WRI Insights

Germany is in the midst of an unprecedented clean energy revolution. Thanks to the [“Energiewende,”](http://energytransition.de/) a strategy to revamp the national energy system, Germany aims to reduce its overall energy consumption and move to 80 percent renewable energy by 2050. The country has already made considerable progress toward achieving this ambitious goal.

Increased industrialization in Asia has created countless hurdles for communities to protect themselves from pollution. Important government information—such as the amount of pollutants being discharged by nearby factories or results from local air and water quality monitoring—still isn’t readily accessible in user-friendly formats. [This practice](http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/04/action-plan-environmental-justice-latin-america-and-caribbean) often leaves the public entirely out of decision-making processes on issues like regulating pollution or [expanding industrial factories](http://insights.wri.org/news/2012/09/can-access-information-protect-communities-pollution-lesson-map-ta-phut-thailand). In many cases, the public lack the information they need to understand and shield themselves from harmful environmental, social, and health impacts.

Chinese [overseas investments](http://insights.wri.org/news/2012/12/closer-look-chinas-overseas-investment) are rapidly increasing. As of 2011, China’s outward foreign direct investments (OFDI) spread across 132 countries and regions and topped USD 60 billion annually, [ranking ninth globally](http://unctadstat.unctad.org/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=88) according to U.N. Conference on Trade and Development statistics. A significant amount of this increasing OFDI [goes to](http://wzs.ndrc.gov.cn/gzdt/t20111114_444211.htm) the energy and resources sectors—[much of it](http://wzs.ndrc.gov.cn/gzdt/t20111114_444211.htm) in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

U.S. natural gas production is booming. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), production [grew by 23 percent](http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/index.cfm) from 2007 to 2012. Now—with production projected to continue growing in the decades ahead—U.S. lawmakers and companies are considering exporting this resource internationally. But what are the climate implications of doing so?

How can Indonesia—the world’s fourth-most populous country and an emerging economic powerhouse—[reduce deforestation](http://insights.wri.org/news/2012/11/false-choice-between-palm-oil-and-indonesian-forests) and promote sustainable development across its vast, rapidly changing landscape?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [recently released](https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/us-greenhouse-gas-inventory-report-1990-2014) its annual greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory report. Using new data and information, the EPA lowered its estimate of [fugitive methane emissions](http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/04/close-look-fugitive-methane-emissions-natural-gas) from natural gas development by 33 percent, from 10.3 million metric tons (MMT) in 2010 to 6.9 MMT in 2011. While such a reduction, if confirmed by measurement data, would undeniably be a welcome development, it doesn’t mean that the problem is solved.

How can we make climate change adaptation measures more effective? I recently traveled to Dhaka, Bangladesh to discuss ways to address that very question.

A slight breath of fresh air entered the [UNFCCC climate negotiations](http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/04/2-big-issues-watch-week%E2%80%99s-bonn-climate-talks) this week in Bonn, Germany. Held in the old German parliament—which was designed to demonstrate transparency and light—the meeting took on a more open feel than the [past several COPs](http://insights.wri.org/news/2012/12/reflections-cop-18-doha-negotiators-made-only-incremental-progress) and intersessionals.

I recently had a frustrating experience. It all started during a casual conversation with one of my mother’s friends. After hearing a bit about my role as CFO of the World Resources Institute, my mother’s friend informed me that she regularly contributes to charities. In fact, she stated proudly, she only donates to organizations with “low overhead”-- that is, to groups that spend the lion’s share of their funding on program expenses and only a small amount on fundraising and administrative costs. I couldn’t help but shake my head--not only because I disagreed with her, but because it’s a sentiment we hear all too often in the non-profit world.

A new report from CERES draws a connection between water risk and hydraulic fracturing in the United States. The report adds an important dimension to the conversation about how energy use and water stress will play out in the years ahead.