Understanding the Changing Water-Energy-Food Nexus in Kuwait and the Gulf Region

Setting the context: Declan Conway, LSE Grantham Institute (15 mins) An emerging concept, the water-energy-food nexus is receiving increased attention in science and policy circles. What is it? What added value does it have? And how is it developed, applied and used globally?

The nexus in Kuwait and the Gulf states

The Kuwait nexus – a nexus at a different scale: Christian Siderius, LSE Grantham Institute (15 mins) With little water and limited domestic food production, Kuwait’s water-food-energy nexus is dominated by energy exports, paying for food imports and water desalination. How does this affect trade-offs and synergies? How different is Kuwait’s nexus from that of other countries? The reliance on food imports also adds an international dimension to Kuwait’s nexus, including the embedded/virtual water from regions that may be increasingly water stressed. A third dimension to the nexus is added through the climate mitigation discussion; what are current estimates of the ‘social cost of carbon’ and how could they affect Kuwait’s nexus? Changes over time and implications for Kuwait: Mohamad Yassine (15 mins) The nexus equilibrium continually changes over time by sets of interacting internal and external forces. In Kuwait, some of the most influential forces are prices of oi and food, and their global supply and demand. How do specific policies affect the nexus dynamics over-time? Should Kuwait increase or decrease subsidies? Should Kuwait invest in renewable energy or in carbon capture? How should we diversify? How can shocks and gradual changes such as geopolitical, socioeconomic, or even climatic be viewed through a nexus lens?

Global perspective

Putting a price on carbon is the most effective economic tool for responding to the climate change externality and it could strongly affect Kuwait’s nexus. A patchwork of emissions trading systems (ETSs), covering almost a quarter of global emissions, are now operational in jurisdictions including the EU, Switzerland, South Korea, New Zealand, China as well as several US states, Canadian provinces and Mexico. Many more are in the pipeline. While carbon taxes and emissions trading schemes are key policy instruments in climate change mitigation, the level of carbon prices and their sectorial coverage varies widely. Yet, the energy sector is often covered. How carbon pricing will evolve in the future and which are the potential effects on Kuwait’s nexus?

Future Collaboration

Open Discussion