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Commentary

Event Recap: High-level Representatives from G20 Nations Push for Long-term Climate Strategies

On the sidelines of COP24, a group of high-level representatives from fourteen G20 countries gathered in Katowice to discuss their vision for ambitious action to develop and implement long-term climate strategies.

Commentary
Contrasting high and low income housing juxtaposed in Bloubosrand, Johannesburg, June 2016. Photo: Christina Culwick
Commentary

Johannesburg Fights Inequality with Transit-Oriented Development

Like many other big, developing cities, South Africa's largest city struggles with spatial inequality, where good jobs and affordable housing are mismatched. To bridge the gap, they've turned to a new planning paradigm called transit-oriented development.

Commentary
Rio de Janeiro is surrounded by forested hills. Photo by Carlos Ortega/Flickr
Commentary

Restoring Rio de Janeiro’s Forests Could Save $79 Million in Water Treatment Costs

For the cash-strapped government of Rio de Janeiro, restoring forests around the city is a smart investment. New research shows that forests can provide Rio with better water quality at lower cost.

Commentary
community workshop in India
Commentary

4 Ways Cities Can Build More Climate-Resilient Neighborhoods

Cities in Brazil, India and Indonesia are using the new Urban Community Resilience Assessment tool to prepare for a warmer world.

Commentary
coal miner
Commentary

A Carbon Price Can Benefit the Poor While Reducing Emissions

Climate discussions tend to focus on raising ambition—getting countries to reduce more emissions, faster.  But there’s an equally important issue that gets far less attention: ensuring climate action doesn’t leave anyone behind, particularly the world’s most vulnerable people.

Commentary
Malawian youth in garden
Commentary

Malawi is Putting its Money Where its Forests Are

Malawi's growing population depends on forests for wood or charcoal for cooking, but these forests are being cleared for agriculture, which 80 percent of Malawians rely on to support themselves. To combat this potentially disastrous trend, Malawi's government plans to pay its young people to plant trees.

Commentary
Commentary

Wanted: $325 Million for Federal R&D to Jumpstart Carbon Removal

Steep reductions in carbon emissions will be critical to avoid the most dangerous impacts of climate change, but that won’t be enough. Capturing and storing carbon already in the air must be part of our climate strategy in the United States and around the world.

Commentary
Plastic litter along Singapore’s East Coast Parkway
Commentary

Plastic Is Your Frenemy

Before plastics became nature's enemy — back in the mid-19th century — they were meant to be nature's friend. Here and now, plastics have become civilization's frenemy. Businesses need to adjust to that.

Commentary
Children crossing street in Tanzania
Commentary

5 Cities Show What Urban Transformation Really Looks Like

From a waste-pickers’ cooperative in India to a cable-car system in Colombia's slums, we're beginning to see what innovative urbanization can look like.

Commentary
Climate activists outside House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office
Commentary

Young People Rally for Green New Deal in Washington as Trump Administration Promotes Fossil Fuels at World Climate Talks

Even as climate negotiators in Poland laughed at the U.S. administration's promotion of fossil fuels, activists rallied for a Green New Deal in Washington. What they want is congressional support for climate action that would be embedded in the broader U.S. agenda of economic reform, public investment, job creation and social justice.

Commentary

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