southwest regions. As significant agricultural output regions, Northeast and Central regions have lower water or emissions productivity, making sustainable agricultural development more challenging. Therefore, practical measures should focus on promoting technological innovation and its adoption to enhance water use efficiency and reduce GHG emissions in agricultural production. • A detailed agriculture-oriented multi-regional input–output model is developed. • The agricultural sector is characterized by a high-intensive water-emissions-food nexus. • 73.3% of blue water and 71.7% of GHG emissions are embodied in downstream non-agricultural sectors. • The spatial distribution of water and emissions productivity shows inconsistency in the Central and Southwestern regions. • Cereal and livestock sectors are identified as the major contributing agricultural sub-sectors for integrated water-emissions-food management.