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.
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”.
This paper discusses the creation and implications of the first global, spatially explicit planted trees database.
This technical note provides the methodology behind the State Overview online resource, part of the American Cities Climate Challenge: Renewables Accelerator website, which encapsulates webpages for 50 states and DC, displaying regulatory and market information as well as procurement option-specific state policies.
The history of efforts to create global agreements and governance mechanisms on the environment has been uneven.
This paper is the first to explore the idea of electrification from the perspective of both people’s access to electricity and greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions and to propose candidate cities based on these considerations.
This paper assesses progress toward six sectoral milestones – in energy, transport, land use, industry, infrastructure, and finance – that would need to be met by 2020 to bend the curve in global greenhouse gas emissions and put the world on a pathway consistent with the Paris Agreement.
Encouraging consumers to shift to primarily vegetarian diets is one way to lower the environmental impact of food. This research provides initial evidence that it is possible to shift non-vegetarians to eat more plant-based dishes by changing how these are described.
Encouraging consumers to purchase plant-based dishes is one way food service outlets can work toward reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. This research provides evidence that it is possible to encourage consumers to select plant-based dishes in a food service setting by simply changing how dishes are described on menus.
This thematic paper in the World Resources Report, “Towards a More Equal City,” produced in collaboration with Yale University, analyzes data on urban expansion by measuring both the outward growth and upward growth in 499 global cities. It examines the challenge of rapid outward expansion for cities in the global South and highlights strategies cities can take to manage urban growth in a way that ensures more equal and productive cities.
This paper provides questions and answers to some of the important concerns city officials have as it relates to bike sharing, especially as a new generation emerges including dockless and electric bikes, scooters, and increased private sector involvement. It seeks to unpack some of the challenges cities are currently facing, including concerns over regulation, public space management, safety and proper infrastructure, and service reliability, among others.
This technical note describes the structure, the input data sources, and the limitations and assumptions of the India Energy Policy Simulator.
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 Corridors of Freedom program aims to help reduce spatial inequality in the city by extending bus rapid transit to many new areas and spur new or improved infrastructure for non-motorized transport, social facilities and public infrastructure.
The paper proposes a credible and rigorous methodology for assessing Paris Agreement alignment of electricity transmission and distribution (T&D) investments by development finance institutions (DFIs) and recommends that all DFIs incorporate a shadow carbon price in cost-benefit analyses of the electricity sector and work with recipient countries to develop robust long-term decarbonization plans.
Using a social cost accounting (SCA) methodology, this research estimates the market and non-market costs associated with the delivery of urban water, sanitation, transport and energy services in 4 case study cities.
This report highlights how the Urban Community Resilience Assessment (UCRA) was piloted in three cities, its potential to build more climate-resilient cities and communities, and ways to enhance the tool for future implementation.
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 decision pertaining to the installation of rooftop solar PV systems.
The result of multiple years of research and modeling, the synthesis report of World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future shows there is no silver bullet to sustainably feeding 10 billion people by 2050. How we produce and eat food will need an overhaul.
