WRI Insights

The new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has committed to being "lean, clean and green." Will its new Environmental and Social Framework achieve that goal? Researchers Gaia Larsen and Sean Gilbert investigate.

The Paris Agreement adopted last year reflects the collective vision of 195 countries, but it's just the start of a longer process. While the Agreement lays out goals, the ability to achieve them depends on the rules, guidelines and processes to be hammered out in the months and years to come.

In a few days, China will release its 13th Five-Year Plan, a new economic, social and environmental blueprint for the country's development through 2020. Recent signs show that the country is already beginning to shift toward a low-carbon pathway, and the new plan provides the opportunity to build on that progress.

Today, more than 300 individuals and organizations launched the Global Call to Action on Indigenous and Community Land Rights. The campaign aims to double the amount of land legally recognized as owned or controlled by Indigenous Peoples and communities by 2020, and eventually, secure lands for all communities and Indigenous Peoples.

The new GLAD alert system on Global Forest Watch can detect tree cover loss in Peru, Republic of Congo and Indonesian Borneo is as little as one week. Previously, governments, forest managers and communities had to wait an entire year to get detailed satellite data on tree cover loss, presenting challenges for law enforcement and anti-deforestation efforts.

Experts often debate the pros and cons of a carbon tax versus a cap-and-trade system. But WRI research finds that if well-designed, both policies can effectively reduce emissions in the United States.

EPA is continuing to provide states with the tools and support to reduce their power sector emissions, and many states and utilities have said they will continue their plans to comply with the Clean Power Plan despite the recent stay.

More and more companies are setting science-based emissions-reduction targets. These targets represent a company’s share of the global carbon budget, the amount of carbon the world can collectively emit while hoping to limit global temperature rise to 2 degrees C.

New research finds that sea levels increased at a faster rate this past century than any other in nearly 3,000 years. While this is old news to the local elected officials on the front lines of coastal flooding in the United States, the findings will hopefully inspire much-needed action at the federal level.

A history of deforestation has made Vietnam, China and South Korea especially vulnerable to coastal storms, floods and sandstorms. In the face of these crises, all three nations are pursuing the same solution&mdashrestoring degraded landscapes.