WRI Insights

The open data movement—the idea that certain data should be freely available to everyone—can drive innovation, make government and corporate activities more transparent and improve decision-making about natural resources.

A wood buyer from Washington State and his lumber mill, J&L Tonewoods, were indicted last week on charges of purchasing illegally harvested big leaf maples from the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in violation of the Lacey Act. The act bans illegal wildlife trafficking, and the seven counts of the indictment are the first alleging violations within the United States.

While climate change threatens virtually every community on Earth, adaptation efforts to date have been largely small-scale.

Despite the encouraging expansion of environmental democracy around the world, there are still areas where environmental laws are not being properly or fully implemented. The Environmental Democracy Index reveals four areas where practice is not living up to legal standards.

Australia’s just-announced plan for tackling climate change over the next decade proposes to cut emissions 26-28 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

Recent extreme droughts and floods have forced an evaluation of how water infrastructure impacts other sectors, highlighting the need for a multi-disciplinary, cross-sectoral approach to balance environmental, social and economic concerns against a backdrop of climate change.

China is increasing its ambition in addressing climate change, and it has a strong national interest in sustaining its actions. That’s according to a recent panel of experts convened by WRI’s ChinaFAQs project and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute.

Until now, community solar has largely benefited residential and small non-residential customers in a specific community. Yet there are other stakeholders who also want to get into the shared renewable space—large corporate buyers.

As momentum builds towards the climate negotiations in Paris, national governments are being asked to consider how their countries will contribute to a low-carbon, climate resilient future. With support from international efforts like the Bonn Challenge and the New York Declaration on Forests, many countries are committing to restore degraded land and forests to offset emissions as they improve household income and food security. But while these international frameworks and national commitments are important, it is often the states, provinces and districts that must go beyond commitment to take action.

As a former U.S. energy secretary, UN ambassador and governor of New Mexico, WRI Board Member Bill Richardson has watched the debate over the Clean Power Plan with keen interest. Here he explains how this common-sense rule to cut dangerous air pollution can help U.S. states and the national economy, while putting the United States in a leadership position in dealing with the international issue of climate change.