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1,869 documents from World Resources Institute
Toward Paris Alignment: How the Multilateral Development Banks Can Better Support the Paris Agreement
The document advocates for a shift in how Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) approach climate action, moving beyond simply maximizing climate finance volumes to ensuring their entire investment portfolios align with the Paris Agreement. It emphasizes the need for MDBs to stop supporting CO2-emitting energy sources, mainstream climate risks for a world 3-4°C warmer, and support the strengthening of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
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Document type: Report
Governing the Power Sector
The Thai power sector is dominated by three government-owned enterprises—EGAT, MEA, and PEA—which has resulted in limited competition and systemic inefficiencies. While supply security is stable, the current governance allows utilities to pass unfair costs, such as 'Take-or-Pay' contract burdens, to consumers. Additionally, the sector faces significant social conflicts stemming from the environmental and livelihood impacts of power plants, coal mining, and gas infrastructure projects.
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Document type: Report
Financing country platforms
The document describes country platforms as a mechanism for governments to coordinate national and international finance, moving away from fragmented, project-based approaches toward structured, country-led plans. It highlights the role of Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) and emphasizes that success depends on institutional capacity, strategic coordination among various actors, and flexible implementation tailored to the specific country context.
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Document type: Briefing
Strengthening Gender Equity in Locally Led Adaptation Processes in Africa
The paper argues that while women are central to agriculture and climate adaptation in Africa, they are often excluded from decision-making and resources due to sociocultural norms and policy gaps. It proposes seven enabling factors—ranging from flexible finance and resource control to confronting restrictive norms—to move beyond simple participation toward gender-transformative locally led adaptation (LLA). The authors recommend that funders provide patient, flexible funding of at least five years and invest in long-term relationships with women-led organizations to foster structural social change and climate resilience.
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Document type: Research paper
Paris Rulebook Transparency Deeper Dive
The document details the 'who, what, when, and where' of the Paris Agreement's enhanced transparency framework, focusing on Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs), technical expert reviews, and the facilitative, multilateral consideration of progress. It outlines specific reporting obligations for different Party types, the timeline for BTR submissions starting December 31, 2024, and the self-determined flexibility available to developing countries regarding GHG inventory data and review formats. Additionally, it maps the framework's linkages to NDCs, the Global Stocktake, and compliance mechanisms.
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Document type: Guide
Measuring to Manage
The document outlines the necessity of establishing credible platforms for accounting and reporting corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to address climate change. It identifies common challenges in program design—including objective setting, geographic scope, reporting specifications, and quality assurance—and offers guidance based on the experience of the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) to help stakeholders develop customized GHG programs.
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Document type: Guide
Connecting the Dots: Elements for a Joined-Up Implementation of the 2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement
The research identifies a systemic 'siloed approach' where Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are managed by separate institutions, typically environment ministries for NDCs and central cabinet-level offices for SDGs. To overcome this, the paper proposes five core elements for joined-up implementation: coordinating institutions, aligning targets, joint mainstreaming into policy planning, optimizing financial resources, and creating mutually reinforcing monitoring frameworks. The study argues that integrating these agendas reduces transaction costs, fosters 'win-win solutions', and helps ensure a just transition by applying the 'leaving no one behind' principle to climate action. It highlights that while some countries have begun linking these frameworks, a fully integrated approach requires significant shifts in institutional and financial structures to avoid the 'cherry-picking' of targets by line ministries.
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Document type: Research paper
Mainstreaming Climate Adaptation Planning and Action into Health Systems in Fiji, Ghana, and Benin
The document analyzes how Fiji, Ghana, and Benin are mainstreaming climate adaptation into their health systems through policy development, pilot projects, and political leadership. It identifies key barriers such as limited funding and poor data access, while recommending 'no-regrets' actions like staff training and the establishment of cross-sectoral collaboration mechanisms to build resilience against climate-related health risks and other shocks.
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Document type: Research paper
Building a Climate Resilient Future for Costa Rica’s Coffee Farming Communities
The document examines the vulnerability of coffee cultivation in the Coto Brus region of Costa Rica, where up to 50% of suitable land may be lost by 2050. It identifies a gap between the awareness of sustainable practices and their implementation, particularly among resource-limited smallholders. The report argues that current short-term incremental adjustments are insufficient and advocates for 'transformative adaptation,' which includes diversifying incomes, replanting with resilient varieties, and potentially shifting livelihoods for farmers in areas where coffee is no longer viable.
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Document type: Case study
Exploring Technologies for the Clean Energy Transition of Tamil Nadu
The paper evaluates various renewable and clean energy technologies for Tamil Nadu, analyzing their Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), current installation capacities, and barriers to adoption. It identifies significant potential for wind repowering, offshore wind development, solar PV expansion, and the deployment of battery energy storage systems (BESS). Additionally, it examines the role of green hydrogen and bioenergy in the state's energy mix, emphasizing the need for supportive policies and infrastructure to facilitate the transition.
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Document type: Research paper
International Governance of Technological Carbon Removal: Surfacing Questions, Exploring Solutions
The paper examines the governance of technological carbon dioxide removal (CDR) as countries increasingly integrate these methods into their long-term low-emission development strategies (LTSs). It identifies three primary risks: mitigation deterrence, where CDR focus reduces urgent emissions reductions; equity concerns regarding the distribution of costs and benefits; and a fragmented MRV ecosystem that lacks standardization. The document argues that international collaboration and standardized processes are necessary to ensure the responsible and equitable scale-up of CDR technologies.
