Today in remarks delivered before the United Nations General Assembly, President Xi Jinping made a surprise announcement that China aims to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060 and to peak carbon emissions before 2030. Following is a statement from Helen Mountford, Vice President, Climate and Economics, World Resources Institute.
According to a new research synthesis developed by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and sponsored by ClimateWorks Foundation, investments are urgently needed to rapidly develop and scale up the carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions critical to reaching net zero emissions globally by 2050. With support from the ClimateWorks Foundation and World Resources Institute (WRI), the EIU hub assesses seven proposed carbon dioxide (CO2) removal approaches.
While setting a net-zero target can signal a serious commitment to long-term climate action, several critical design factors determine the rigor of these targets and the extent to which they set a country on a plausible pathway to a net-zero future in accordance with the Paris Agreement.
Increased global emissions lead to higher temperatures and more fire-prone conditions. With more fires comes more emissions, fueling rapid climate change.
Through sector-by-sector evaluation of key trends and drivers, a new report from America's Pledge finds that, despite the unprecedented public health and economic crisis, bottom-up climate action is proving resilient.
The take-make-waste model is driving the climate crisis and depleting the planet of much-needed resources. Here are 3 ways to transition toward circularity.
Frances Seymour is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at WRI. In her individual capacity, Frances serves as Chair of the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) Board.
The Republic of Korea has an opportunity to effectively address the COVID-19 crisis, while also becoming a climate leader.
The Trump Administration's continued rollback of environmental regulations threatens to undermine the legacy of Earth Day and to compound health and economic damage from the COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 7, WRI Distinguished Senior Fellow Andrew Light and Research Analyst Tyler Clevenger submitted a testimony for a virtual hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on the bipartisan American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act that would direct the U.S. EPA to reduce emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
This chart offers a comprehensive view of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It describes the sources and activities across the global economy that produce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the type and volume of gases associated with each activity.
With global greenhouse gases on track to rise — again — to their highest level in history, there's increasing interest in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In just a year, carbon removal has gone from being seen as a "radical fix" to a necessary tool to address the climate crisis.
On January 15, WRI Senior Fellow Taryn Fransen testified in a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, & Technology. The hearing, titled “An Update on the Climate Crisis: From Science to Solutions,” examined the current state of climate science and solutions to the climate challenge. Taryn’s testimony focused on the United Nations Emissions Gap Report and the role the United States could play in closing the emissions gap.
Most scientific reports on climate look at changes since the pre-industrial era or since record-keeping began. But even looking at the past decade, it’s clear that our world today is very different from the world of 2010, thanks to climate change.
This high-level side event taking place at COP25 in Madrid, Spain, will focus on the growing international momentum around net-zero targets, and how this can drive more ambitious national climate action in line with the science and decreasing costs of clean technologies.
Decarbonizing the transport sector would create a cleaner, healthier and more affordable future for everyone, and it can be done without sacrificing the interconnectedness we've come to expect from modernity.
Pennsylvania's planned entry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative marks the first time a major fossil-fuel producing state has joined the cooperative, which aims to cap carbon dioxide emissions from electric power plants. It won't solve all the Keystone State's energy challenges, but it's a big step forward.
A price on carbon is necessary to reduce emissions, but it is not a silver bullet to keep the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C. Complementary policies will be needed that address market barriers and reduce costs of emissions reductions in coming decades.
The latest anti-climate proposal from the Trump administration would weaken regulations on methane from oil and natural gas. Colorado, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and California offer innovative solutions for curbing this growing emissions source.
This paper examines how policies and technologies will impact China’s non-CO2 GHG emissions under various scenarios. The analysis shows that China’s policy development since 2015 has led to a significantly lower non-CO2 GHG emissions trajectory than expected under policies as of 2015 and there is significant potential to further reduce non-CO2 GHG emissions.