Improving Water Quality

Nutrient pollution from agricultural run-off is the number one water quality problem in the United States. WRI is working to develop, demonstrate and test market-based tools that will help solve this problem. Using the internet (http://www.nutrientnet.org), we have created a nutrient-trading market that will help farmers profit from the reduction of agricultural run-off.

In conjunction with this web-based solution, we are working to identify the best policies to help the U.S. agricultural community reduce its contribution to the hypoxic 'dead zone' in the Gulf of Mexico and how these policies may also impact other environmental concerns like climate change. By working closely with other environmental organizations and local stakeholders in the Mississippi River Basin, we aim to develop a set of water quality policies that will be embraced by conservationists and farmers alike.

Greening the Stock Market

Today's stock markets largely ignore the financial implications the environment. Analysts and investors remain in the dark about how environmental issues affect a company's bottom line, while the markets as a whole fail to reward good environmental performers and to penalize poor performers.

In 2000, the Economics Program at WRI pioneered a new approach that allows investors to calculate the financial implications of companies' environmental performance (see capital markets). We are now using this methodology, developed through extensive consultation with members of the corporate, financial, and regulatory communities, to demonstrate how environmental issues facing 17 oil and gas companies, including BP, Shell and ExxonMobil, can affect company earnings, asset values, and stockholder equity. We look forward to reporting our findings in the summer of 2002.

Developing Markets for Green Power

Many companies have indicated that as long as stable prices, performance, and availability are ensured, they would prefer to use renewable energy, such as wind, solar, and geothermal power. As a result, WRI established the Green Power Market Development Group, bringing together the world's leading corporations to promote a market for clean, renewable energy sources. Currently, development of new sources of clean energy is severely hindered by market barriers and incentives that favor conventional fossil fuel technologies.

The goal of the Green Power group goal is to develop 1,000 megawatts of cost-competitive green power by 2010 - enough to replace a large coal-fired power plant. By advancing green power, WRI hopes to enhance markets for alternative sources of energy technologies that will reduce the environmental impact of energy generation and use. Visit www.thegreenpowergroup.org for more information.

Integrating Trade and the Environment

Environmental regulators and policymakers in Latin American lack information on the interactions between trade, economic growth and environment sustainability. WRI, in partnership with the Organization of American States Inter-American Forum on Environmental Law (OAS/FIDA) and the North-South Center at the University of Miami, is working with Latin American and Caribbean governments and non-governmental counterparts to address the environmental issues that will arise in the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Our goal is to stimulate research and dialogue within Latin America to anticipate the environmental effects of trade liberalization and promote concrete policy responses at a national and regional level to address those effects. Our vision is to create an FTAA that will be economically beneficial and environmentally sensitive.

Reducing the Effects of Red Tides

Once found only in limited numbers, red tides now occur with increasing severity and regularity, killing thousands of fish and causing millions of dollars in damage. These algal blooms are a naturally occurring phenomenon that provide food for shellfish, crustaceans and marine life. They have the potential, however, to cause significant damage to marine life either by poisoning the water or depleting its oxygen supply and effectively suffocating the creatures below. WRI, in partnership with local organizations and officials in China's Bohai Sea, is working to better understand the causes of red tides in hopes of finding ways to reduce their impact. We seek solutions hat benefit the environment and are economically sustainable for the fishermen and families of the Bohai Sea.