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Document type: Research paper
An Updated Response to EEI’s Timeline of Environmental Regulations
The World Resources Institute (WRI) challenges the Edison Electric Institute's (EEI) claim that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is imposing an unworkable 'onslaught' of new requirements on power plants. WRI asserts that the EEI timeline is misleading because it conflates procedural events, existing obligations, and state-level standards with new compliance requirements. WRI argues that the EPA is pursuing a realistic timeline to bring the industry into compliance with the Clean Air Act and other statutes, providing a necessary pathway for investments in a cleaner electric generation fleet.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Sludge to Energy: An Environment-Energy-Economic Assessment of Methane Capture from Sludge in Xiangyang City, Hubei Province
The World Resources Institute (WRI) evaluated a sludge-to-energy project in Xiangyang City, China, which utilizes high-temperature thermal hydrolysis and anaerobic digestion. The project achieves significant environmental gains, including the recovery of 96% of nitrogen and 99% of phosphorous, and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 95% to 98% compared to landfilling and incineration. Over a 21-year period, the project is expected to produce 45.4 million m3 of natural gas, replacing 60,000 m3 of gasoline and further reducing CO2e emissions by 140,000 metric tons. Economically, the project's success is attributed to a 'government-bank-enterprise' partnership involving the municipal government, KfW Bankengruppe of Germany, and the Export-Import Bank of China, alongside a market-oriented design focusing on the sale of compressed natural gas (CNG) and biochar.
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Document type: Research paper
Material Flow Accounts
The document advocates for the adoption of Material Flow Accounts (MFA) as a tool for managing environmental policy challenges, such as tracking pollutants and prioritizing policy interventions. It describes a pilot MFA database developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) that tracks over 190 commodities across five resource sectors in the U.S. economy, with the ultimate goal of transitioning the compilation of these accounts to the federal government.
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Document type: Policy brief
Power Sector Opportunities Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions Tennessee
WRI analysis indicates that Tennessee can reduce its CO2 emissions by 41 percent below 2011 levels by 2020 through a combination of infrastructure optimization and clean energy adoption. Key opportunities include increasing the utilization of combined cycle natural gas plants to reduce emissions by 11 percent and achieving 1 percent annual energy savings to reduce emissions by 10 percent. Other measures include expanding combined heat and power (CHP) systems, improving coal plant efficiency, and continuing the growth of renewable energy generation.
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Document type: Fact sheet
From the GHG Measurement Frontline
The document outlines seven good practices for non-Annex I countries to build and sustain national GHG inventory systems to meet UNFCCC reporting requirements and domestic climate goals, based on experiences from Brazil, Colombia, India, Mexico, and South Africa.
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Document type: Research paper
Reducing Nitrogen Losses in US Row-Crop Agriculture: Challenges, Solutions, and Policy Pathways
The paper identifies that nitrous oxide from agricultural soils constitutes about half of U.S. agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, with a combined soil and fertilizer production footprint of 346 million tonnes of CO2e in 2022. It proposes a technical toolkit for reducing losses—including soil testing, precision application, and cover crops—and suggests reducing nitrogen-intensive end uses like corn for ethanol. To scale these efforts, the author recommends a philanthropy-backed coalition (CLEAR) and a federal National Nitrogen Initiative that updates NRCS Practice 590 to tie payments to verified outcomes based on nitrogen use efficiency and nitrogen balance.
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Document type: Research paper
Nature-Based Solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa for Climate and Water Resilience
The document outlines a methodology for tracking nature-based solutions (NBS) investments in sub-Saharan Africa by scanning multilateral development bank portfolios. Between 2012 and 2021, the World Bank and African Development Bank led 85 NBS-related projects with combined total budgets of $12.1 billion, of which $4.5 billion was specifically for NBS components. The research identifies Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as the countries with the highest project counts and notes that NBS are being used to address urban flooding, coastal flooding, and water security while providing co-benefits for biodiversity and carbon sequestration.
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Document type: Report
Federal Policy Building Blocks to Support a Just and Prosperous New Climate Economy in the United States
The report uses the IMPLAN input-output framework to estimate the employment impacts of four federal climate policy scenarios in the United States by 2035. It finds that decarbonization scenarios—ranging from extended tax credits to a full net-zero path—would create more net jobs than a reference scenario, with the net-zero scenario potentially adding 2.3 million net jobs. The analysis highlights that job growth would be concentrated in building and electricity construction, while noting that some regions and subsectors would face job losses, necessitating targeted investments and domestic content regulations to ensure an equitable transition. Additionally, the report argues that implementing family-sustaining wage requirements for underpaid energy workers would generate significant economy-wide benefits.
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Document type: Report
Assessing the Effectiveness of Climate Resilience Grants to Local Governments in Least Developed Countries
The World Resources Institute (WRI) developed the Assessing Climate Change Adaptation Framework (ACCAF) to enhance the United Nations Capital Development Fund's (UNCDF) Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL). The LoCAL mechanism provides performance-based grants to local authorities in Least Developed Countries for adaptation interventions. WRI identified three primary challenges in designing the ACCAF: integrating adaptation monitoring and evaluation (M&E) into a performance-based grant system, measuring mainstreamed adaptation, and balancing the M&E needs of individual countries against those of the wider portfolio. The paper presents solutions to these challenges and offers lessons for global donors and practitioners to improve adaptation programming.
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Document type: Research paper