WRI is committed to producing high-quality research, including reports, issue briefs, guidebooks, working papers, technical notes, and practice notes. Our research 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 research 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 our research or have concerns about quality, please contact the authors and copy Vice President for Research, Data and Innovation Janet Ranganathan.
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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.
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...
This report lays out 10 “scaling interventions” designed to accelerate and spread adoption of policies and practices to help achieve a 50% reduction in food loss and waste worldwide, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3.
The publication builds off the report, ...
This working paper is a contribution to the FOLU 2019 report, Growing Better: Ten Critical Transitions to Transform Food and Land Use. The paper answers four questions:
The paper quantitatively determines the impacts from illicit trade in marine resources the Pacific Ocean. The purpose of the analysis is to inform the country engagement at APEC in November and motivate action on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU). The volume of unreported marine...
Climate-related risks pose inevitable threats to investors and the assets in which they invest. Institutional investors have become increasingly concerned about-climate-related risks, but physical risks, which represent the direct physical impacts from climate change, are not well understood....
Though satellite-based forest monitoring has improved substantially over the last decade, to the point where deforestation can now be detected on a weekly basis across the tropics, there has been little research into how this information is used for on-the-ground decision making. This paper...
Private sector banks are facing political, market, and societal pressure to direct finance towards low carbon, sustainable development. One way they’re signaling their response is through sustainable finance commitments: publicly-made, time-bound commitments to provide or facilitate capital for...
As electric and hybrid-electric buses gradually become a reality worldwide, achieving a better understanding of the mechanisms supporting investments in these new technologies as well as their assets is more important than ever. The global electric bus fleet grew about 32 percent in 2018, and it...
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...
