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98 results
Lower Bills, Better Grids: Heat Pump Benefits for Electric Resistance-Heated Homes
This report by RMI analyzes the benefits of replacing electric resistance heating and water heating systems with heat pumps in US homes. It quantifies the potential for significant household energy bill savings, reductions in peak electric demand on the grid, and decreases in carbon pollution, while providing policy and program design recommendations to accelerate adoption.
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Document type: Report
Strategic Decarbonization Planning: Turning Vision into Value in Commercial Real Estate
This research paper by RMI outlines strategic decarbonization planning for commercial real estate investors, emphasizing the transition from regulatory compliance to integrated strategies that enhance asset value. It highlights the financial benefits of sustainable building features, such as rent premiums and higher total returns, and proposes six key principles for embedding decarbonization into capital investment decision-making.
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Document type: Research paper
After 20 Years, an Agreement to Safeguard the 'High Seas' Takes Force
The High Seas Treaty, formally the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ agreement), enters into force on January 17, 2026. The treaty establishes a legal framework to protect biodiversity and manage natural resources in the 'high seas'—ocean areas outside any single country's jurisdiction, which cover approximately half of the planet's surface.
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Document type: Guide
End of Year Letter 2025
The Global Resilience Partnership (GRP) 2025 End of Year Letter outlines the organization's growth to over 90 partner organizations and its efforts to scale climate resilience through innovation challenges, private sector engagement, and the Resilience Hub.
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Document type: Statement
Climate Change FAQs
This fact sheet from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) provides a comprehensive overview of global warming and climate change, explaining their causes, impacts on health and environment, and the strategies used for mitigation and adaptation. It details the role of greenhouse gases, the specific contributions of the livestock sector, and the current state of climate action within the United States and through United Nations frameworks.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Expanding Our Vision of Energy Efficiency
RMI proposes a 'whole-systems' approach to energy efficiency that combines electrification with 'energy end-use efficiency'—reducing the actual energy services required. By focusing on land-use, passive design, and material circularity, the report argues that overall energy demand can be reduced by 50-75% in some sectors, far exceeding the COP28 goal of a 4% annual improvement rate.
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Document type: Briefing
Resilience Science Must-Knows
The report "Resilience Science Must-Knows" provides a science-based framework for decision-makers to build systemic resilience. It distills decades of research into nine core principles, emphasizing that resilience is not merely "bouncing back" but the capacity to cope, adapt, and transform. The document highlights the urgency of this approach as the Earth enters the Anthropocene, where human activity pushes planetary boundaries and creates cascading risks across interconnected global systems.
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Document type: Report
Principles with Pragmatism: Insights for African Foreign Ministries’ UN Strategies
This report, developed through a collaborative workshop in September 2025, provides strategic recommendations for African foreign ministries to enhance their influence at the United Nations. It argues for a shift from 'principles to pragmatism,' emphasizing the need for institutionalized coordination, financial self-reliance within the African Union (AU), and a more flexible approach to UN Security Council (UNSC) reform to avoid diplomatic deadlock.
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Document type: Report
Reimagining Utility Climate Risk Planning
This briefing by RMI outlines a four-step framework for utilities and regulators to integrate physical and transition climate risks into long-term planning to ensure grid reliability and affordability. It argues that current utility planning often silos climate risk or ignores transition risks, leading to higher costs for ratepayers, particularly in disadvantaged communities.
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Document type: Briefing
Scaling Low-Income Solar with the Inflation Reduction Act
RMI proposes a new financing model where tax-exempt entities (e.g., CDFIs, green banks, and local governments) act as third-party owners of solar assets for low-to-moderate income (LMI) households. By utilizing the Inflation Reduction Act's (IRA) 'direct pay' mechanism and bonus tax adders, these entities can monetize credits that LMI homeowners cannot, reducing energy burdens and increasing solar adoption. The paper details implementation steps, identifies potential owners, discusses challenges such as CDFI certification and domestic content requirements, and highlights early adopters in Georgia, Ohio, Minnesota, Maryland, and New York City.
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Document type: Research paper
Election of New UK Government Heralds Major Opportunities for Ambitious Action and Leadership on Climate, Development and Nature
A statement from the World Resources Institute Europe UK Office regarding the election of a new Labour government in the United Kingdom, outlining recommended priorities for national climate policy and international leadership on finance, nature, and development.
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Document type: Statement
Top 10 reasons why the ocean is suddenly a hot topic
This policy brief by the Stockholm Environment Institute outlines ten emerging trends and geopolitical developments that are increasing the global importance of ocean governance, finance, and security.
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Document type: Policy brief
1 in 7 families live in energy poverty; states can ease that burden
This research paper by RMI analyzes energy burden—the proportion of household income spent on electricity and fuel—across all 50 US states using 2020 Energy Information Administration data. It finds that extremely low-income households face a disproportionately high energy burden, often exceeding the 10% threshold for energy poverty, and evaluates how federal funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and specific state-level policies can mitigate these burdens while pursuing decarbonization.
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Document type: Research paper
Many US Communities Face EV ‘Charging Deserts.’ 5 Strategies Can Help
This guide by the World Resources Institute outlines five strategies for U.S. local governments to equitably expand electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, aiming to prevent 'charging deserts' in historically disadvantaged, rural, and low-income communities.
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Document type: Guide
The Corporate Climate Finance Playbook
The Corporate Climate Finance Playbook provides a framework for companies to strategically deploy, manage, and raise capital to meet climate goals. It categorizes instruments into capital deployment, management, and raising, emphasizing the need to match financial tools to the innovation stage of climate initiatives. Through case studies from companies like Microsoft, Autodesk, and Salesforce, it demonstrates how blending philanthropy, venture capital, and sustainability bonds can accelerate the transition to net zero.
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Document type: Guide
The Potential of Hybrid Clean Energy Systems to Advance Energy and Climate Justice
This briefing discusses how hybrid clean energy systems—combining local renewable resources like solar with baseload resources like geothermal—can address energy and climate injustices in marginalized communities. It highlights the disproportionate impact of extreme heat and aging gas infrastructure on low-income communities of color and evaluates policy interventions and technical models, such as a geothermal pilot in Massachusetts, to improve energy security and resilience.
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Document type: Briefing
Pathways to Sustainable Cities
This research paper explores the multi-dimensional challenges and pathways toward achieving sustainable urban development. It examines the historical evolution of global urban policy, the disparate needs between the Global North and Global South, the role of various governmental and non-governmental actors, and emerging trends such as nature-based solutions and inclusive planning.
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Document type: Research paper
Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation at U.S. Ports
This policy brief by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute examines how U.S. ports are addressing climate change through mitigation strategies to reduce emissions and adaptation measures to increase resilience against sea level rise and extreme weather.
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Document type: Policy brief
MAKING BUILDINGS BETTER
This policy brief by Energy Innovation outlines the building electrification and energy efficiency provisions within the House version of the Build Back Better Act (BBBA). It details $12.5 billion in incentives for residential and commercial building decarbonization, alongside significant investments in affordable housing, workforce training, and the adoption of zero-energy building codes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and consumer costs.
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Document type: Policy brief
UN Food Systems summit a sham
Friends of the Earth International and over 500 other organizations are boycotting the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), arguing that the event is a corporate-led effort to maintain control over food governance through false solutions and undemocratic processes.
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Document type: Statement