India is often ground zero for extreme heat events, and the urban heat island effect makes these events even more severe in cities, which are warmer than surrounding areas due to concentrated human activity and construction. Cities' buildings have a lot to do with the heat residents feel.
Urban adaptation should incorporate climate risks into planning, work with vulnerable communities and focus on nature-based solution.
Baltimore is one of many cities coping with the problem of urban wood waste from damaged trees, construction lumber and yard trimmings. Salvaging that wood can cut landfill waste, create jobs, engage local communities and refill municipal coffers.
The overarching goal of this publication is to provide a practical, easy-to-navigate reference document to help practitioners decide if or how to adopt electric and hybrid-electric bus fleets for public transport in their cities. Designed for an action-oriented policy audience looking to learn from experiences of other cities, this publication provides evidence-based answers to questions about recent developments in the electric and hybrid-electric bus space.
Road safety is a worldwide epidemic. WRI's Claudia Adriazola-Steil (director, health & road safety) and Amit Bhatt (director, integrated urban transport, WRI India) talk with our host, VP for Communications Lawrence MacDonald, about a life-saving new law in India.
Developing and industrialized countries commit to decarbonize their building sector to achieve massive CO2 reductions.
A new report from the Coalition for Urban Transitions shows that national governments that invest in low-carbon cities can enhance economic prosperity, make cities better places to live and rapidly reduce carbon emissions. The report finds that implementing low-carbon measures in cities would be worth almost US$24 trillion by 2050 and could reduce emissions from cities by 90%.
Investment in urban measures like efficient appliances, mass transit, walkable cities and more sustainable building materials could garner massive returns, some on relatively short payback periods. And the true scale of benefits goes beyond money: Low-carbon cities are essential to meeting the climate challenge.
Join leading air pollution experts for a conversation on the challenges of reducing ozone pollution.
China's market for new buildings is booming. Constructing zero carbon buildings would enable China and other countries to keep up with demand without further fueling climate change.
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 policy pathways to reach zero carbon buildings regardless of location or development status. The report identifies eight pathways countries can take to reach zero carbon buildings by reducing energy demand and cleaning energy supply.
This resource is designed to aid cities and utilities in exploring the opportunity to develop a partnership agreement and consider key factors relevant to successfully enable long-lasting and productive engagements. It identifies insights and lessons learned from the experiences of several U.S. cities and investor owned electric utilities in developing innovative agreements in Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, North Carolina, Utah, and Wisconsin.
Salvador and São Paulo are two very different cities. But they are connected by the Atlantic Forest—Brazil's other rainforest, a crucial but compromised ecosystem that both cities are working to protect.
Nearly half the population in 15 major cities in the global south lacks access to public piped water systems, with access lowest in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. For these households without public piped water, water from other sources is either too expensive or unsafe.
New research finds millions have access only a few hours a day, while others are forced to pay up to a quarter of monthly household income for private provision.
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.
Nicholas Walton gets on the phone with Raj Bhagat Palanichamy, an expert in cities and water for WRI India, to understand why Chennai ran out of water—and what can be done to prevent residents from going thirsty.
While making buildings more energy-efficient is the cheapest way to reduce emissions, the energy efficiency improvement rate is actually slowing down. Eskişehir, a Turkish city of 870,000, is showing cities around the world how they can lead on building efficiency.
Chennai's four main reservoirs are virtually dry. This crisis is not only due to last year's poor monsoon season—lack of proper management is driving the city's water security problems.
A new WRI working paper finds that though cities are hotspots for opportunity, many urbanites find it increasingly difficult to access these benefits, rendering jobs, healthcare and education increasingly out of reach for millions of people.