*Article* **Carbon Dioxide Emission Equivalent Analysis of Water Resource Behaviors: Determination and Application of CEEA Function Table**

**Qiting Zuo 1,2 , Zhizhuo Zhang 1,\*, Junxia Ma 1,2 , Chenguang Zhao <sup>1</sup> and Xi Qin <sup>1</sup>**


**Abstract:** To achieve the global temperature control target under the background of climate warming, it is necessary to establish a systematic carbon dioxide (CO<sup>2</sup> ) emission accounting method system in the field of water resources as soon as possible. In this study, the carbon dioxide emission equivalent analysis (CEEA) method for different water resource behaviors (WRBs) is proposed from four dimensions of development, allocation, utilization, and protection, and a function table of CEEA (FT-CEEA) for WRBs is constructed. The FT-CEEA includes CEEA formulae for 16 aspects in four categories of water resource development, allocation, utilization, and protection. The CEEA method is applied to 31 provinces in China. The results reveal that: (1) There are significant spatial differences in the carbon dioxide emission equivalent (CEE) of WRBs in different provinces of China under the influence of various factors such as water supply structure and natural conditions. (2) Reservoir storage, tap water allocation, and wastewater treatment are the main contributors to CEE in the categories of water resource development, allocation, and protection behaviors, respectively. (3) The water resource utilization behavior category has the most significant CO<sup>2</sup> emission and absorption effects, and industrial and domestic water utilization behaviors are the main sources of emission effects. (4) The overall CO<sup>2</sup> emission effect of WRBs is greater than the absorption effect. Measures such as increasing the proportion of hydroelectric power generation, improving ecological water security capacity, and strengthening the level of wastewater treatment and reclaimed water reuse are effective ways to promote the goal of carbon neutrality in the field of water resources.

**Keywords:** water resource behaviors (WRBs); carbon dioxide emission equivalent (CEE); equivalent analysis; carbon dioxide emission equivalent analysis (CEEA); function table of carbon dioxide emission equivalent analysis (FT-CEEA)

Received: 10 January 2023 Revised: 18 January 2023 Accepted: 18 January 2023

Published: 20 January 2023

Academic Editor: Songhao Shang

**Citation:** Zuo, Q.; Zhang, Z.; Ma, J.; Zhao, C.; Qin, X. Carbon Dioxide Emission Equivalent Analysis of Water Resource Behaviors: Determination and Application of CEEA Function Table. *Water* **2023**, *15*, 431. https://doi.org/10.3390/

w15030431

**Copyright:** © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).
