The traded water footprint of global energy from 2010 to 2018

The energy-water nexus describes the requirement of water-for-energy and energy-for-water. The consumption of water in the production and generation of energy resources is also deemed virtual water. Pairing the virtual water estimates for energy with international trade data creates a virtual water trade network, facilitating analysis of global water resources management. In this database, we identify the virtual water footprints for the trade of eleven different energy commodities including fossil fuels, biomass, and electricity. Additionally, we provide the necessary scripts for downloading and pairing trade data with the virtual water footprints to create a virtual water trade network. The resulting database contains country-to-country virtual water trade from 2010–2018, broken down by commodity. The purpose of this data descriptor is to provide detailed methods and validation of the dataset beyond the complementary research publication. The resulting database provides opportunities to understand global energy-related water demands and advance future global water resources research.