Mixing oil and water: COST explores sustainable links in energy and water management

08-Jan-2009 - Belgium

In existing policy frameworks, energy and water policies are largely developed in isolation from one another. Little research is undertaken into the relationships and interactions between energy and water and, most importantly, how those links can be accounted for, and incorporated into, international, national and regional policy.

Understanding the links between energy and water, especially in the context of climate change, is essential to achieving sustainable development. Crucially, concrete policy advice and tools on how the energy-water nexus can be accounted for, and managed, in water and energy policy decision-making are required to influence our future.

To examine these issues, COST is organising an invitation-only exploratory workshop in Brussels, from 19 to 21 January 2009. It is the first in a series of workshops on water and energy. The Energy-Water Nexus: Managing the Links between Energy and Water for a Sustainable Future takes place from 19 to 21 January 2009 at Le Châtelain Hotel, Rue du Châtelain 17, 1000 Brussels.

There will be two days of workshop discussions, concluding with a list of policy recommendations. A number of sessions will be accessible to the media. Invited participants will include representatives of EU Institutions, NGOs, the research sector and industry.

This workshop will cover several themes including scale and institutions; data sources, needs and accessibility; innovation and regulation of the private sector; and governance, regulation and management. Participants will come from across Europe, as well as from Asia, the United States and the Middle East.

Speakers on these themes include Cathy Wilson, Los Alamos National Lab, Jamie Pittock, the Australian National University and WWF Research Associate, Trevor Bishop from the Environment Agency in the UK, and Henrik Larsen from the DHI Institution for Water and Environment in Denmark.

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