Istanbul Improves Public Transit Access for Women and Other Underserved Groups
With support from WRI Türkiye, Istanbul's Maltepe district made public transit and other sustainable options, like walking and biking, safer for women and marginalized groups.
The ChallengeMany Istanbul residents rely on public transit to get around; the city’s rapid-ride bus system alone serves over half a million people per day. But not everyone enjoys equal access to sustainable transport.
Some neighborhoods are underserved. Issues like dark streets, blocked sidewalks and lack of ramps can make it difficult for people — such as the elderly and those with disabilities — to take public transit or walk. Women have reported feeling unsafe at bus and subway stations.
Many local governments, NGOs and private companies are working to address these challenges in Turkey, but these groups aren’t always well coordinated. Piecemeal efforts have led to inefficiencies and wasted resources, hampering large-scale changes.
WRI’s RoleIn 2020, WRI Türkiye and partners launched the Sustainable Urban Transport Network (SUTN) to better coordinate transport initiatives in cities across the country. The network unites experts, local governments and civil society organizations to evaluate transport challenges and design more effective solutions. Over the last four years, WRI Türkiye has helped cities gather input from residents, collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders, assess potential actions and apply for microgrants to support local projects.
Four projects received microgrants under the SUTN project. One, in the Maltepe district of Istanbul, focused on improving sustainable transport for women and other marginalized groups.
The OutcomeAfter consulting local residents in its planning process, Maltepe adopted a “Women-Friendly City Commitment.” It will leverage grant funding to address women’s safety concerns like dark streets while also bringing additional improvements, such as higher, wider sidewalks; benches; green spaces and a play wall for children.
WRI Türkiye has since launched the Stronger Civil Society for Equal Cities project, which will improve access to urban services such as public transit, parks and affordable housing for marginalized groups in underserved areas of Istanbul. Government workers are also incorporating learnings into the urban transport chapter of Turkey’s 2024-2028 Development Plan, with support from WRI Türkiye staff, to help bring better transport planning to cities across the country.
women-bus-instanbul-turkey.jpg Cities Turkey Top Outcome: 2024 public transit Gender Type 2024 Top Outcome Exclude From Blog Feed? 0 ProjectsConsortium Produces Groundbreaking Data to Help Protect Grasslands
WRI brought together world-class experts to form the Global Pasture Watch consortium and produce the first high-resolution global datasets to monitor grasslands and livestock grazing areas. The data can help governments, landowners and others better protect and manage critical grassland ecosystems.
The ChallengeGrasslands cover more of Earth’s ice-free land than any other ecosystem. These underappreciated landscapes are crucial for biodiversity, climate mitigation and food security, among other benefits.
However, the lack of consistent and comparable global data on grasslands’ changing extent and use has hindered their effective management. Without the right information, governments, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and others — many of whom depend on grasslands for sustenance and livelihoods — face barriers in making the right land-use choices.
WRI’s RoleWRI’s Land & Carbon Lab initiative convened the Global Pasture Watch consortium, bringing together experts in geospatial monitoring, ecology, agriculture and machine learning. The consortium has been developing free, flexible and open data resources and tools to improve the monitoring of natural grasslands and livestock pastures. Access to this information can help lead to better land-use decisions.
WRI collaborated with leading institutions such as OpenGeoHub Foundation, the GIS Laboratory of the Federal University of Goias, and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis to develop a collaborative data creation process, incorporating groundbreaking technological advancements and methodologies that allow for easy improvements and updates. For example, the team developed a Time-Series Iteration Reconstruction Framework, a computational framework that can quickly and efficiently reduce the size of large satellite-based datasets — a critical step for creating data that is both cost-effective and publicly available.
The Global Pasture Watch consortium also conducted regional trainings and engaged with people representing Indigenous groups, local communities and other stakeholders to understand the risks and benefits of open grassland mapping products.
The OutcomeThe Global Pasture Watch consortium produced the first comprehensive, high-resolution (30-meter) global datasets on grassland extent, productivity and management, filling critical data gaps on the state of the world’s grasslands. Developed in just over two years, the timely and actionable data enable governments, landowners and others to monitor changes in the world’s grasslands for the first time and make better decisions around agriculture and land-use planning.
Early adopters are also using the open data to design their own tools and analyses. For example, AI4SoilHealth is creating maps that will help farmers across Europe monitor and predict soil health. The University of Twente is using Global Pasture Watch data to predict how Europe’s organic soil carbon density will change over time.
Moving forward, the consortium plans to release additional data sets, such as primary productivity and short vegetation height, that will provide even more visibility into the world’s grasslands and livestock pastures.
global-grasslands.jpg Forests Top Outcome: 2024 data mapping Type 2024 Top Outcome Exclude From Blog Feed? 0 ProjectsBengaluru, India Invests $128 Million in Building Safer Roads
WRI India worked closely with the city government and others to redesign roads and protect vulnerable pedestrians from car traffic. The move will save lives and encourage more sustainable transport.
The ChallengeBengaluru, India has faced an alarming rise in pedestrian fatalities, averaging over 650 road traffic deaths annually in recent years. A big reason is that road designs throughout the city prioritize cars over people, while many streets lack safe crossings for pedestrians. Children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable.
As the sixth-most congested city in the world, Bengaluru’s rapid growth and heavy traffic have only worsened road safety concerns, affecting residents’ mobility and overall quality of life. Without redesigning its public spaces, Bengaluru is unlikely to meet its commitment of reducing road deaths 50% by 2030.
WRI’s RoleWRI India helped guide Bengaluru’s municipal body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), to support people-centric street redesigns.
WRI India provided technical assistance to BBMP to develop the Suraksha75 initiative, which used data to identify 75 critical junctions for redesign based on criteria such as number of crashes and pedestrian volume. The city has since added another 25 intersections to the list. The team worked to reform how street improvement projects are proposed and implemented in Bengaluru, including by updating procurement processes, providing research on best practices for prioritizing safety over aesthetics, and facilitating ongoing stakeholder engagement. WRI also provided design support for specific road safety interventions like pedestrian footpaths, conducted capacity-building workshops, and collaborated with traffic engineers, urban planners and local civic organizations.
The OutcomeBengaluru invested over $128 million in sustainable road safety projects, marking a significant shift from vehicle-centric road development to urban planning that puts people’s safety first.
The Suraksha75 initiative led to the redesign of over 100 high-risk intersections and more than 150 kilometers of pedestrian-friendly streets, aiming to drastically reduce road traffic injuries, especially for vulnerable groups such as pedestrians, cyclists and the elderly. Key changes include expanded and accessible footpaths, safer pedestrian crossings, wider roads, and the introduction of refuge islands — road medians that provide a safe place for people to wait while crossing busy streets. As of late 2024, 39 intersections were under construction, with completion expected by 2025.
BBMP established a dedicated team to ensure continued collaboration between design experts, consultants, communities and other road safety stakeholders. With updated guidelines and a focus on functional safety improvements over aesthetics — for example, ensuring that landscaping and other beautification elements do not prevent vulnerable pedestrians from accessing safe pause points while crossing busy roads — the program embedded new design standards into the city’s planning processes.
BBMP is now scaling this approach to a broader corridor improvement project that includes the redevelopment of 324 kilometers of streets. The success of Suraksha75 has also inspired other Indian cities, such as Delhi, to adopt similar road safety programs.
bengaluru.jpg Cities India Top Outcome: 2024 Health & Road Safety Integrated Transport Type 2024 Top Outcome Exclude From Blog Feed? 0 ProjectsNew AI Model Maps Every Tree on Earth
Developed by WRI and Meta, the model provides unprecedented insight into trees outside of dense forests. The data is already being used to monitor small-scale restoration throughout Africa, which can help these projects access much-needed finance.
The ChallengeForests play a vital role in combating climate change; providing water, food and medicines; and supporting livelihoods for millions of people. But monitoring them is challenging, particularly for trees that grow outside dense forests in drylands, farms and cities. These trees make up more than one-third of tree cover on Earth, yet they go largely undetected by forest data sets.
This data gap is especially limiting for monitoring restoration projects, much of which are carried out by individual farmers and local organizations revitalizing small plots of land. As a result, funders often prioritize larger, easier-to-monitor projects over the smaller, locally led projects proven to be more effective at restoring degraded landscapes. Overcoming this gap is essential to help local communities protect their environment and access restoration finance.
