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This case study by the World Resources Institute examines climate change threats to coffee farming in Costa Rica, focusing on the Coto Brus region. It identifies a critical gap between the awareness of sustainable practices and the implementation of long-term transformative adaptation, recommending a shift from incremental adjustments to systemic changes to ensure the sector's viability by 2050.

This research paper, developed with the Global Resilience Partnership, analyzes whether 67 countries integrated climate adaptation and resilience into their public spending during the COVID-19 recovery process.

This research paper introduces a globally scalable, open-source framework designed to help cities map and quantify the potential for heat-resilient infrastructure. The framework utilizes a new high-resolution urban land-cover dataset called OpenUrban to generate implementation scenarios for passive cooling interventions such as trees, cool roofs, reflective pavements, and shade structures.

This research paper by the World Resources Institute analyzes a net zero emissions (NZE) pathway for Ethiopia by 2050, comparing it to a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario. The study finds that while the NZE pathway requires higher investment, it yields superior economic growth, poverty reduction, and environmental co-benefits.

This working paper, produced by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in collaboration with the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), proposes a framework for classifying climate finance to help parties to the UNFCCC understand progress toward the $100 billion climate finance commitment.

This report by the World Resources Institute examines seven multilateral climate funds, arguing that the proliferation of these funds has created inefficiencies and overlapping roles. It proposes a two-phased reform strategy: short-term operational changes to improve coordination and specialization, and long-term architectural changes that may include the consolidation or closure of certain funds to better catalyze the trillions of dollars in investment needed for a low-emissions, climate-resilient world.

This working paper by the World Resources Institute examines literature on locally led climate adaptation to identify program designs and characteristics that catalyze accelerated action and support. It highlights a significant gap between the recognized need for participatory adaptation and the actual distribution of decision-making power and finance to local actors.

This technical note describes a fully open-source modeling framework developed by the World Resources Institute's Cool Cities Lab to assess hyperlocal heat exposure in cities at a 1-meter resolution using the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI).

These conference proceedings summarize findings from over 50 listening sessions conducted between March and October 2020 to inform the Two Degree Initiative, a CGIAR flagship effort aimed at helping 200 million small-scale agricultural producers globally adapt to climate change.

This research paper examines how existing nature-based solutions (NBS) initiatives can better integrate and scale climate adaptation to protect vulnerable populations and enhance ecosystem health.

This research paper by the World Resources Institute examines case studies from Bangladesh, the Philippines (Malabon City), and Colombia (Cartegana) to identify factors that enable the successful integration and implementation of climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction (DRR) in coastal areas.

This research paper outlines a framework for a sustainable and resilient recovery from COVID-19, focusing on three mutually reinforcing transitions: decarbonization, circular economy, and decentralization, to drive transformative economic change and strengthen national climate objectives.

This research paper by the World Resources Institute and Climate Finance Advisors, produced for the Global Commission on Adaptation, assesses the landscape of public international funding—specifically climate finance and Official Development Assistance (ODA)—for nature-based solutions for climate adaptation (NbSA) in developing countries.

This research paper outlines a methodology for estimating the future frequency of local climate hazards to support decision-making across sectors such as public health, infrastructure, and agriculture.

This paper analyzes five finalists from the 2023–2024 WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities to explore how climate-readiness initiatives can serve as entry points for broader urban transformation and systemic change.

This research paper evaluates 320 climate adaptation investments across 12 countries using the Triple Dividend of Resilience framework to demonstrate that adaptation provides significant economic, social, and environmental returns beyond simple loss avoidance.

The African Cities Water Adaptation Fund (ACWA Fund), a key instrument of the Urban Water Resilience Initiative led by the World Resources Institute (WRI), aims to finance innovative urban water resilience projects across 100 African cities by 2032. The fund employs a blended finance model—combining grants, concessional loans, equity, and debt—to address a $66 billion infrastructure investment backlog in sub-Saharan Africa. It operates through a three-stage process: developing city-region scale water resilience action plans, preparing and investing in a standardized 'investment menu' of low-cost solutions, and maturing these programs through standardized toolkits and policy reform to enable scaling.

The African Cities Water Adaptation Platform (ACWA Platform) is a pan-African coalition designed to accelerate urban water resilience across Africa. Led by WRI Africa and a diverse group of partners, the platform coordinates research, technical assistance, and advocacy to address projected tripling of water demand by 2050. It operates in tandem with the African Cities Water Adaptation Fund (ACWA Fund), a blended finance instrument providing grants and investments to transform strategic water plans into investment-ready projects.

This report by the World Resources Institute (WRI) examines how Chile can integrate the non-carbon biophysical effects of forests into its national climate policies. It argues that forests influence climate stability through processes like albedo, evapotranspiration, surface roughness, and aerosols, which can significantly impact local and regional temperatures and rainfall beyond the global carbon cycle. Using Chile as a case study, the document identifies opportunities to enhance the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), long-term climate strategies, REDD+ frameworks, and subnational development plans to better account for these biophysical cooling effects and mitigate the warming caused by deforestation.

This World Resources Institute working paper examines how Bangladesh, the Philippines (specifically Malabon City), and Colombia (specifically Cartagena) have integrated climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction (DRR) into coastal development planning to bridge the 'implementation gap' between policy and action.