The levelized cost of electricity, or LCOE, is an often-misused measure of electricity generation costs. It is the average cost of producing a unit of electricity during a generating plant’s lifetime. Because of its simplicity and visual appeal, LCOE makes frequent appearances in the media. It is sometimes used to argue that investors or...
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Decisions from utility commissions across the country suggest natural gas' time as a "bridge fuel" may be short—renewables are already often preferred and cheaper.
As developing countries increasingly experience the impacts of climate change, ensuring that they have efficient access to adaptation funding is ever more urgent. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is one of the world’s largest sources of finance for climate adaptation, and importantly, most of its finance is concessional, meaning it is delivered with significant grant components. It is therefore essential that the GCF Board, which meets this weekend, get the GCF’s approach to adaptation right.
However,...
Monitoring and evaluation of local adaptation grants presents significant challenges. In a new report, WRI researchers lay out some practical steps to ensuring that limited funds catalyze effective action.
Nevada's new measure to strengthen its Clean Electricity Standard is the latest in a series of legislative moves to drive the transition to low-carbon energy in the United States. That makes it a good time to review the newest research and consider whether such standards are good policy.
Advances in science and technology mean that we can better measure emissions. A "refinement" to the existing guidelines lays out how countries can better report to the IPCC, giving us a better picture than ever of what we need to do to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.
The Paris Agreement told us "what to do": achieve a carbon-neutral and resilient world by mid-century. The guidelines for implementing the Agreement that were adopted at the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24), in Katowice, Poland, detailed "how" we might get there. Ideally, countries should just be able to roll up their sleeves, intensify their efforts, and turn the Paris Agreement into climate action on the ground. Yet this is easier said than done, and equipping countries with the proper tools and resources will be key to making that happen.
One key set of requirements in the...
This blog was originally posted on the World Bank's Sustainable Cities blog.
Heavy rain and severe flooding brought the city of Colombo, Sri Lanka, to its knees. In China’s Yangtze River Basin, rivers spilled their banks, inundating towns and villages. In Mobile Bay, Alabama, strong ocean waves carried away valuable coastline.
In each of these locations, disasters caused by natural hazards seemed beyond human control. But instead of focusing only on...
Under the Paris Agreement, countries' long-term climate strategies are meant to plan into the middle of the century. But we have limited ability to foresee future technology, business, lifestyle and political developments. How can policymakers deal with this uncertainty?
We don't know the future. We do know there would be huge benefits to shifting towards a low-carbon economy. Here are answers to seven of the most-asked questions about the economics of the NCE report.