WRI’s RoleWRI's Land & Carbon Lab initiative collaborated with Meta’s Fundamental AI Research and Sustainability teams to develop a first-of-its-kind AI-based global tree canopy map with 1-meter resolution. Meta provided advanced computational resources and AI modeling, while WRI contributed expertise in restoration monitoring and remote sensing.
WRI then facilitated the application of the data to restoration programs such as TerraFund, which funds 192 local restoration organizations across Africa. WRI also shared the model and its results through its extensive network, ensuring the data could benefit other organizations globally.
The OutcomeThe ability to map every tree in the world at 1-meter resolution provides unprecedented visibility. It holds particular promise for monitoring restoration and tree-planting, making it feasible to monitor small-scale projects in rural, hard-to-reach areas that are often overlooked due to high monitoring costs. The AI-based approach is 10 times cheaper than traditional field-based monitoring.
The tree canopy height map already supports over 28,000 restoration sites across Africa through WRI’s TerraFund initiative, providing critical data to evaluate projects’ impacts on land restoration and carbon sequestration. Being able to see individual trees on the ground gives credit to the thousands of smallholder farmers revitalizing their land. This can convince investors that financing local restoration is an effective nature-based solution to climate change and rural poverty. The data also allows governments to better understand how these communities are contributing to national land restoration pledges and climate plans.
The data has also been integrated into global and national conservation efforts. Half a dozen countries are utilizing the dataset to set baselines for the EU Deforestation Regulation, while the EU Commission has integrated it into its updated global forest baseline map.
papa-christian-banana-tree-yanonge-tshopo-province-drc.jpg Forests Top Outcome: 2024 mapping data Type 2024 Top Outcome Exclude From Blog Feed? 0 ProjectsIndia Significantly Scales Up Electric Vehicle Adoption
WRI India partnered with government agencies, manufacturers, financiers and more to bring more electric vehicles to India’s roads. More than 6% of India’s vehicles are now electric, avoiding 10 million tonnes of carbon emissions from 2020-2024.
The ChallengeIndia’s cities have some of the dirtiest air in the world, with air pollution claiming millions of lives in the country every year. Transportation is one of India’s most polluting sectors. Road transport in particular is responsible for over 13% of the country’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.
While India has set goals to reach net-zero emissions by 2070 and ensure 30% of its vehicle sales are electric by 2030, achieving these targets will take significant policy action, infrastructure development and finance.
WRI’s RoleWRI India helped accelerate electric vehicle (EV) adoption in the country by bridging policy, infrastructure and knowledge gaps within governments and other organizations. Collaborating with critical stakeholders in the transport sector, WRI India influenced policy design, demand incentives and EV infrastructure expansion while also prioritizing access to clean mobility for low-income groups.
For example, WRI serves as the technical partner for the Bharat Zero Emission Trucking Policy Advisory, which created a policy roadmap for truck electrification in the country — long considered a hard-to-abate sector since it produces close to 40% of road transport emissions. WRI is the secretariat for the Electric Freight Accelerator for Sustainable Transport (e-FAST) India platform, which strengthened the momentum for zero-emission trucks. We convened partners such as NITI Aayog, industry associations, auto companies, state government officials and worker training groups to facilitate knowledge-sharing. And WRI helped launch the Battery360 Alliance to advance discussions between government stakeholders, battery recyclers, and auto and battery manufacturers on how to ensure a circular supply chain for lithium-ion batteries.
At the state and city levels, WRI provided technical assistance and supported pilot programs to build government capacity for the EV transition. All these achievements were made possible through partnerships with government agencies, manufacturers, financiers and civil society — essential to ensure a holistic and inclusive EV transition.
The OutcomeIndia’s EV adoption rose dramatically from 0.7% of total motor vehicle sales in 2020 to 6.3% in 2024. The country now boasts nearly 5 million registered EVs on its roads, preventing an estimated 10 million tonnes of carbon emissions from 2020-2024 while reducing air pollution and creating jobs. Investments in EVs have also surged, with $15.13 billion from national and state governments and $6.4 billion in private funding.
Growth is expected to continue thanks to a supportive policy environment and market conditions. State EV policies and the PM E-DRIVE scheme, a national initiative to expand charging infrastructure and subsidize the purchase of EVs for public transit and commercial purposes, have bolstered EV manufacturing and adoption. Regions such as Delhi and Chandigarh are leading EV adoption, while Tamil Nadu, home to major auto manufacturers, is spearheading EV production.
The freight sector is also advancing, with an estimated industry demand of 7,750 electric trucks in the country by 2030. Companies including Flipkart and IKEA have piloted e-truck logistics, which will help accelerate this transition. Battery sustainability is also gaining traction through the government’s Battery Waste Management Rules and Advanced Cell Chemistry Production Linked Incentives, which support building a battery supply chain that employs local workers and aims to recycle and reuse batteries. Meanwhile, initiatives from state governments and groups such as the Automotive Skills Development Council are working to equip small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the workforce with the skills they need to support the transition to clean vehicles.
india-ev-parking.jpg Electric Mobility India Top Outcome: 2024 transportation Air Quality Cities Climate National Climate Action Type 2024 Top Outcome Exclude From Blog Feed? 0 Projects100+ Governments and Others Use Data Platform to Bring Clean Energy to Underserved Communities
Using WRI’s Energy Access Explorer, recently named the first “digital public good” for energy, businesses, financiers and over 100 governments in Africa and South Asia are working to expand energy access and grow local economies through clean energy adoption.
The ChallengeEnergy is fundamental to human wellbeing and economic growth, powering education, healthcare, jobs, agriculture and much more. Yet 675 million people still lack electricity access. Many more rely on polluting fuels like charcoal for cooking and diesel for other day-to-day needs.
It’s up to governments, businesses and financiers to identify and fill these access gaps, ideally with affordable and reliable clean energy sources. But doing so is a technical challenge. Many struggle with limited access to transparent, high-quality data and analytical tools to pinpoint energy gaps and plan the most effective interventions.
WRI’s RoleIn collaboration with more than 200 partners, WRI launched the Energy Access Explorer in 2019 to help governments and other stakeholders map and improve energy access in underserved areas. Energy Access Explorer is the first open source, interactive platform to support energy planning and interventions, with a current focus on Africa and South Asia.
WRI works closely with energy planners, clean energy entrepreneurs, financiers and development institutions to assess energy needs and solutions using data and analysis from the Energy Access Explorer. Together, we identify areas where clean energy can not only provide electricity, but also improve livelihoods and support sustainable economic development.
The OutcomeEnergy Access Explorer has reached more than 100 governments across eight countries, with over 25,000 users in total. It's proven to be a powerful tool for supporting green growth.
In Kenya, the platform has helped local governments develop county energy plans that support the country’s Integrated National Energy Plan. In Nigeria, it’s pinpointed opportunities to boost agriculture through solar-powered irrigation and expand the use of mini grids. Government officials in Ethiopia used the platform to prioritize distributed renewables for 19 million people. And across Ethiopia, Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania and India, Energy Access Explorer is helping stakeholders identify areas where clean energy can improve healthcare, education and agriculture —such as through rooftop solar on rural health clinics.
Energy Access Explorer was officially registered as a “digital public good” in 2024, the first of its kind in the energy sector. This status recognizes it as a critical tool for achieving the world’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 7 calls for “affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” by 2030).
solar-panels-chamwino.jpg Energy Top Outcome: 2024 Energy Access renewable energy Clean Energy Type 2024 Top Outcome Exclude From Blog Feed? 0 ProjectsShenzhen, China Reduces Emissions While Lowering Residents’ Energy Bills
WRI partnered with the city government and local institutions to implement dozens of near-zero carbon demonstration projects, including measures like rooftop solar, building retrofits and more green space.
The ChallengeHousehold electricity consumption in China has doubled over the past decade, significantly increasing carbon emissions. In Shenzhen, home to 18 million residents, the growth of household energy demand has surpassed that of industry, posing challenges to the city’s low-carbon ambitions. Without clear technical guidance and cost-effective solutions, the city has struggled to reduce its emissions while maintaining affordability and quality of life for residents — particularly for low-income and vulnerable groups.
WRI’s RoleWRI China partnered with the city government, the Shenzhen Institute of Building Research, and other local institutions to support the implementation of dozens of near-zero carbon demonstration projects. The projects aimed to rein in Shenzhen’s growing energy emissions while lowering costs and improving quality of life for citizens.
