The World Bank has underscored the importance of energy-water nexus in environmental conservation with the launch of a unique ‘Thirsty Energy’ project on a global scale. Water and energy are two critical resources that are closely interlinked. However, the management of these resources often takes place in a disjointed and uncoordinated manner across the world. The Thirsty Energy initiative aspires to change that.

 

The initiative is based on a World Bank report of 2013 that had listed out a range of recommendations to manage the energy-water nexus. Some of the key recommendations included improved modeling in both energy and water sectors, greater collective planning, regulatory changes, and increased public and stakeholder involvement in developing innovative solutions.

 

The goal of the Thirsty Energy initiative is to help countries begin the process of efficiently co-managing their water and power planning. The initiative will help the countries work through their departments by bringing in experts from World Bank’s own water and energy programs, as well as from the public and private sectors to counter the threat of a resource-constrained future. The initiative will offer assessment tools and management frameworks to enable coordinated decision making by the governments while planning for future water and energy infrastructure.

 

The World Bank believes that climate variation is likely to make the management of water and energy resources anomaly challenging. Climate changes will cause more water variability and extreme weather conditions, such as severe floods and droughts. Furthermore, a global water crisis is already emerging and many countries are facing power supply constraints.