Publications
WRI is committed to producing high-quality research, including reports, issue briefs, working papers, and technical notes. Our publications are subject to peer review, and are held to traditional "academic" standards of excellence, such as objectivity and rigor. We also ensure that all of our publications are timely, fit for audience, and rooted in a strategic plan for achieving positive change in the world. If you notice an error in one of our publications or have concerns about the quality of our research, please contact the authors and copy Vice President for Science and Research Janet Ranganathan.
All of our publications are available to download.
The World Resources Report is the flagship publication of World Resources Institute. The inaugural edition, An Assessment of the Resource Base that Supports the Global Economy, was published in 1986. Subsequent editions have been published at regular intervals and have provided in-depth analyses of issues ranging from human health and the environment to climate change, ecosystem services and environmental governance. Every World Resources Report builds on a strong evidence base to develop fresh insights that can help decision-makers evaluate and implement the most effective solutions.
Creating a Sustainable Food Future
Sustainably feeding nearly 10 billion people by 2050 is possible – but it will require significant innovation and investment by the public and private sector.
Towards a More Equal City
The World Resources Report: Towards a More Equal City focuses on helping cities in rapidly urbanizing regions alter their development trajectories as demand for infrastructure and services grow.
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Barriers to Adopting Electric Buses
by , , and -Electric buses, which have zero tailpipe emissions, hold the potential to provide outsized air quality and climate benefits. Faster adoption of cleaner buses is an important part of the bigger climate solution, helping put cities on track towards sustainability. Despite the promise of electric...
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How to Enable Electric Bus Adoption in Cities Worldwide
by , , and -Electric buses could pioneer a new age of clean and efficient urban transport and put cities on track towards sustainability. However, electric bus adoption is not accelerating fast enough for the world to meet transport-related global climate objectives and help limit global temperature rise to...
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From Mobility to Access for All: Expanding Urban Transportation Choices in the Global South
by , and -Many cities are experiencing a decline in access to jobs, services and people due to a confluence of two trends: rapid urbanization and motorization. Lack of access afflicts both low-income communities scattered throughout the city and low- to medium-income people living in suburbs and...
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Restoration Opportunities Atlas of India
by , , , , , and -Protecting forests from degradation, deforestation and fragmentation, and tree-based landscape restoration are globally recognised as cost-effective solutions for combatting climate change. As part of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris climate agreement, India committed...
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Choosing the Right Path
Low-Cost Policy Options for Enhancing Mexico’s Climate Goals While Achieving Long-Term Social Benefits
by , , , and -New WRI analysis indicates that Mexico can save more than 25,000 lives and $5 billion in public health costs over the next 12 years by aggressively pursuing policies and actions that reduce air pollution and the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.
Addressing three sectors...
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Mainstreaming Adaptation in Action: Case Studies from Two States in India
by , , and -India will face considerable and varied climate change impacts in the coming decades. The country has a large population with high poverty and low adaptive capacity, heavy dependence on climate-sensitive sectors, and is likely to face negative climate change impacts. These factors make...
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Guadalajara: Revisiting Public Space Interventions through the Via RecreActiva
by , and -This case study in the World Resources Report, “Towards a More Equal City,” tells the story of the Via RecreActiva – a ciclovía, or bike path, in the city of Guadalajara, Mexico. More than 60 kilometers of streets are closed every Sunday for this...
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Building Capacity for the Paris Agreement’s Enhanced Transparency Framework
What Can We Learn From Countries’ Experiences and UNFCCC Processes?
by , , , and -The Paris Agreement’s enhanced transparency framework places new and more stringent requirements on developing countries. For many countries, to implement these new requirements capacity-building support is vital. This new paper from the Project for Advancing Climate Transparency examines...
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Costs and Emissions Appraisal Tool for Transit Buses
by , , , and -The Costs and Emissions Appraisal Tool for Transit Buses (“the Tool”) is intended to help bus operators and transit agencies make informed decisions about alternative bus types during the preliminary analysis phase and to help them determine whether the transition to a “clean fleet” is...
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Integrating Green and Gray: Creating Next Generation Infrastructure
by , , , and -Traditional infrastructure systems worldwide rely on built solutions to support the smooth and safe functioning of societies. in the face of multiplying environmental threats, this approach alone can no longer provide the climate resiliency and level of services required in the 21st century....
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Estimating and Reporting the Comparative Emissions Impacts of Products
by -There is considerable interest among companies in claiming that their products can help avoid greenhouse gas emissions compared to other products in the marketplace. While it’s true that the use of some products can help to avoid GHG emissions, accurately measuring a product’s impact—whether...
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Spatial Database of Planted Trees (SDPT Version 1.0)
by , and -The objective of this work is to spatially differentiate plantation forests and tree crops from natural and seminatural forests on a global scale. By identifying and eliminating these areas from global tree cover data, “natural forest” areas can be more readily isolated, leading to more...
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We’ll Always Have Paris: Subnational Responses to Federal Inaction on Climate Change
Testimony of Andrew Light, Distinguished Senior Fellow, WRI United States
by -On February 28, WRI Distinguished Senior Fellow Andrew Light testified in a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy & Commerce, Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change. The topic was on the Paris Agreement and nonfederal climate action in the United States...
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ACCC: Renewables Accelerator State Overviews: Summary Of Methods And Data
by and -U.S. cities of all sizes, from different regions and with varied energy mixes, are either in the process of committing to renewable energy goals or working to follow through on existing targets. As part of the American Cities Climate Challenge: Renewables Accelerator, WRI is assisting cities...
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Ramping Up Governance of the Global Environmental Commons: What Do Theory and History Tell Us?
by and -This paper discusses how governance of the global environmental commons requires collective action to generate public goods. Public goods theorists vary in their views about what it takes and how likely it is to achieve such collective action to produce these goods. The history of efforts to...
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Shifting Currents: Opportunities For Low-Carbon Electric Cities In The Global South
by , and -The paper uses two criteria to identify cities in the Global South that today are candidates for electrification – replacing fossil fuel–powered vehicles, stoves, furnaces and other devices with electric alternatives. First, urban access to electricity (i.e., the percentage of people with a...
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Tracking Progress of the 2020 Climate Turning Point
by , , and -The world is already experiencing severe impacts of climate change, from extreme heat waves, sea level rise to species die-offs and crop failures. We must act quickly to stabilize global warming below 1.5° C (2.7° F) to avoid much greater threats, as the IPCC report released last October made...
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Encouraging Sustainable Food Consumption by Using More-Appetizing Language
by , and -Encouraging consumers to shift to primarily vegetarian diets is one way to lower the environmental impact of food. This two-phase online study explored the impact of the language used to describe vegetarian food on consumer choice. Phase one involved a consumer preference test to identify...
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The Language of Sustainable Diets: A Field Study Exploring the Impact of Renaming Vegetarian Dishes on U.K. Café Menus
by , , and -Encouraging consumers to purchase plant-based dishes is one way food service outlets can work toward reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. This field experiment, conducted in a UK-based chain of cafés, aimed to identify the most effective language to describe plant-based menu items to...
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Upward and Outward Growth: Managing Urban Expansion for More Equitable Cities in the Global South
by and -Urban areas are expected to triple in size between 2000 and 2030. Unmanaged urban expansion increases the costs of service provision, deepens spatial inequities, and imposes heavy economic and environmental burdens. New analysis on 499 cities’ urban expansion confirm the challenge of rapid...