WRI conducted surveys with over 1,000 community members to assess public needs, developed cost-benefit analyses of low-carbon technologies, and provided technical guidance on prioritizing investments such as rooftop solar and building retrofits for energy efficiency. WRI also created a technical guide for near-zero carbon communities, organized six capacity-building events for local practitioners, and facilitated knowledge exchanges with international partners such as the city of Kyushu, Japan. WRI’s recommendations were adopted as part of Shenzhen’s city-wide subsidy policy, while its technical guide influenced local standards for near-zero carbon communities.
The OutcomeShenzhen created 113 near-zero carbon demonstration projects that are creating measurable environmental and socioeconomic benefits. For example, solar installations and building retrofits in one pilot community are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% while lowering household electricity costs by 22% (about $80 per household annually).
Across Shenzhen, demonstration projects will reduce annual CO₂ emissions by 1 million tons, cut the city’s electricity demand by 3.5%, and save residents US$ 280 million in energy costs. Meanwhile, more than 18 million residents, including vulnerable groups, are benefiting from more green space.
The city has also implemented a subsidy policy providing up to 1 million yuan (approximately US$140,000) per community to help scale low-carbon projects citywide while preventing low-income residents from shouldering the costs. Shenzhen’s experience was so successful that it is already being recognized by other Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Sichuan.
shenzhen-china-energy.jpg Cities China Top Outcome: 2024 GHG emissions renewable energy Urban Development Type 2024 Top Outcome Exclude From Blog Feed? 0
Mumbai Allocates One-Third of its Budget to Climate Action
WRI India supported Mumbai’s government in launching a new climate-focused department and allocating one-third of the city’s capital budget to achieving its climate action plan.
The ChallengeMumbai, India is grappling with air pollution, erratic monsoons, worsening floods and landslides, and increasingly extreme heat. Its 17 million residents — around half of whom live in slums — are feeling the effects.
Mumbai launched a pioneering climate action plan in 2022, pledging to slash planet-warming emissions and build resilience to mounting climate change impacts. It was the first city in South Asia with a target to achieve net-zero emissions. But moving from planning to action proved difficult. Like many cities, Mumbai struggled to integrate climate priorities across government agencies and mobilize the finance needed to undertake climate action on such a large scale.
WRI’s RoleWRI India has worked closely with Mumbai’s government since 2021 to assess local climate risks and develop the city's climate action plan. Over the last two years, our focus shifted from planning to implementation, helping build the skills and staff capacity needed to achieve the city’s goals. Specifically, WRI India supported Mumbai’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in creating a new government department focused on climate action and aligning the city’s budget with climate-friendly priorities.
The OutcomeIn June 2024, Mumbai published its first climate budget, allocating approximately $1.2 billion — over 32% of the city’s total expenditure — to climate action. It was the fourth city in the world to create a climate budget, after Oslo, London and New York.
The funds will support a wide range of projects to reduce emissions, build resilience and improve lives — from installing solar panels at hospitals and markets to creating new urban gardens, improving water management and reducing air pollution. Some of these actions target underserved communities who are most vulnerable to pollution and the threats of climate change.
The city also announced its new Environment and Climate Change Department, which includes over 50 new positions to advance mitigation and adaptation. It will coordinate climate measures across agencies and external partners while helping city staff better incorporate climate considerations into their work.
Three other cities in the same state — Nashik, Solapur and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad); and Bengaluru, another Indian megacity in Karnataka state — have since followed Mumbai’s lead, launching their own climate action plans with support from WRI India. The government of Maharashtra state also recently mandated that 43 cities develop their own climate action plans.
mumbai-climate-action.jpg Cities India Top Outcome: 2024 Air Quality GHG emissions Climate Type 2024 Top Outcome Exclude From Blog Feed? 0 ProjectsLocally Led Projects Restore 50,000 of Hectares of Degraded Land
WRI’s TerraMatch project developed an innovative model for investing in local restoration projects at scale across the world. TerraMatch has supported more than 200 projects that have collectively planted more than 30 million trees and created tens of thousands of jobs.
The ChallengeLand degradation is a massive problem for both people and nature. In 2023, the world’s tropical primary forests lost 3.7 million hectares of tree cover — roughly 10 football fields of forest per minute. Meanwhile, 1 billion people are living on degraded land, suffering consequences like reduced crop yields and loss of livelihoods.
This problem has a local solution: Research shows that community groups and small farmers restore land 6 to 20 times more effectively than international NGOs or national governments while delivering more sustainable and equitable results. Yet many local organizations and individuals cannot access the funding needed to scale their work. Traditional financing mechanisms often exclude these “restoration champions” in favor of larger projects.
WRI’s RoleWRI developed the innovative TerraMatch system: an end-to-end process to select, fund and track local restoration organizations and entrepreneurs.
The model began with the Priceless Planet Coalition. Formed in 2020, the project brought together Conservation International, Mastercard and WRI to restore 100 million trees using TerraMatch. Then in 2021, WRI convened partners including One Tree Planted and Realize Impact to launch TerraFund, harnessing the TerraMatch system to invest in 100 local “restoration champions” across Africa.
Building on the champions’ feedback, WRI refined its financial, project management, and monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) systems to better support them. These successes helped expand the project to include private equity partner Barka Fund and secure additional funding from Bezos Earth Fund and the TED Audacious Project. This eventually led to a second cohort of restoration champions through TerraFund and new restoration funds in India and Brazil.
The OutcomeAcross Africa, 198 projects led by TerraFund restoration champions have attracted more than $32 million in finance, planted more than 21.2 million trees, brought 43,500 hectares of degraded land under restoration, created 58,500 full- and part-time jobs, and provided livelihood and other benefits to nearly 170,000 people. Work through the Priceless Planet Coalition has brought $28 million to restoration champions in six countries, who have planted 10.7 million trees and begun restoring 7,500 hectares.
And the work continues to grow: TerraMatch’s reported metrics and cutting-edge satellite data track, verify and showcase restoration champions’ impacts to help drive additional investment. Success across Africa has inspired stakeholders in India and Brazil to adapt the TerraMatch approach, leading to the Harit Bharat Fund in India and a planned fund for the Brazilian Amazon.
By centering the needs of local restoration champions, adopting innovative financial structures and continuously improving its processes, TerraMatch is building the foundation for a self-sustaining restoration economy. The project aims to help achieve WRI’s goal of restoring 40 million hectares of degraded land by 2027.
nature-rwanda-seedling-nursery.jpg Forest and Landscape Restoration Top Outcome: 2024 Forests deforestation Type 2024 Top Outcome Exclude From Blog Feed? 0 Projects3 African Cities Restore Nature to Revitalize Their Rivers
Africa’s cities, from large metropolises to smaller towns, are increasingly characterized by growing urban sprawl. Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, is expanding by about 2,000 people and 5 hectares (10 football fields) every day, according to a World Bank estimate. Kumasi, an intermediary city in Ghana, is growing more than 5% every year — at least twice as fast as the capital city, Accra.
As cities and surrounding farmlands expand further into their hinterlands, they encroach upon watersheds essential to water supply and climate resilience.
Watersheds are the natural area of land that drain into a common body of water. The consequences of their degradation are threefold. Without tree cover and healthy soils to absorb rainfall, cities may lose a critical source for groundwater recharge, leading to water shortages. Not only does the quantity of water suffer, so does its quality. Without strong roots to protect and anchor the soil, sediment and the chemicals within it are washed into nearby water bodies, often the primary source for a city’s drinking water. That same runoff can turn into floodwater.
Many cities that once depended on their watersheds for water now face both increasing scarcity and heightened vulnerability to extreme weather. There are, however, nature-based solutions to help alleviate these problems.
Through a combination of upland foresting and urban greening, watershed restoration efforts are starting to deliver positive results in three African cities:
Kigali, Rwanda Plants Trees to Restore the Nyabarango RiverBy 2050, Kigali is expected to host 3.8 million residents, up more than 200% from 1.7 million in 2022. This growth brings with it growing demand for housing, infrastructure and farmlands, and often comes at the expense of the natural ecosystems that help supply the city’s water.
The heart of Kigali’s watershed is the Nyabarango River, a major tributary of the Nile River that originates in the Nyungwe highlands. As the river approaches the city, once forested areas have become bare and degraded due to people’s growing need for farmland for food and charcoal for cooking and heating. Without natural vegetation to stabilize the landscape, flood risk has increased, as has the risk of deadly landslides.
As the Nyabarongo River snakes through Kigali, its heavy sediment load bears the marks of deforestation and land degradation. Photo by ARCOS NetworkRestoring tree cover in and near Kigali is essential for stabilizing soil, reducing erosion and improving groundwater recharge. WRI’s SUNCASA project is working with IISD and city and local partners to plant a variety of trees on more than 800 hectares across the city.
