Topic: climate change

This working paper presents positive trends and overarching gaps in how countries designing programs to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) are proposing to address governance challenges. It can serve as a starting point to help governments, donors, and civil society groups identify where additional analysis, financial support, and capacity-building are needed to build effective REDD+ strategies, systems, and institutions.

This working paper focuses primarily on evaluating and reducing upstream methane emissions in the natural gas sector. We outline a number of state and federal policies and industry best practices to cost-effectively reduce fugitive methane emissions.

WRI and the ClimateWorks Foundation convened climate policy experts for a Practitioners’ Workshop on Climate Policy Tracking in October 2012. Informed by the workshop, this working paper presents a landscape assessment of independent efforts to track the adoption, implementation, and impact of climate change policies around the world. It provides guidance for researchers, funders, and governments on filling high-priority information gaps regarding climate change policy.

Stricken by record heat, wildfires, drought, and hurricanes, the United States endured devastating impacts from extreme weather and climate events in 2012. This fact sheet outlines the records broken by these extreme events, which are expected to become more frequent as the climate warms.

This report examines opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States through actions taken at the federal and state levels without the need for new legislation from the U.S. Congress. It can serve as a road map for action by providing both a legal and technical analysis of these opportunities.

In this testimony, Jennifer Morgan, Director of WRI’s Climate and Energy program, describes the energy risks and opportunities that climate change presents; the role that clean energy can play in the U.S. energy mix; and actions Congress can take to mitigate global warming’s threats.