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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.
Sustainably feeding nearly 10 billion people by 2050 is possible – but it will require significant innovation and investment by the public and private sector.
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.
This working paper provides the first comprehensive approach published that guides organizations on how to calculate upstream water withdrawals and consumption associated with purchased electricity. In addition to a structured methodology, the guidance document provides international country-...
Restoration is more complex than just planting trees. It requires that farmers, rural communities, businesses, and government agencies—all with different interests—unite behind a shared vision. Establishing common goals and measuring progress facilitates deeper collaboration among diverse actors...
Demand-responsive bus services provided by technology-led companies are a recent entry into the transportation ecosystem in cities across the world. Known as bus aggregators in India, these companies are capitalizing on limited mobility options in India’s expanding cities. Bus aggregators...
Avoiding the worst impacts of climate change will require not only steep reductions in emissions but also the removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere at a massive scale (aka, carbon removal). The United States needs to make large-scale investments in carbon removal in the...
India has 63.3 million Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs). 31% of these are manufacturing units, which account for 25 percent of the industrial sector’s energy consumption. Advancing the implementation of clean energy measures in the MSME sector can play a key role in India’s...
India has ambitious renewable energy targets, a portion of which must be met through rooftop solar in residential buildings. Major Indian cities are seeing a trend towards gated apartment buildings (or apartment complexes). In these buildings, apartment residents share common areas that provide...
Population and economic growth, as well as climate change, have pushed water crises to the top of the global agenda. Given the scale of the issues, delivering sustainable water management requires rapid mobilization of funding for water-related improvements and more effective use of existing...
On January 15, WRI Senior Fellow Taryn Fransen testified in a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, & Technology. The hearing, titled “An Update on the Climate Crisis: From Science to Solutions,” examined the current state of climate science and...
Producing beef emits 20 times more greenhouse gases than common plant-based proteins, which is why shifting diets toward containing less beef, and more plants, is an important climate action. To help food service companies support diners in choosing more plant-rich meals, this playbook from WRI’...
Methodology for filtering through the thousands of GLAD alerts to identify areas that are likely to become commodity related deforestation.
Cities must ensure universal access to safe, reliable and affordable sanitation so that all urban residents can lead productive, healthy and thriving lives. Globally, the number of urban residents who lack safely managed sanitation has increased from 1.9 billion in 2000 to 2.3 billion in 2015,...
Limiting warming in line with the Paris Agreement goals requires deep cuts in transport emissions, even as demand for transport continues to grow. Yet under business as usual, emissions are projected to double. Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) – countries’ plans to address climate...
This paper aims to help countries think through the process of enhancing their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to include strengthened actions in the agriculture sector. The paper underscores the need for a tailor-made approach to NDC enhancement that is suited to a country’s unique...
Limiting global warming to 2 or 1.5°C requires a virtually decarbonized power sector by 2050.The world is not on track to achieve this. In 2018, while renewable energy (RE) generated ¼ of global power, coal produced 38%, and remained the largest source of electricity generation, producing 30% of...
Conservation, restoration, and improved management of forests are cost-effective solutions for large-scale reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removal of carbon from the atmosphere and thus help to hold the global temperature increase to well below 2.0°C or 1.5°C above preindustrial...
As countries discuss options to finalize the guidelines necessary to operationalize the Paris Agreement, they are discussing how to apply common time frames to their nationally determined contributions (NDCs). This paper explores a number of options currently under consideration.
Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will meet in Madrid, Spain, in December 2019 to finalize the rule book for the Paris Agreement, among other tasks. An essential element of discussions concerns Article 6, which provides for international cooperation...
This paper explores the range of approaches and emerging program designs currently used in the United States to match EV loads and renewable energy, with an emphasis on methods that more closely link the timing and location of the EV demand with renewable energy supply.
This issue brief is based on a 2018 working paper and summarizes the REDD+ experience over the past decade, taking stock of lessons learned from REDD+ implementation to inform future...
This case study in the World Resources Report (WRR), Towards a More Equal City, describes the history of Surabaya, Indonesia’s inclusive housing policy and how the Kampung Improvement Program (KIP) became a model for in situ slum upgrading efforts...