Efforts include reforestation (planting new trees in previously forested areas) and afforestation (establishing new forest in previously unforested areas). These trees — all indigenous and many fruit-bearing — increase soil moisture retention, prevent surface runoff and increase biodiversity.
Restoring watersheds isn’t only about planting trees, though. It’s also about building resilient livelihoods and empowering local communities to protect the land. Selected in consultation with local leaders and women’s groups, the new trees offer farmers opportunities to build stronger, more resilient livelihoods by providing fruit, medicine and fodder for their cattle.
These restoration initiatives are taking place in parts of the city that are formally designated as forest and conservation zones under Kigali’s 2050 Master Plan. As the city expands in the next few decades, these areas will remain protected by municipal law and land use regulations.
In November 2024, SUNCASA project partners joined local communities to plant more than 5,000 seedlings during Rwanda’s community service day, Umuganda. Photo by ARCOS Network Dire Dawa, Ethiopia Uses Indigenous Trees to Replenish GroundwaterDire Dawa is struggling to establish a pathway to water-resilient growth. Home to half a million people, Ethiopia’s second-largest city faces an unprecedented decline in its groundwater levels. Cities and towns along Ethiopia’s eastern corridor, including Haramaya, Aweday and Harar, also depend on Dire Dawa’s groundwater reserves.
Where groundwater resources were once abundant, the city must now dig wells to depths of 600 meters. By 2037, the city’s population is projected to rise by 50%. And with a new Industry Park and Free Trade Zone that began operations in early 2025, the local administration is facing enormous demands on its water resources.
The Dechatu River remains dry for much of the year, but swells into deadly flash floods during heavy rains, highlighting the growing challenges of deforestation and groundwater depletion in Dire Dawa’s watershed. Photo Credit: WRI/Nuun StudioIntensive farming in the upper catchment of the Dechatu river is one of the biggest contributors to the decline in Dire Dawa’s water table. As farmers clear shrubland and forests to make room for coffee and khat , a popular cash crop that’s used as a stimulant, less and less rainwater infiltrates the soil, depleting underground reserves. Once plentiful in Dire Dawa’s watershed, many indigenous acacia trees have been cut down for charcoal and fodder. These degraded landscapes put urban areas downstream at increased risk of flash floods during the rainy season.
The SUNCASA project is rehabilitating more than 800 hectares with local tree species to boost the water supply and prevent flooding. In 2024, more than 125,000 seedlings were planted in previously barren areas to restore critical recharge zones.
Local women in Dire Dawa’s Harla Kebele plant indigenous trees. Photo by Eden Takele/WRIIn the drylands of the catchment, communities are planting deep-rooting indigenous species like acacia saligna to help rehabilitate barren land. Extremely well-suited to the region’s climate, acacia trees require less water and stabilize the soil.
WRI’s Work Through SUNCASA
Led by WRI and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) with funding from Global Affairs Canada, the SUNCASA project works with local governments, civil society and community associations to foster climate adaptation, economic growth and sustainability.
By delivering nature-based solutions that restore watersheds, riparian corridors and urban green spaces, SUNCASA’s work is a direct response to climate risks like flooding, heat, landslides and biodiversity loss. By 2027, SUNCASA aims to:
• Rehabilitate more than 2,400 hectares and plant more than 2 million trees across six critical micro-catchments in Kigali, Rwanda;
• Plant more than 1.3 million trees over more than 800 hectares in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia; and
• Restore more than 450 hectares and plant 46,000 trees in strategic sites across Johannesburg, South Africa.
These interventions are designed to center the needs of vulnerable communities while ensuring that cities can continue to rely on their water systems. Gender and social inclusion are core tenets of SUNCASA’s work. Ultimately, the project aims to benefit 2.2 million people, directly and indirectly, by increasing their resilience to climate risk. SUNCASA will also train and support more than 22,000 individuals involved in the project’s implementation.
Local partners include: the city of Kigali, ARCOS Network, AVEGA-Agahozo, and the Rwanda Young Water Professionals in Kigali; the Dire Dawa administration, Hararghe Catholic Secretariat and Haramaya University in Dire Dawa; the city of Johannesburg, Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo, the Johannesburg Inner City Partnership, Zutari, Gender CC, Water for the Future, and the Alexandra Water Warriors in Johannesburg. Learn more.
More than 140,000 papaya, mango and date palm seedlings have been planted, too, alongside other fruit-bearing trees. These trees enhance soil moisture retention, reduce surface evaporation, and, once mature, allow local farmers to sell the fruit and diversify their income streams. This additional revenue stream is especially important for boosting women’s long-term economic resilience.
The project is also rehabilitating riverbanks: People have planted more than 40,000 trees along the Dechatu to create buffer zones and mitigate flood impacts.
Johannesburg, South Africa Expands Green Space to Prevent FloodingJohannesburg is a city of approximately 5.6 million people built at the source of the Jukskei river. The city’s waterways have suffered a near complete loss of habitat. As the Jukskei winds through Johannesburg, pollution from solid waste, industrial discharge and sewage have severely degraded the river’s health. For city residents living in vulnerable or informal neighborhoods, the river poses immense health and flood risks.
One of the biggest contributors to the city’s flood risk comes from invasive species. Eucalyptus, introduced to South Africa in the 1800s, crowds the city’s riverbanks and disrupts the flow of water. In some places, other invasive species like saringa, bug weed and mulberry dominate the riverside — affecting local biodiversity by displacing native species. During months of heavy rainfall, thickets of these aggressive species are part of the reason the river overflows: Without space for stormwater to flow, the Jukskei often bursts its banks and floods nearby neighborhoods like Alexandra and Buccleuch.
That’s why the city and local partners are expanding green spaces in Johannesburg’s dense neighborhoods, bringing nature to the built environment. In the overcrowded Alexandra Township, the SUNCASA project has planted 13,000 trees, informed by spatial analysis and local tree audits. In addition to fortifying the landscape, these trees provide much needed shade, cooling the city and mitigating the urban heat island effect. Project organizers also distribute peach and citrus trees to local households which, when cultivated, can create small pockets of green and produce fruit for their families.
Local communities are also clearing the invasive species crowding the city’s riverbanks. By replacing aggressive plants with ecosystem-friendly trees like wild olives and tree wisteria, SUNCASA is helping to control flash floods, restore soil health and increase the capacity of the city’s waterways while improving both water quality and quantity.
The project complements these natural solutions with cleanups of the river’s excessive plastics and other solid waste. Volunteers and artisans work together to repurpose water bottles, papers, tree logs, bricks and plastic bags into art installations.
Local workers care for young trees on the banks of South Africa’s Jukskei River. Photo by Jenna Echakowitz/SUNCASA Employing Nature-based Solutions in CitiesAs cities in Africa and elsewhere continue to expand, investments in infrastructure and economic growth must go hand in hand with investments in nature. Planning the future must include not only roads, buildings and industry, but also forests, rivers and other natural infrastructure that sustain life and economic progress.
By prioritizing watershed restoration and conservation, city leaders can ensure that urban growth is water-resilient and creates lasting benefits for people, nature and climate.
african-cities-restore-nature-revitalize-rivers.jpg Freshwater South Africa nature-based solutions Water Security Forest and Landscape Restoration Freshwater Type Vignette Exclude From Blog Feed? 0 Projects- Water Security
- Scaling Urban Nature-based Solutions for Climate Adaptation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SUNCASA)
- Cities4Forests
On the Road to Sustainable Transport, Climate Finance Can Speed Progress
Transport is one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 24% of carbon emissions worldwide. Nearly three-quarters of those emissions come from road vehicles. Solutions like electrification and increased public transport can reduce the transport sector’s emissions, but they come at a hefty cost — particularly for low- and middle- income countries, which account for 82% of the world’s population.
To reach net-zero emissions by 2050, the International Energy Agency calculates that carbon emissions from the transport sector need to drop 50% by 2035. For that to happen, not only do we need to boost the percentage of electric cars on the road — from 10% today to more than 85% in just a decade — but we also need a fundamental shift in how people move.
The world needs significantly more public transport, and buses in particular, to reach net zero. By 2035, electric buses need to make up 60% of total bus sales around the world to stay on track, a sharp increase from the current 4%. Reliable and frequent public transport is currently available in only 37% of the world’s urban areas, despite the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals calling for all urban dwellers to have such access by 2030. Reaching net zero will also depend on shifting more travel behavior toward walking and cycling, ensuring these modes are convenient, safe and accessible.
