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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.
By declaring the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the UN has recognized that there are only 10 years left to restore the world's degraded land. Countries are striving to fight climate change by 2030 through their Paris Agreement commitments and...
The purpose of this guide is to support companies in setting effective site water targets that are informed by catchment context. This guide introduces three critical elements for setting effective site water targets that:
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the world’s biggest multilateral climate fund. The Fund seeks to mobilize both public and private finance to support a paradigm shift toward low-emissions and climate-resilient development, balance funding between mitigation and adaptation, achieve a broad array...
The Cool Food Pledge is a global initiative that helps food providers sell delicious dishes with smaller climate footprints. This technical note, and the accompanying Cool Food Calculator, help Cool Food Pledge signatories and other food providers set targets and track climate impacts over time...
This commentary explores how two critical elements of the Paris Agreement – nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and long-term strategies (LTSs) – relate to one another, and how countries can allocate resources efficiently to develop both in a synergistic manner.
To achieve the Paris Agreement goals and limit global temperature rise this century to 1.5°C, the global economy must be rapidly transformed. A carbon price is needed to incorporate climate change costs into economic decision-making to significantly reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions,...
Uncertainty is a common challenge to any long-term planning. This working paper takes stock of how long-term low-emission development strategies submitted to UNFCCC perceive and handle uncertainties, and how scenarios are used to illustrate different pathways that countries may take under...
Published by WRI and UNDP, Enhancing NDCs: A Guide to Strengthening National Climate Plans is designed to help practitioners think through how to structure their country’s enhanced NDCs across three dimensions: strengthening targets to reduce emissions (mitigation), enhancing climate resilience...
Buildings that emit no greenhouse gas emissions during their operation are vital to meeting the SDGs and Paris Agreement targets. But in the past, zero carbon buildings have been assumed to be only attainable by technologically advanced or wealthy countries. New WRI research finds there are...
U.S. local governments, such as cities and counties, as well as many investor-owned electric utilities, are increasingly setting ambitious climate and energy targets. To achieve these targets, customer-utility innovation and collaboration is essential.
Although customers and utilities...
Non–carbon dioxide (CO2) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are a substantial driver of climate change and have significant negative impacts on air quality, human health, and food production. In 2014, the last year with official data, non-GHG emissions in China were greater than total GHG...
Climate-related disasters are increasing in frequency and severity and both economic and human losses are climbing. Unfortunately, developing countries, which are the least equipped to deal with disasters, are often impacted the most. Over the past two decades, new financial tools have emerged...
Today, about 840 million people lack access to electricity. To effectively expand energy access, government planners need to understand and have access to data and analytical tools that capture key attributes of the unserved and under-served populations they are trying to reach. This paper...
For the public to have confidence that progress is being made towards national climate goals, countries need to be up front and transparent about reporting on their greenhouse gas emissions. But governments cannot transparently report their emissions on their own: they often need to turn to the...
The world is at a critical moment in the fight against food loss and waste, with momentum building to address the 1.3 billion tons of food that is lost or wasted each year. But action is not yet at a pace needed to achieve SDG Target 12.3 by 2030.
The report Reducing Food Loss and...
A growing body of research shows that healthy watersheds are a vital component of a well-functioning water supply infrastructure system. WRI’s Green-Gray Assessment (GGA) method allows stakeholders to value the costs and benefits of integrating green or natural infrastructure into water supply...
WRI and partners at Quantis, LimnoTech and Valuing Nature have developed a new approach for implementing and valuing water stewardship activities. The Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting (VWBA) meets a critical need in corporate water stewardship: a common method for assessing the benefits of...
The Natural Infrastructure for Aquifer Recharge Financial Calculator, is an excel based tool with a flexible financial model that estimates the private costs and benefits, including the return on investment (ROI), of natural infrastructure interventions designed to enhance aquifer...
In 2015, UNICEF and the World Health Organization reported that over 90% of the world’s population used improved drinking water sources. But new research suggests the indicators used by UNICEF/WHO grossly overestimated the state of water access, especially in cities of the global south. Analysis...
This publication was updated on September 9th 2019 to fix errors in Table 3 and November 8th 2019, updating Figure 7.
This technical note serves as the main reference for the updated Aqueduct™ 3.0 water risk framework, in which we combine 13 water risk indicators—including...
