WRI Insights

While many countries have made climate adaptation commitments, few have actually turned them into action. New WRI research details strategies to bridge the implementation gap.

Scientists have calculated the amount of carbon dioxide the world can emit while limiting warming to the internationally agreed upon goals of 1.5°C-2°C. This amount is our “carbon budget.” We're on track to exceed it in little more than a decade.

Countries around the world agreed to limit global temperature rise to 1.5˚C-2˚C. A new IPCC report finds that the half-degree difference matters—a lot.

New research from the world's leading climate scientists finds that annual emissions will need to be roughly half what they are today by 2030 in order to limit temperature rise to 1.5˚C. Exceeding this level of warming will bring climate impacts so catastrophic the world will be unrecognizable.

Social network analysis has been used in fields as diverse as epidemiology and counterterrorism. Now, WRI experts have devised a guidebook for applying social network analysis to environmental interventions and sustainable development.

Electric car sales hit U.S. records this year, with almost 66,000 sold just in July and August, more than double the number sold during the same period in 2017. Media campaigns can help spur this growing demand, but in the absence of federal leadership, automakers need to step up to support this low-emissions mode of transport.

If tropical deforestation were a country, it would rank third in global emissions behind China and the United States. Tree cover loss is on the rise, but channeling climate mitigation finance towards forests could change the course of the world's climate.

Shorter blocks, narrower lanes, chicanes, roundabouts, speed humps and raised crossings can make roads safer.

Short-lived climate pollutants like hydrofluorocarbons, black carbon and methane aren't as well-known as carbon dioxide. But they have a powerful impact on the climate and on human health, and more countries need to develop plans to cut their emissions.

With a million dollars at stake, a crack team of scientists combined cutting-edge technologies to address one of Indonesia's pressing environmental challenges: mapping the extensive peatlands that sequester massive amounts of carbon.