This Research Topic is part of a series celebrating 10 years of Water-Food-Energy (WEF) Nexus research and implementation. You can view the other collections in the series here:

Water, energy and food are essential for human well-being and sustainable development, and their availability and production are highly interconnected. Water is used along the entire food supply chain, from production to distribution, and it is used to produce and transport energy. At the same time, energy is required to produce, transport and distribute food as well as to extract, collect, transport and treat water.

Global projections of population growth and mobility, urbanisation, economic development and technological changes indicate that demand for food, freshwater and energy will increase significantly over the next decades, challenging the sustainability of the water-energy-food nexus.

The water-energy-food nexus is tightly related with climate background state and variability, and climate change is then expected to further exacerbate the projected stress. Increasing temperature will lead to higher energy demand for air conditioning, especially in urban areas. At the same time, the growing renewable energy sector should face the threats of climate change. Changes in precipitation patterns will lead to water stress on the agricultural sector, eventually threatening food security. The water-energy-food nexus will be particularly affected in developing countries where climate change is expected to have the strongest impact.

Climate models have been proved to provide a reliable picture of the observed evolution of global temperature during the 21st century. However, uncertainties still affect future predictions and projections at the regional and local scales, especially concerning the timing and amplitude of the change signals. Regional and local patterns are crucial in determining climate impacts, especially for the water-energy-food nexus. Therefore, the aim of this Research Topic is to provide a space for discussing on recent advances on the understanding of the impact of past, current and future climate variability and change on the water-energy-food nexus, and presenting perspectives for the implementation of concrete future sustainability actions.

The scope of this Research Topic is to collect original research and review papers on the impact of past, current and future climate variability and change on the water-energy-food nexus. Papers should focus on:
1) Assessing climate variability and change impact on:
- Occurrence of water stress conditions and drought;
- Agricultural productivity and food security;
- Energy demand and renewable energy availability.
2) Applying global and regional climate modelling to study the impact of climate variability and change on the water-energy-food nexus.
3) Highlighting interdependencies to achieve water, energy and food security.
4) Implementing Climate Services for the water-energy-food nexus.

Works including a multidisciplinary perspective, as well as focusing on developing countries, are especially encouraged.

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Frontiers in Climate

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