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.
All of our research is freely 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.
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.
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 recharge. The technical note explains the methods, data and assumptions used to produce the tool.
This working paper describes water access challenges in cities of the global south that have been hitherto largely invisible in global indicators. In analyzing 15 cities, we found that piped utility water is the most affordable option, yet, on average, almost half of all households lack access, and most of those that do have access receive intermittent service. This paper highlights four key action areas for cities to improve water access: extending the formal piped water network, addressing context-specific causes of intermittent water service, pursuing diverse strategies to make water affordable, and supporting informal settlement upgrading.
This paper discusses updates to the Aqueduct™ 3.0 water risk framework, that is used, among other things, as underlying database for the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas and Country Rankings.
The American Cities Climate Challenge: Renewables Accelerator website is a resource developed in partnership by World Resources Institute and Rocky Mountain Institute to help U.S. cities advance ambitious energy goals. This technical note outlines the structure and methodology of the procurement guidance section, a key feature of the website which provides resources for city sustainability staff working to procure renewable electricity.
By 2050, nearly 10 billion people will live on the planet. Can we produce enough food sustainably? 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 solutions to ensure we can feed everyone without increasing emissions, fueling deforestation or exacerbating poverty. Intensive research and modeling examining the nexus of the food system, economic development, and the environment show why each of the 22 items on the menu is important and quantifies how far each solution can get us.
Measuring the impact of local adaptation programs is challenging, especially when decision-makers integrate climate resilience across broader sustainable development initiatives. New research from WRI examines these challenges – from balancing country-specific and portfolio-wide adaptation assessment needs to integrating resilience elements into existing development monitoring and evaluation systems – and offers methodological solutions that adaptation practitioners around the world can implement.
This guidance provides recommendations for companies in the apparel and footwear sector to set science-based greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. It provides case studies on best practices in target setting and strategies for achieving emissions reductions.
Long-term planning for climate and development requires tailored governance and institutional arrangements. This paper outlines several governance considerations critical to any national climate planning effort, providing a checklist of key questions that policymakers may consider when developing their long-term strategies.
This paper focuses on transformative approaches to climate change adaptation in livestock production. It synthesizes the state of adapting key components of livestock systems, key challenges for adaptation, planning questions, and recommendations for transformative adaptation.
Climate action is core to the G20 Agenda on economic growth. This paper highlights the critical need for the world’s top emitters to develop long-term climate and development strategies and strengthen their national climate plans by 2020 under the Paris Agreement.
This report offers a nine-step framework that can be used by cities at all stages of developing electric bus transit. It aims to fill in knowledge gaps and provide actionable guidance to help cities and bus operators overcome the most common and debilitating barriers to electric bus adoption. Key actions are identified for various stakeholders under different development stages.
This report identifies and presents the main barriers that cities face when implementing electric buses, especially in the global south. Analysis for this report is based predominately on 16 WRI-conducted case studies and framed by a literature review. Six key barriers under three categories are identified.
This working paper describes the decline in access to jobs, services and people that many cities are facing due to the confluence of two trends: rapid urbanization and motorization. In analyzing two cities in the global south – Mexico City and Johannesburg – we found that up to half of urbanites experience restricted access, leading to high travel burdens and/or exclusion from opportunities. This paper highlights three key action areas for cities to improve access: rethinking the role of streets and who they serve, shifting to integrated transport systems, and tempering the demand for private vehicle use.
The report identifies a mix of 21 policy levers with which it would be possible to achieve Mexico’s conditional nationally determined contribution (NDC) at an average cost of US$12/ton. The report addresses both current targets, included in Mexico’s unconditional and conditional NDC to the Paris Agreement, as well as a more ambitious long-term target defined by Mexico in the General Climate Change Law in line with a 2°C global warming goal.
This paper describes how sectoral departments in two Indian states have sought to manage climate risks and incorporate adaptation into their sector plans, budgets, and programs, as well as why this was necessary, what it looked like, and how this mainstreaming of adaptation was possible.
This case study tells the story of the Via RecreActiva, a ciclovía event that closes more than 60km of streets in Guadalajara, Mexico every Sunday for public recreation and entertainment. The paper explains the benefits that can come to a city that invests in car-free space and how these investments can spark broader change towards a safer and more equitable city.
A new paper from the Project for Advancing Climate Transparency examines how the Paris Agreement’s enhanced transparency framework's new requirements have been enhanced, highlights the experiences of countries’ related to transparency, and maps the initiatives and processes designed to support capacity building.
This technical note 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 financially viable and worthwhile based on expected emissions reductions.
This report explores how integrating nature into built, gray infrastructure systems can help provide services like food, flood protection, and clean water. These green solutions can open new opportunities for financing, and boost resilience to climate change.
This paper provides recommendations for companies to improve the credibility and consistency of claims they make about the comparative greenhouse gas impacts of their products, frequently called “avoided emissions”.
