Search Climate Insights Directory

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.

The ACWA Platform is a pan-African alliance of 24 organizations and cities launched at COP27 to provide technical assistance and investments for water resilience in 100 African cities by 2032.

This case study by the World Resources Institute examines how Chile can integrate the non-carbon biophysical effects of forests—such as albedo, evapotranspiration, surface roughness, and aerosols—into its national climate policies. The document argues that while Chile has ambitious climate goals, its current frameworks primarily focus on carbon, overlooking the significant local cooling and rainfall regulation provided by forests. It suggests specific improvements for Chile's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), Long-Term Climate Strategy, and REDD+ programs to better account for these biophysical benefits.

This case study by the World Resources Institute examines how Chile can integrate the non-carbon biophysical effects of forests into its national climate policies. It argues that while carbon sequestration is the primary focus of climate strategies, biophysical processes—such as albedo, evapotranspiration, surface roughness, and aerosols—significantly influence local and global temperatures and precipitation. The document analyzes Chile's forest loss, the resulting local temperature increases, and provides specific recommendations for enhancing the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), the Long-Term Climate Strategy, and REDD+ frameworks to account for these effects.

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 fact sheet from the World Resources Institute describes Assisted Natural Regeneration (ANR) as a middle-ground strategy for restoring degraded land at scale, contrasting it with waiting for native vegetation to grow or planting new trees.

This briefing summarizes the third session of a Global Dialogue on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis, focusing on energy transitions and industry bailouts. The document outlines strategies to ensure economic recovery is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement, emphasizing the need to prioritize green technologies over fossil fuels.

This document is a participant list for the 'Global Dialogue on Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic and Economic Crisis: Building Back Better Aligned to the SDGs and the Paris Agreement' dialogue series, organized by the World Resources Institute.

This executive summary outlines a global dialogue on ensuring that the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement. It argues that the pandemic serves as a warning for the climate and biodiversity crises and advocates for a 'green and resilient recovery' that prioritizes people, nature-based solutions, and the phase-out of high-carbon industries.

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.

This report by the World Resources Institute argues that current carbon markets systematically undervalue tropical forests by focusing exclusively on greenhouse gas emissions and ignoring critical non-carbon biophysical effects that contribute to global, regional, and local climate stabilization.

This fact sheet from the World Resources Institute outlines the potential for agricultural soil carbon management to remove carbon dioxide in the United States, detailing estimated removal capacities, costs, and a proposed federal policy framework involving financial and technical assistance.

This document outlines key infrastructure, technology, and policy requirements needed to enable the scaled deployment of carbon removal pathways in the United States, covering energy needs, storage, transport, monitoring, and land use.

This World Resources Institute fact sheet describes Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology, its potential for carbon removal in the United States, and the federal policy and funding requirements needed to scale the technology by midcentury.

This briefing from the World Resources Institute outlines two speculative carbon removal approaches: carbon mineralization and enhanced root crops. It details the theoretical potential, current barriers, and recommended federal research and development funding required to advance these technologies.

This briefing from the World Resources Institute outlines the potential for carbon removal through tree restoration in the United States, detailing the scale of opportunity, estimated costs, and necessary federal policy frameworks to achieve these goals.

This case study abstract describes the development of Dow Chemical's WRAP (Waste Reduction Always Pays) program at its Louisiana Division. Originating from a 1981 energy contest to secure capital during oil price shocks, the program evolved to target waste reduction and yield improvement. Driven by internal cost-saving goals and external pressures from a 1985 congressional inquiry and environmental groups, WRAP implemented a system of capital rewards for projects meeting specific ROI and savings thresholds.

This abstract describes a case study regarding Esprit International's 'Ecollection', an environmentally sensitive women's clothing line. The narrative focuses on the tension between the company's values of social responsibility and the commercial pressures of a competitive fashion industry, as the Ecollection team prepares to present first-season performance results to skeptical Division Heads.

The document is a case study of the Wisconsin Electric Power Company (WEPCO) in the early 1990s, detailing its efforts to integrate environmental stewardship into its corporate strategy. WEPCO implemented successful demand-side management and appliance recycling programs to reduce energy consumption and hazardous waste. However, a 1991 benchmarking study by A.T. Kearney revealed a gap between the company's public environmental commitments and its internal implementation, specifically citing a lack of comprehensive risk assessment and a leadership void below the executive level.

This case study describes Specialty Glass, Inc., a privately owned manufacturer in the Pacific Northwest of the United States that produced approximately 30 percent of the global supply of colored sheet glass for lamps and stained-glass windows. The company faced significant environmental and regulatory challenges due to the use of toxic pigments, specifically cadmium oxide used for ruby-red glass, which resulted in hazardous waste and air emission concerns.