Meeting these goals will require significant investment. As urbanization continues to accelerate — particularly in Africa and Asia — transport demand will grow, increasing the pressure to secure resources and act fast to avoid locking cities into unsustainable development patterns. Because infrastructure and new technologies are expensive and have particularly high upfront costs, low- and middle-income countries, which often face higher interest rates and debt burden than other countries, have unique challenges in transitioning to more sustainable transport systems.
Global climate finance can help ease this burden.
The transport sector currently receives $334 billion a year from public and private sources, but that amount needs to increase to an estimated $2.7 trillion by 2050 to meet the reduction goals for global transport emissions. In developing countries (excluding China), the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance estimates that the transport sector will need $575 billion per year by 2030 to reach those goals.
The new climate finance goal agreed to at the UN climate summit (COP29) —$300 billion per year by 2035 for all sectors—falls very short of these requirements and shows how much work remains in the years ahead. But, despite this limited commitment, and even stiffer headwinds in global politics that have developed since COP29, some hopeful trends are emerging. Multilateral development banks, for instance, have been steadily growing the amount of climate finance they offer, with the total reaching $125 billion in 2023. This is especially significant for transport, given that 16% of lending by multilateral development banks since 2000 has gone to the sector.
Moving forward, it will be important for national leaders, city officials, banks and development institutions to understand, through a sector-specific lens, how finance can be harnessed and scaled up to meet emissions reduction needs and increase climate resilience. To that end, a recent WRI working paper examined more than 800 transport projects in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and analyzed 14 case studies to highlight opportunities for, and barriers to, accessing climate finance for sustainable transport in low- and middle-income countries.
The State of Climate Finance for TransportIn its current state, climate finance for transport takes many shapes. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change defines it as financial resources —from public, private or alternative sources — that support efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. In practice, financial flows are tagged as “climate” according to the provider’s intent or the nature of the project they are financing.
Blended finance, which combines private bank lending with lending from philanthropies or development banks with the goal of reducing perceived risks and increasing investor confidence, supported about 30 of the transport projects we examined. Bogotá, Colombia, for example, purchased a new fleet of 401 electric buses using $134 million in development finance from the Inter-American Development Bank Invest and private sources.
Green bonds are another important financial instrument to raise funds, but their applicability to low- and middle-income countries is currently limited. In our research, nearly two-thirds of the transport projects that used green bonds were developed with well-established capital markets. Low- and middle-income countries saw relatively few, likely due to economic and political instability creating a perception of these countries being high-risk. Additionally, many subnational governments are unable to issue bonds. Addressing these structural barriers in low- and middle-income countries can help enable equitable access to not just green bonds, but also to other forms of financing.
While climate finance funds a wide range of transport project types, the vast majority —75% of the 839 we examined — involved land transport. Of those, one-third involved building, rehabilitating and/or maintaining roads, highways and bridges, and improving connectivity among modes. This includes promoting multimodality across roads, railways and ports. Meanwhile, only 130 public transport projects and roughly 60 electric vehicle projects accessed climate finance. This highlights a gap in accessing climate finance across modes, even as electric mobility gains momentum and attracts increasing investments in recent years, underscoring the need for greater support for public transport and broader low-emission and sustainable mobility solutions.
More broadly, just 20% of accessed projects were related to boosting adaptation and resilience, a percentage that doesn’t match the rapidly growing need to enhance resilience in the transport sector.
At the same time, some projects in low- and middle-income countries show significant promise for accessing climate finance.
The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, for instance, includes a 21-kilometer (13-mile) corridor of dedicated bus lanes running in the center of the city, train-like bus stations, and improved walking and cycling infrastructure. The project, a private-public partnership that included $121 million from the African Development Bank, is the first of its kind in Tanzania and East Africa.
A similar project also opened this year in Dakar, Senegal, but with all electric buses —another first. That project included a World Bank guarantee of 19.9 million euros to Meridiam, a private investor and asset manager specializing in public and community infrastructure, to secure its equity investments into the system. Such guarantees of public capital could spread risks and help attract private capital.
And India’s national government is procuring 10,000 electric public buses, bolstered by a payment security mechanism aimed at reducing risk.
Another example, off the coast of East Africa, shows the importance of grant funding in an adaptation project. With $36.5 million in funding from the African Development Bank, the country of Comoros is rehabilitating 29 miles (47 kilometers) of road to protect against sea erosion.
Such public-private partnerships have worked to boost project efficiency and sustainability. While concessional loans and grants from multilateral development banks and development finance institutions have been critical in getting projects off the ground, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, mechanisms like payment security systems that emerge from these partnerships can reduce financial uncertainty and enhance contract viability.
Barriers for Low- and Middle-Income CountriesDespite these success stories, significant challenges remain. To begin with, low- and middle-income countries often lack the policies and regulatory frameworks that could enable climate finance. For example, informal public transport in Africa is often loosely regulated and organizing owners to access credit is difficult. Limited governmental capacity exists for project preparation and implementation, as illustrated by the fact that the Dar es Salaam BRT transit agency set up its contract with a private operator. Poor coordination among transport, climate and finance ministries further impede the identification and execution of bankable transport projects that could attract private sector participation.
Transport projects that receive climate funding consistently have high up-front costs, which can be a deal breaker for many low- and middle-income countries. If new technologies like electric buses are not purchased through pooled procurement, for instance, they can end up being more expensive than diesel buses — a contributing factor to the perception that transport projects are high-risk to investors.
Then there are issues around the quality of finance. While development finance is increasingly considering the impacts of climate change, a better understanding of how finance can align with the goals of reducing emissions and improving resilience is essential. Climate finance should not just be measured by the amount of money provided, but also on its impact, with careful attention to ensure it does not exacerbate debt distress in lower-income countries that may already face high debt burdens. Grants and concessional finance (which has more favorable terms, such as lower interest rates) are critical for these countries. This is particularly true for climate investments like adaptation projects that may offer less immediate economic returns or require longer repayment periods.
Multi-stakeholder action on climate finance can help overcome these challenges. Governments can draft new policies in support of national public transport or an electric vehicle roadmap, for example. They can also set up national payment security mechanisms to make projects more appealing to private investors. Creating private financial entities that replicate successful projects and establishing common tracking frameworks to bring efficiency and scale would also help.
Despite the overall inadequacy of COP29’s climate finance outcome and the withdrawal of the United States from international climate leadership — indeed, perhaps because of this retreat — sectoral players should continue to improve on the delivery of climate finance. Sustainable mobility investments can show how “climate” investments are, in reality, often investments in much more than just greenhouse gas reductions. They can also serve people, improving livelihoods and economies, while working toward a more just and sustainable world.
electric-bus-bogota-colombia.jpg Cities Integrated Transport Urban Mobility electric mobility transportation climate finance Finance Cities Featured Type Finding Exclude From Blog Feed? 0 Related Resources and Data Access to Climate Finance in Low and Middle-Income Countries: 14 Case Studies in the Transport Sector Projects Authors Ben Welle Yiqian ZhangSustainable Cities Challenge: Semi-Finalists to Reimagine Crowd Management in Varanasi's Old City Announced
The Toyota Mobility Foundation announced the 10 semi-finalists for its Sustainable Cities Challenge in Varanasi’s old city. Developed in partnership with the Municipal Corporation of Varanasi, Challenge Works and World Resources Institute, the Challenge sought global innovators to create scalable, data-driven solutions to reimagine crowd management in the city.
Located in northern India along the Ganges River, Varanasi, originally known as Kashi, is thought to be one of the oldest cities in the world and is an incredibly important religious and cultural site. Large volumes of people visit Varanasi’s historical section (commonly referred to as Varanasi’s old city or Kashi) every year: In 2022, the annual floating population (which includes people who move between places such as tourists, migrant workers and students) was estimated to be 35 times larger than the local population. Comprised of narrow, winding lanes, it is difficult to build infrastructure able to accommodate the influx of people in Kashi.
As part of the two-stage, three-year $9 million global Challenge, Sustainable Cities Varanasi launched in June 2024 and attracted more than 80 innovator entries from around the world.
The semi-finalists are:
- CITYDATA, Inc.: CITYDATA.ai is a Silicon Valley-based big data and artificial intelligence (AI) company that creates a data platform called CITYFLOW, which predicts and mitigates overcrowding scenarios for cities and districts worldwide.
