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This research paper analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on climate finance and action implementation across 17 developing countries, finding that the pandemic has widened the gap between available resources and the funding required to meet Paris Agreement goals.

This technical note describes the methodology used by the World Resources Institute (WRI) to create the State Overview online resource, which supports the American Cities Climate Challenge: Renewables Accelerator by providing regulatory and market information for 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

This research paper examines the governance of global environmental commons through the lens of public goods theory and historical outcomes. It argues that while global governance has seen uneven results, ramping up effectiveness requires strengthening national coalitions, leveraging technological innovation, and reinforcing the narrative of sustainable development.

This working paper explores the differences and potential linkages between national and corporate/facility greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory systems. It argues that while these systems serve different roles—national systems tracking total country emissions and corporate systems providing localized performance data—they are often developed in isolation. The author suggests that integrating source-level data and sharing technical and institutional resources can improve data accuracy, consistency, and the overall effectiveness of climate mitigation strategies.

A practice note by the World Resources Institute examining consumer behavior and barriers regarding the secondhand clothing market in India, highlighting the potential for circular business models.

This research paper examines the role of nature-based solutions (NBS) as offsets within corporate climate mitigation strategies, highlighting the balance between the urgent need for NBS financing and the risks regarding environmental and social integrity.

The Corporate GPM Guide 6 by the World Resources Institute introduces three 'next generation' green power products designed for corporate customers in voluntary markets: nationally sourced RECs, long-term fixed-price green power, and green contracts for differences (CFD).

This guide explains the methodology, data sources, and limitations of the World Resources Institute's Aqueduct future projections for water availability and risk, which utilize climate and socioeconomic scenarios to inform long-term water resource management.

This working paper addresses the measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of climate finance in the post-2012 regime, focusing on defining qualifying financial contributions from developed countries and establishing a tracking framework to support international negotiations, such as those in Copenhagen.

This technical note from the World Resources Institute introduces a framework designed to help interpret and compare the sustainable finance commitments made by private sector banks, focusing on commitment design, accountability, transparency, and portfolio context.

This briefing from the World Resources Institute proposes a systematic approach and a matrix for analyzing the Indonesian forestry sector to identify violations of forest laws and regulations. It highlights the significant impact of illegal logging on Indonesia's forests and the need for integrated, updated data to combat these activities.

This report by the World Resources Institute analyzes the access of Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPs and LCs) to payments for ecosystem services (PES) based on a review of 129 programs across 36 countries and a case study in Guatemala. It identifies systemic barriers to equitable participation and provides a multi-tiered framework of recommendations to improve rights recognition, representation, and financial benefits for these communities.

This report advocates for repurposing global agricultural subsidies—which grew from $325 billion in 2000 to $619 billion—into land restoration efforts. It highlights that low-carbon techniques like agroforestry can return $7-30 per $1 invested, helping to mitigate the fact that agriculture and land use cause up to 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions and threatening the ability to feed 10 billion people by 2050.

This research paper by the World Resources Institute presents a framework of 12 combined supply and demand scenarios for Tamil Nadu's electricity sector through 2030-31 to assist utility planners in integrated resource planning and financial decision-making.

This report analyzes water stress in Ningxia, China, highlighting how the region's coal-dominated industrial structure drives high water consumption. It recommends improving agricultural water efficiency, integrating water constraints into energy planning, reforming water pricing, and establishing water right trading and ecological compensation systems.

This briefing identifies critical technical capacity gaps in forest carbon monitoring across seven countries (Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, South Africa, and Thailand). Key needs include more frequent data updates, consistent monitoring methods, higher spatial resolution imagery, regular national forest inventories, harmonized sub-national data collection, and improved inter-agency data sharing.

This report by the World Resources Institute examines the need to align Brazil's energy policies with its climate goals, specifically focusing on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the transport, industry, and power-generation sectors to meet the requirements of the Paris Climate Agreement.

This case study describes Patrick Assumpão's efforts to restore the Paraíba Valley in Brazil through agroforestry at Fazenda Nova Coruputuba. By combining native hardwoods like guanandi with food crops and unconventional food plants (PANCs), Assumpão aims to recover soil fertility and create sustainable markets. A 2018 ROAM study supports these efforts, suggesting that landscape restoration in the region could boost agricultural GDP by 32% and reduce soil erosion by 19%.

This policy brief describes a pilot conservation incentive program led by the World Resources Institute (WRI) focused on the gopher tortoise in the southern forests of the United States. The program utilizes a market-based, pre-compliance approach to create a voluntary marketplace for conservation credits, aiming to protect habitat and prevent species from being listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) while providing regulatory certainty for developers.

This research paper by the World Resources Institute discusses the necessity for companies to shift from setting feasible or competitive environmental targets to those anchored in environmental science to ensure operations remain within ecological limits.