75 years ago, the United Nations was founded on the belief that countries must work together to address global issues. As the world faces climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, some national governments are living up to this belief more than others — but crucial actors may be able to turn the tide.
As governments consider long-term economic recovery, investment in public transport can contribute to a broad range of environmental, social and health benefits.
Zoleka Mandela draws on her grandfather's legacy in speaking out against the injustice of the hidden epidemic that threatens children, especially in the developing world. In this podcast, she is joined by Claudia Adriazola-Steil, director for health & road safety at the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, as they discuss the unimaginable toll—emotional and economic—taken by road deaths, and what we can do to turn this loss into action.
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.
Los Angeles Air Force Base, the first federal facility with a plug-in electric fleet of vehicles on the ground, has gone a step further. Now these EVs are the first in California to provide vehicle-to-grid services, with batteries that can send energy back to the grid, enabling cleaner, more efficient, more reliable power.
Chile's protests are the result of years of worsening socioeconomic inequalities. Transportation is one area where they're felt most acutely.
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.
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.
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%.
On September 17, 2019, the Coalition for Urban Transitions will host a press call to preview its new report, which finds significant economic, social and environmental benefits for national governments that take a lead in investing in and supporting zero-carbon cities.
Most of the cars bought in the United States aren't new. That means that, for electric vehicles to reach the necessary scale, we need to start thinking about how to encourage sales of used electric vehicles.
Climate experts have long considered heavy transportation one of the hardest parts of the economy to clean up. But new research shows that trucking, shipping and aviation can in fact become carbon-neutral, at very low cost.
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.
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 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 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.
Mobility is a gateway to opportunity, and transportation can make cities more wonderful, livable and equitable. WRI Vice President Lawrence MacDonald is joined by Robin Chase and Harriet Tregoning to talk about the New Urban Mobility alliance (NUMO) and how they are building better cities for all.
Looking at four studies of scooter safety, it's clear that one factor outside riders' control needs to be studied more: road design.
The Green New Deal has inspired activism and debate, but not much action on Capitol Hill so far. That hasn't stopped states, cities and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico from taking bold steps now.