- Fractal Analytics Ltd.: Fractal is a global provider of AI and advanced analytics solutions to Fortune 500 companies. The team's solution integrates behavioral science, data-science and human-centered design to tackle overcrowding in Varanasi.
- Graymatics Inc.: Graymatics is an emerging global leader in vision AI and video analytics. Its solution involves using a multimedia processing platform, which leverages deep AI, to pioneer real-time crowd and safety insights to democratize public infrastructure, mobility and connectivity for residents and tourists.
- Arcadis: Arcadis is the world’s leading company delivering intelligence-driven sustainable design, engineering and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. The team will use SANKALP, an integrated solution for crowd management, combining spatial analytics, real time monitoring and actionable intelligence.
- Intpixel Labs Pvt. Ltd. (VOGIC AI): VOGIC AI is dedicated to transforming physical spaces into safer, smarter and more efficient environments by harnessing the power of visual data. The team's solution will use video analytics, vision language, generative AI models, dynamic signage, public announcements and multilingual WhatsApp communication to better manage crowds in Kashi.
- Prameya Consulting Pvt. Ltd.: Prameya Consulting is an urban planning and strategy firm that drives urban transformation through collaborative problem-solving and strategic planning. The team will use NayiChaal, a data-driven ecosystem, to facilitate information exchange between various stakeholders in Varanasi and empower them to make informed decisions by having access to real-time, actionable data.
- SmartViz Ltd.: SmartViz is a pioneering technology firm reshaping the landscape of data-driven and human-centric environments in buildings and cities. The team's solution leverages three-dimensional light detection, ranging sensors and machine learning for real-time pedestrian monitoring which informs predictive modelling and scenario planning to help city authorities make proactive decisions around effective crowd management.
- Steer Davies & Gleave Ltd.: Steer is an employee-owned consultancy, working worldwide in planning and design for transportation and movement. The team's solution includes developing a crowd dynamics model for Varanasi for better insights into crowd movements, helping city officials and partner agencies plan for upcoming events.
- The Urbanizer: The Urbanizer is a pioneering urban design, landscape design and architecture firm based in India. The team's solution uses JanJaatra, a color-coding system paired with real-time digital navigation, to revolutionize crowd management in Varanasi.
- Tiami Networks Inc.: Tiami Networks is a business-to-business and business-to-government deep-tech startup that addresses complex challenges in dynamic environments. The team's solution uses PolyEdge, which leverages signals of opportunity, such as 5G and Wi-Fi, to provide real-time detection, tracking and analytics to monitor and manage large-scale pedestrian and vehicular movements in real time.
The Challenge evaluated entries based on their scalability and ability to better manage overcrowding, enhance residents’ decision-making and provide vital services for vulnerable groups in Varanasi.
“We’re thrilled to welcome the 10 semi-finalists to reimagine crowd management for Toyota Mobility Foundation’s Sustainable Cities Challenge in Varanasi,” said Akshat Verma, Indian Administrative Service (IAS) municipal commissioner and Varanasi Municipal Corporation CEO. “Being the spiritual heart of India, Varanasi draws countless visitors each year to experience its rich traditions, sacred rituals and vibrant culture. We understand that this Challenge offers us an opportunity to manage the crowds in ways that preserve the city’s unique spirit for generations to come while strengthening the city’s tapestry of faith and culture.”
Each semi-finalist will receive a $50,000 implementation grant to help the teams refine and localize their solutions to reimagine a safer and more accessible Varanasi. They will also participate in the Challenge’s Innovator Academy, providing them with resources and guidance for their solutions. In July, up to five finalists will be selected for a $130,000 implementation grant in the finalist stage. Then, in early 2026, up to three winners will equally share $1.5 million in implementation funds.
“At Toyota Mobility Foundation, we look forward to collaborating with the semi-finalists to explore innovative data driven solutions that leverage technology and human-centric design to enhance safety and accessibility in the historic city of Kashi. The hope for this Challenge is to develop scalable solutions that can serve as a blueprint for other global cities to reimagine their crowd flow and management,” said Pras Ganesh, executive program director of Toyota Mobility Foundation Asia.
Kathy Nothstine, director of cities and societies at Challenge Works, added, “The 10 semi-finalists for the Varanasi Challenge offer a significant step forward. As cities become more interconnected and welcoming to global visitors, it’s our responsibility to protect the well-being of local communities and residents. Striking the right balance between safety and accessibility is key. This global Challenge invites innovators to test their ideas in real-world contexts, seeking effective solutions for better crowd management, reducing congestion and improving the experience for both residents and visitors.”
“The innovations developed through this challenge will have a direct impact on the people of Varanasi,” said Ben Welle, Director of Integrated Transport and Innovation at WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. “We hope these solutions can be adapted to other cities around the globe, enhancing urban mobility on a global scale.”
For more, visit SustainableCitiesChallenge.org
india-sustainable-cities-challenge.jpg Cities Urban Mobility Cities Type Project Update Exclude From Blog Feed? 0 ProjectsFrom Better Breeding to Cow-Burp Vaccines, Emerging Solutions Could Curb Agricultural Emissions
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas — 84 times stronger than carbon dioxide over 20 years. Because it traps heat more intensely in the short-term than other GHGs, cutting methane emissions now can have a fast and significant impact on slowing climate change.
A good place to start is farms. Nearly half of global methane emissions come from agricultural activities such as livestock production, rice cultivation and burning crop waste. And with global food demand rising, these emissions are projected to grow.
The good news is that promising approaches are emerging to rein in agriculture’s climate impact. A new WRI report provides the latest scientific updates, as well as economic considerations for over 25 methane mitigation solutions.
But First, Where Do Agricultural Methane Emissions Come From?Livestock are far and away the biggest source of agricultural methane, producing about two-thirds of the total. Most of it comes from “ruminant” animals’ digestion and manure.
Ruminants like cattle, sheep and goats naturally produce methane as a byproduct of digestion, known as “enteric fermentation.” Microorganisms in their stomachs break down food, generating methane that is mainly released through burping. Ruminant livestock account for over 55-60% of agriculture's methane emissions — non-ruminants like pigs and horses contribute far less.
Manure produces 6-8% of agricultural methane emissions (though some research suggests these emissions could be significantly higher). In large dairy and pork production facilities, or “factory farms,” manure is often flushed outside using a water jet and put into tanks or lagoons, where it is stored as liquid or slurry. These wet systems create ideal conditions for methane-producing microorganisms. In contrast, small- to medium-sized farms — where manure is typically stored in its solid form or dried in the sun — emit less methane.
Rice farming is another major methane source, producing 18-20% of agricultural methane emissions. Flooded rice fields deplete oxygen and fuel methane production. The gas then escapes mainly through rice plants or as bubbles that rise from the soil — though emissions vary depending on irrigation methods, soil types and fertilizer use.
Burning crop “residues”— waste leftover once crops are harvested, such as rice and wheat stalks and other biomass — is a common practice in some countries, contributing 3-4% of agricultural methane emissions while also spewing air pollution and endangering human health.
Dozens of strategies have emerged in recent years to reduce these emissions, ranging from low-tech to high-tech. But costs, feasibility and stage of development vary considerably. Here are a handful of solutions that, with refinement and supportive R&D, could be promising:
Photo by Evgen Slavin 1) Making Livestock More EfficientIn many developing countries, livestock produce far less milk and meat per animal than farms in places like the U.S. There’s a big opportunity to make animal production more efficient by improving the quality of animal diets, breeding higher-quality livestock, and ensuring better animal health. These improvements can help farmers increase productivity without increasing total methane emissions — as long as the methane produced per unit of milk or meat decreases enough to offset the increase in production.
One proven way to do this is by feeding animals more digestible feed, which helps them both burp less and absorb more nutrients for growth and milk production. In the U.S., for example, milk production grew by 53% between 1990 and 2021, while enteric methane emissions per unit of milk decreased by about 25% (though there were also significant increases in manure management emissions during this period). While many farms in developed countries already use highly digestible feeds, farmers in Africa and South Asia often feed their animals low-quality crop residues such as rice straw and wheat straw, which can make up to 70% of a cow's diet. While feeding animals crop residues prevents emissions that would otherwise result from burning them, farmers could also enrich crop residues with nutrients and biochemical methods to boost animal productivity. These benefits are especially significant for low-producing cows, helping them grow bigger and produce more milk while reducing methane emissions.
In an upcoming project, WRI will work with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Ethiopia and Nepal to develop sustainable ways of turning crop residues into high-quality animal feed, which can in turn reduce methane emissions, boost production and create local jobs.
