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ABSTRACT The literature emphasizes the important relationships between the consumption and production of food, energy and water, and environmental challenges such as climate change and loss

of biodiversity. New tools are needed to analyse the future dynamics of this nexus. Here, we introduce a set of model-based scenarios and associated Sankey diagrams that enable analysis of

the relevant relationships and dynamics, as well as the options to formulate response strategies. The scenarios show that if no new policies are adopted, food production and energy

generation could further increase by around 60%, and water consumption by around 20% over the period 2015–2050, leading to further degradation of resources and increasing environmental

pressure. Response strategies in terms of climate policies, higher agricultural yields, dietary change and reduction of food waste are analysed to reveal how they may contribute to reversing

these trends, and possibly even lead to a reduction of land use in the future. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your

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institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS CONDUCTING WATER-ENERGY-FOOD NEXUS STUDIES: WHAT, WHY, AND HOW Article Open

access 09 November 2024 GLOBAL IMPACTS OF HEAT AND WATER STRESS ON FOOD PRODUCTION AND SEVERE FOOD INSECURITY Article Open access 22 June 2024 APPLYING THE FOOD–ENERGY–WATER NEXUS CONCEPT AT

THE LOCAL SCALE Article 13 May 2021 DATA AVAILABILITY The data relating to the scenarios described in this paper are available for download from

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this Analysis benefited from funding under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, under grant agreement no 689150 SIM4NEXUS and the PICASSO project (EU ERC,

contract 819566). AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands Detlef P. Van Vuuren, David L.

Bijl, Patrick Bogaart, Stefan C. Dekker, David E. H. J. Gernaat & Mathijs Harmsen * PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, The Hague, the Netherlands Detlef P. Van Vuuren, Elke

Stehfest, Jonathan C. Doelman, David E. H. J. Gernaat & Mathijs Harmsen * Statistics Netherlands, The Hague, the Netherlands Patrick Bogaart * Wageningen University and Research,

Wageningen, the Netherlands Hester Biemans Authors * Detlef P. Van Vuuren View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * David L. Bijl View author

publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Patrick Bogaart View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Elke

Stehfest View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Hester Biemans View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google

Scholar * Stefan C. Dekker View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Jonathan C. Doelman View author publications You can also search for this

author inPubMed Google Scholar * David E. H. J. Gernaat View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Mathijs Harmsen View author publications You

can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS D.P.V.V. and D.L.B. designed the experiments. All authors contributed to the scenario analysis and the writing of the

paper. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Detlef P. Van Vuuren. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing interests. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PUBLISHER’S

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Figs. 1–3, Table 1 and references. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Van Vuuren, D.P., Bijl, D.L., Bogaart, P. _et al._ Integrated

scenarios to support analysis of the food–energy–water nexus. _Nat Sustain_ 2, 1132–1141 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0418-8 Download citation * Received: 02 April 2019 *

Accepted: 02 October 2019 * Published: 02 December 2019 * Issue Date: December 2019 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0418-8 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link

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