Integrated Water and Energy Policy and Governance

Sep 3, 2014 | Stockholm International Water Institute
Stockholm, Sweden

Coordinating energy and water policy is crucial for promoting sustainable development and effectively addressing trade-offs between the two sectors. Successful governance mechanisms seek to align water and energy policies and provide priorities for planning and investment in each sector. Furthermore, they frame the participation of citizens and regulate public sector, businesses, and markets. Despite the connections between the two sectors, energy and water planners routinely make decisions that impact one another without adequately understanding the asymmetry and complexities of the two sectors. 

Misaligned policies often lead to sub-optimal planning and regulation. Integrated Water Resources Management has promoted coordination of allocation of water across users, but energy and water management remains fragmented. New planning realities need to be considered; including resource boundaries, global warming, competitive markets but also innovative technologies in both sectors. These new realities cannot be properly addressed when energy and water planning is carried out in isolation. 

We will explore tools and institutions that incentivize coordinated water and energy management including: multiregional output approaches, targeted investment, and long-term planning. Regional examples including fracking, desalination, and hydropower will show successfully deployed approaches that account for trade-offs. We will explore how to enable policy implementation and to encourage stakeholder participation.