2) Stopping Methane Before it Escapes: Methane InhibitorsOne way farms can further cut emissions is by using methane-inhibiting feed additives, which can help reduce the amount of methane cows produce during digestion. These inhibitors are particularly suitable for commercial and large-scale farms, as cost can be a barrier for small-scale farms and methane inhibitors do not always result in productivity gains.
For example, a synthetic molecule called 3-nitroxypropanol (3-NOP) has gathered interest in the last few years, undergoing extensive R&D trials and securing regulatory approval for use in beef or dairy cows in over 60 countries. Given in small doses through cow feed, it can reduce methane production by around 30%. Currently it is applicable for cows in feedlots, and systems that can deliver 3-NOP to grazing cows are under development. However, it doesn't boost productivity, so acceptance will depend on costs. Some food and supply chain companies, like Arla Foods UK, are trialing the commercially approved 3-NOP (Bovaer™) on dairy farms with major retailers. Despite extensive safety studies, consumer misinformation has caused some backlash. Further, one recent long-term study indicated that the effects of 3-NOP could largely depend on diet type and may decrease as the cow progresses in her lactation cycle. This suggests that having a second, complementary inhibitor that can be alternated with 3-NOP would be very valuable.
Another methane-inhibiting feed additive that has secured considerable market interest in recent years is red seaweed, or Asparagopsis. Red seaweed is native to Australia and approved for use in beef feedlots in the country. While research shows that its methane mitigation potential can reach up to 90%, long-term trials have shown about 30% effectiveness in reducing methane.
One option that could reduce costs is to use only its active ingredient, bromoform, in some form. A challenge is that bromoform has been identified as a “probable human carcinogen” although there is a good chance that when small quantities are added to feed, they are broken down in the cow’s digestive system. While some large-scale production has begun, more R&D is needed to address the potentially high production costs and human health impacts.
3) Breeding Low-Methane CowsMethane production from cows is linked to their genetics, with some cows inherently producing more methane than others. Selecting superior-quality breeds that are healthier and feed-efficient is a long-standing farm practice. Similarly, breeding and selecting low-methane cows that naturally emit less methane is possible. On average, low-methane cows can produce 22% less methane emissions than high-emitting ones. As opposed to methane inhibitors, methane mitigation lasts the entire lifespan of a cow and may even be passed down to offspring.
While there have been some pilots around the world, such as in Canada and New Zealand, this approach still needs significant R&D and farmer education for widescale impact. However, if adopted widely, the benefits of methane reduction could be profound, as this solution can be applied across all production systems and geographies.
4) Anti-Methane VaccinesAnother emerging solution in its early research phase focuses on vaccines that prevent methane formation in cows’ stomachs. These methane vaccines can be administered just like any other vaccine to calves, and the effect lasts through a cow’s life. Some promising R&D efforts on vaccines are currently targeting a 30% methane reduction. If successful, methane vaccines hold great potential for broader adoption, as vaccination infrastructure is well-developed in most parts of the world.
5) Alternatives to Manure DigestersWhen it comes to reducing methane from manure management, digesters receive the most attention.
Biogas digesters use manure to produce biogas, which is a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide. Digester projects capture this methane to produce electricity or compress it to make “renewable natural gas.” While digesters are capable of reducing methane emissions, our report notes that reductions have often been overestimated by failure to account for methane leaks from the digester and emissions from the “digestate,” the wet material that emerges from the digester at the end and produces methane.
One big problem with digesters is their cost. In the U.S., a farm usually needs at least 500 cows for a digester to make financial sense. That leaves small- and medium-sized farms out of the picture. At the same time, digesters get heavy subsidies and policy support as renewable energy solutions. They also produce wastewater that emits more ammonia than raw manure and negatively affects water quality. Another potential problem is that in many countries, crops are added to digesters. The land use requirements and associated emissions from growing crops, along with methane leaks, tend to undermine any methane-reduction benefits from the digester.
Meanwhile, in countries like India and China, millions of small-scale, household-level digesters have been in use for decades. While they provide cooking fuel and enhance energy security, poor monitoring and methane leakage may have led to higher overall emissions.
For these reasons, alternatives to digesters are needed. One promising alternative involves various forms of solid-liquid separation. In this approach, farmers use mechanical equipment to separate the solid part of manure from the liquid. The solid part is then typically composted, dried or used as bedding for cows, and the liquid portion is stored in tanks or lagoons. This method can reduce methane by up to 60%, depending on the type of technology used, and we estimate the costs to be much less than digesters. California's Alternative Manure Management Program has supported installing several solid separators in the state, but their global adoption overall is still limited mostly due to a lack of grants, subsidies or other financial instruments for farmers.
Another promising technology is acidification, or mixing manure with acid. Acidic manure creates unfavorable conditions for methane-forming microorganisms and hence reduces methane emissions. This approach is most commonly used in Denmark as part of the country’s ammonia control regulation. Literature highly supports acidification to achieve reductions in methane, nitrous oxide and ammonia emissions, though the extent of these benefits depend on the frequency, type and dosage of acid used. Researchers report up to a 89% reduction in methane using higher acid doses and a 46% reduction with lower doses.
These alternative technologies are in their early stages of adoption and deserve more on-farm trials to test their efficacy, trade-offs and potential co-benefits.
6) Curbing Methane from RiceMany approaches can help reduce methane emissions from rice farming, beginning with adopting high-yielding rice varieties that can significantly lower methane emissions per kilogram of rice produced. Also, among thousands of rice breeds worldwide, some naturally emit less methane than others. Identifying and cultivating these low-methane varieties could reduce emissions by 22-51%.
One such promising variety is SUSIBA 2, which has been adopted in some parts of the world. A 2025 study appears to have uncovered the biochemical mechanisms behind SUSIBA 2’s ability to release less methane: methane-suppressing chemicals in their root systems. Such innovation could pave the way for breeding superior rice varieties that emit up to 70% less methane.
A simple and inexpensive way to reduce methane from rice production is Alternative Wetting and Drying (AWD). Rice grows in “flooded” fields; AWD involves letting the water completely dry before flooding again. Several variations of this practice exist and can reduce methane emissions by 40-45%. This approach also saves water, benefitting water-scarce regions. However, the ability to use AWD depends on the reliability of drainage and water supplies. Since most rice farmers have small plots of land, adopting AWD works best when multiple farms coordinate their water management. This requires community-level projects to manage water levels effectively and provide farmers with the right support and incentives.
Photo by Alejandro Rugama Moving from Research to ActionIn reality, governments have devoted extremely limited resources toward addressing methane mitigation on farms, but the exciting news is the emergence of promising solutions even with limited funds. Even modest increases in finance would likely fuel greater progress. Governments need to approach these solutions the way they have approached solutions in the energy sector, with support and investment directed at innovation. While some strategies seem ready to expand rapidly, others require reasonable funding for R&D and support for large-scale pilot projects.
Governments could accelerate the adoption of methane mitigation technologies by providing targeted subsidies for farmers and integrating methane reduction into broader agricultural policies. To reduce emissions from livestock and rice production, countries should lay out strategies that capture their unique production systems and focus on capacity-building to adopt long-term sustainable solutions that could also improve food security.
Meanwhile, the private sector must invest in trials and R&D to continuously improve emerging mitigation technologies and make their learnings available to the public. More pilot projects can help secure consumer acceptance before large-scale trials are rolled out. Multi-million dollar R&D initiatives can have a profound impact on advancing science and making research accessible to everyone. One example is the Enteric Fermentation R&D Accelerator, which funds breakthrough research in technologies that reduce livestock methane emissions, making them attractive for farmers and adaptable to diverse production systems globally. More open data-sharing can also accelerate field trials.
Ultimately, governments and the private sector must work together to support livestock and rice farmers. With the right practices and technologies, farms around the world can both enhance food security while slowing climate change.
cow_farm.jpg Food GHG emissions agriculture Climate Type Finding Exclude From Blog Feed? 0 Authors Swati HegdeCommunity Benefits Snapshot: North Plains Connector Transmission Line Community Engagement and Benefits
Highlights
North Plains Connector is an approximately 420-mile interregional electricity transmission line that will be built from eastern Montana to central North Dakota. The line will connect the western and eastern electric grids and three transmission planning regions, making it one of the most impactful lines in development today. The project has been praised by both renewable energy advocates and local stakeholders for its landowner-first approach to stakeholder engagement, community-led granting structures, use of federal grants to bolster communities and local employment initiatives.
