Toxic air pollution. Plastic-filled oceans. Sucking carbon from the skies. These are just a few of the stories that will shape 2018's legacy.
Fourteen of India’s 20 largest thermal utilities experienced at least one shutdown due to water shortages between 2013-2016, at a cost of $1.4 billion. It's a taste of what's to come in a warmer, more crowded world.
Power plants use a lot of water for cooling, but most don't disclose how much. A new WRI methodology calculates their thirst by using Google Earth images.
Ethiopia, the fastest growing global economy, aims to increase prosperity for its citizens. Climate change, conflicting water demands and watershed degradation could stand in its way. Sustainable water management will be essential to maintaining Ethiopia's progress.
Water’s usability doesn’t need to end once it's flushed down the drain. Rather, India can see industrial and domestic wastewater as a valuable resource from which water, nutrients and even renewable energy can be extracted.
Water security drives state stability and safety in many regions of the world. The direct and indirect effects of water stress—such as migration, food shortages and general destabilization—transcend national boundaries.
More than 678 million Chinese citizens now live in areas facing high or extremely high water stress. Industrialization and urbanization are to blame.
A changing climate means less rain and lower water supplies in regions where many people live and much of the planet's food is produced, as clouds retreat toward the North and South poles. A new study shows this cloud shift is already taking place, with huge implications for agriculture, industry and municipal water provisioning.
Research on future water risk finds that rapidly growing demand for water will drive the greatest increase in water stress, even more so than supply changes caused by droughts and other extreme events.
More than 100 companies have now committed to use the best science available as the basis for setting greenhouse gas emissions-reduction targets. Targets informed by science might well be effective in reducing risks posed by water as well—but there are hurdles to overcome first.
