WRI Insights

Robin Chase, founder of [Zipcar](http://www.zipcar.com/), [Buzzcar](http://www.buzzcar.com/en/), and [GoLoco.org](http://goloco.org) and speaker at the upcoming [Transforming Transportation 2015](http://www.transformingtransportation.org/) shares insights on how cities can advance environmentally sustainable and people-centered transportation solutions.

For those of us interested in shifting the needle towards a more sustainable future, 2014–which may be the hottest year ever recorded–offered numerous candidates for top new insight.

WRI prides itself on making big ideas happen. For the past three decades, we've used rigorous research as a basis for creating positive change on the ground. The result is [dozens of outcomes](http://www.wri.org/our-work/outcomes) in cities, regions and countries around the world.

Improving environmental democracy initiatives is critical, as decision-makers negotiate the [post-2015 sustainable development goals](http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgs.html)(SDGs) and countries make commitments to the [Open Government Partnership (OGP)](http://www.opengovpartnership.org/), an international initiative to improve government transparency.

Last month, 40 nations agreed to restore 5 million hectares (12.4 million acres) of degraded lands and areas of low-quality bamboo production into productive, healthy bamboo forests at the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan’s (INBAR) Ninth Council Session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This pledge will help answer the Bonn Challenge—an effort to pledge to have 150 million hectares (370 million acres) of degraded and deforested lands in restoration programs by 2020—and could create significant environmental and climate benefits, if bamboo can overcome its image problem.

Roughly 1.3 billion people around the world lack electricity, and more than 3 billion live in rural areas that may experience poor internet connectivity. How can we ensure that digital tools benefit the communities that oftentimes need them the most?

Oil prices are plummeting, the United States and China made a major joint climate announcement, and renewable energy reached price parity with coal in a growing number of markets. Iconic tech companies—including Google and Apple—are playing a larger role in both renewable energy and home energy efficiency. Against this backdrop, 2014 is on track to go down as the world’s hottest year ever recorded. Already, the first 10 months of 2014 have been the hottest on record globally. This is a troubling trend.

Despite difficult negotiations in Lima, discussions signaled the positive outlook among development banks for expanding climate finance in Latin America and the Caribbean. With increasing low-carbon investments, pledges to the Green Climate Fund, and ambitious renewable energy and efficiency targets demonstrate robust political and financial commitments, building momentum for a strong global response to climate change.

Last month India pledged to increase national solar generation capacity to 100 gigawatts (GW) by 2022, but connecting solar projects to the country’s grid has been difficult in the past and could limit progress toward the new goal. Fortunately, an innovative decision by the Indian state of Karnataka may show how to solve the problem.

Lawrence McDonald, Director of Communications at WRI, shares his COP20 Lima experience.