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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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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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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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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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...
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The Evolution of Bike Sharing: 10 Questions on the Emergence of New Technologies, Opportunities, and Risks
by , , , , and -This working paper seeks to provide decision makers at the city level a series of frequently asked questions and responses in order to assess the adoption and implementation of bike sharing. It is not designed to be a comprehensive guide to bike-sharing implementation, nor is it meant to provide...
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A Tool for Designing Policies to Achieve India’s Climate Targets
Summary of Methods and Data Used in the India Energy Policy Simulator
by , and -India, the world’s fourth-largest greenhouse gas emitter, has pledged to reduce its emissions intensity per unit gross domestic product (GDP) by 33 to 35 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 through its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). The Energy Policy Simulator, a System Dynamics...
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Johannesburg: Confronting Spatial Inequality
by and -This case study in the World Resources Report, “Towards a More Equal City,” examines transformative urban change in Johannesburg, South Africa, through transit-oriented development (TOD). The paper reviews the evidence on whether Johannesburg’s TOD strategy...
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Aligning Electricity Transmission and Distribution Investments with a Paris Agreement Pathway
by and -Parties to the Paris Agreement committed to “making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low GHG emissions and climate-resilient development (Article 2.1c).” It is especially critical that energy-sector infrastructure is Paris aligned, given the large carbon lock-in potential of...
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Towards Smarter Service Provision for Smart Cities: Accounting for the Social Costs of Urban Service Provision
by , , , , , , , , and -India is one of the fastest growing countries in the world and urbanisation is both a challenge and an opportunity for India with huge implications for the rest of the world. One critical concern for India’s urbanising future is the provision of basic urban services for all its citizens. Using...
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Prepared Communities
Implementing the Urban Community Resilience Assessment in Vulnerable Neighborhoods of Three Cities
by , , , and -Climate change affects poor and marginalized communities first and hardest. Particularly in cities, a lack of access to basic services, a long history of unsustainable urban development, and political exclusion render the urban poor one of the most vulnerable groups to climate induced natural...
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Here Comes the Sun: Residential Consumers’ Experience with Rooftop Solar PV in Five Indian Cities
by , and -This working paper documents residential consumers’ experiences with solar rooftop PV systems. The data is captured through household surveys conducted across five Indian cities. The study is an attempt to understand the challenges faced by residential consumers at various stages of their...
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Creating a Sustainable Food Future
A Menu of Solutions to Feed Nearly 10 Billion People by 2050
by , , , , and -By 2050, nearly 10 billion people will live on the planet. Can we produce enough food sustainably? The synthesis report of the World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future shows that it is possible – but there is no silver bullet. This report offers a five-course menu of...
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Stronger Than the Storm: Applying the Urban Community Resilience Assessment to Extreme Climate Events
by , , and -Climate change is a global phenomenon, but the impacts are distributed locally and unevenly in cities. The urban poor are the most affected by climate change and are more likely to live in areas that lack sufficient infrastructure to respond to climate risks.
WRI has developed the Urban...
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Toward Paris Alignment
How the Multilateral Development Banks Can Better Support the Paris Agreement
by , , , , and -To contribute to the fight against climate change, the MDBs have to date largely operated under what we refer to as a Climate Finance Paradigm. That paradigm involves defining, tracking, and maximizing the amount of climate finance that MDBs provide and mobilize. Climate finance has been...