Context- Project title: North Plains Connector
- Location: Montana and North Dakota
- Sector: Transmission
- Developer: North Plains Connector, LLC
- Type of project agreement: None
The North Plains Connector (NPC) is a 420-mile, 525 kilovolt high-voltage direct current transmission line running from Colstrip, Montana, to St. Anthony and Center, North Dakota. North Plains Connector LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Grid United, is the developer of NPC. Grid United is an independent traƒnsmission company, an entity that designs, constructs, and partially or fully owns the transmission facilities. NPC LLC includes Grid United and its various partners, most notably ALLETE, Inc.
At an approximately $3.2 billion investment, NPC is a key transmission line for the region and the country at large. It will connect the western and eastern electricity grids, adding 3,000 megawatts of bi-directional transfer capacity — more than double the current value — between the two systems. More transfer capacity between the eastern and western grids, which have been developed separately and run at different frequencies, will result in reliability and economic benefits for customers across the country. An analysis of the line’s reliability benefits done by Astrapé Consulting revealed that the line will add more than 3,000 megawatts of Effective Load Carrying Capability (ELCC), — a key measure of a resource’s ability to prevent electricity shortages — to Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), Southwest Power Pool (SPP), and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) collectively. The line will also facilitate additional trading between MISO, SPP and western markets.
North Plains Connector Transmission Line
Source: North Plains Connector WebsiteThe project has involved hundreds of stakeholders across Montana and North Dakota. Stakeholders include not only directly affected landowners, but also over 23 Tribal Nations who have had a cultural presence along the line’s route. Other stakeholders with economic interests in the line include county governments and utilities. As of January 2025, 75% of the NPC’s capacity has been obligated to utilities, such as Allete, Berkshire Hathaway Energy and Portland General Electric, through memoranda of understanding. Finally, nearly $800 million has been granted to the state of Montana and municipalities in North Dakota to support NPC through the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership (GRIP) Program and Transmission Siting and Economic Development (TSED) funds, making federal and state governments significant stakeholders in NPC as well.
The NPC transmission project was announced in 2022 and is currently in the planning and development phase. NPC LLC began permitting applications and regulatory filings in 2024, with approvals expected in 2026. Construction is slated to commence in 2028, and the line should be operational by 2032.
EngagementThough NPC LLC has engaged various state and federal stakeholders to develop the project, this snapshot primarily focuses on its engagement with the local community. The authors conducted 18 interviews across Montana and North Dakota with landowners, county commissioners, leaders of Tribal Nations, state regulators and legislators, and community development non-profit employees to assess the local engagement efforts and benefits of NPC.
Landowner engagement for NPC began in 2022 after conducting initial constraint analyses (engineering, biological, existing rights-of-way, archeological/cultural sites) and receiving feedback from federal and state agencies. With a 370-mile preliminary route in hand, NPC LLC’s development team began holding public meetings and negotiating with landowners along the proposed route. This route, however, was never expected to match the final position of the line. NPC LLC refers to its stakeholder engagement process as a “landowner-first approach” because of the time and flexibility given to each landowner impacted by the line. Each landowner met directly with members of the NPC LLC team to find the least impactful area for transmission development. The result of this is, as one local advocate put it, a “zigzagging” line that is less efficient, but socially optimal. Today, the project has added 50 miles to its proposed route, in large part due to these consent-based siting negotiations with landowners.
Landowner negotiations also took place through collective bargaining. A group of landowners representing 40-50% of the proposed right-of-way, “The Pro North Plains Connector Landowner Group," formed to negotiate as a group for better easement leases and specific landowner demands. What could have led to costly conflict instead benefited both the landowners and NPC LLC. The landowners were able to secure expert representation from a Wyoming lawyer who specializes in transmission easements because they pooled their resources, while the developer saved time and transaction costs by only having to negotiate with one counterparty.
NPC LLC has also held recurring public meetings for members of the community to learn more about the project and ask questions. These ongoing meetings go beyond Montana and North Dakota’s legal requirements for public engagement and occur quarterly, according to county commissioners in the region. One landowner commented that sometimes NPC LLC hosts meetings simply because they haven’t had one in a while. These meetings helped build trust and understanding within the host communities, according to county commissioners, landowners and developers interviewed.
Finally, NPC LLC did extensive voluntary tribal engagement with over 23 Tribal Nations across Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. While the line does not directly pass through tribal lands, it will have significant implications for energy development on nearby tribal lands (see “generation opportunities” section below). Additionally, the developers hired tribal cultural specialists during survey work along the line route to identify and document places of cultural importance.
BenefitsKey benefits of the NPC transmission line include:
Legal and Expected Benefits:- Taxes: Taxes can be the most valuable and longest lasting benefit a merchant transmission project provides to local communities. The centrally assessed nature of transmission taxation, however, makes it difficult to ascertain expected local revenues during and after construction. Aside from one county commissioner who was familiar with the Montana tax code, all other local stakeholders interviewed in this study did not know how to estimate expected revenues from the NPC line, nor were they comfortable providing a ballpark figure.
- Foregoing eminent domain: NPC LLC made the decision to not use eminent domain along the route and instead chose to acquire necessary land from property owners through negotiations and voluntary agreements. NPC LLC made this decision even though it would be easier to invoke eminent domain on NPC than in many other situations because developers do not need Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity approval to use eminent domain in North Dakota. The company’s decision to avoid using eminent domain, at least until the point of this writing, has been praised by local stakeholders across the route. Three county commissioners interviewed about the line specifically indicated that the use of eminent domain would likely have shifted their support for the project to opposition.
- Job creation and training: NPC LLC projects that it will employ 800 workers during NPC’s construction. Additionally, the company has proposed supporting commercial drivers license (CDL) and line worker training programs at Highlands College in Butte, Montana and Bismarck State College in North Dakota. The company is also working with United Tribes Technical College, a university serving Native American youth in Bismarck, to develop certificate programs in environmental inspection, tribal survey and monitoring, and CDLs. These kinds of jobs will be necessary for the line’s construction and maintenance, providing short-term and long-term employment opportunities for local and Native stakeholders impacted by the line.
- Honoring siting requests: Stakeholders most appreciated NPC LLC’s willingness to be flexible on the route. As noted in the engagement section, the route has added 50 miles to its original length to date, a roughly 14% increase. Nearly all alterations came at the request of individual landowners who wanted the line moved to less impactful areas on their land. According to nearly every stakeholder interviewed, NPC LLC’s willingness to not only listen and engage early, but follow through on local priorities has paid dividends in reducing opposition to the project.
- Community foundation grants: NPC LLC has distributed $2.1 million in North Dakota and $1.8 million in Montana in community grants over the past three years. In both cases, NPC LLC elected to let community foundations distribute the donations rather than the company do it itself. The North Dakota Community Foundation, a non-profit with longstanding ties to western North Dakota, oversaw the distribution of funds. The organization helped communities along the line form committees to choose grantee organizations and provide them with technical assistance. The committees themselves ultimately choose the beneficiaries with no input from NPC LLC nor Grid United. The grantmaking process works similarly in Montana.
- Small grants: NPC LLC, like many projects, has offered small donations at local events in an effort to show support for the community. For example, NPC LLC bought the prize bull at a local county fair in North Dakota at a price one community member estimated at, “three times its market value,” then donated the meat back to the county’s local food pantry.
- TSED is a $760 million program funded by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), designed to facilitate the siting and permitting of critical transmission. With the grant-writing support of NPC LLC, communities in both Montana and North Dakota have received over $62 million in grants from this program. The Montana Department of Commerce won a $47.5 million grant from the DOE that will be distributed to the rural counties of Rosebud, Custer, and Fallon and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe for a host of community improvement projects, such as roads, sewers, emergency services, and projects related to workforce and infrastructure development. In North Dakota, the towns of Mott and Amidon received $15 million in TSED funds for a community center and fire station, respectively. These funds would not have been available to these communities were they not co-located with NPC.
- New markets for locally owned generation: A positive consequence of NPC is that it will enable locally owned generation to connect to new markets. NPC will help the Standing Rock Sioux build and export wind energy on their tribal lands, which will be the single-largest revenue source for the tribe. SAGE Development Authority is a power authority owned by the Standing Rock Sioux that is developing wind energy on their reservation. It is currently able to export 235 MW of wind energy; with development of the NPC, it will be able to develop and export an additional 165 MW of wind.
NPC is a nationally important transmission project that has the potential to bring significant economic and reliability benefits to consumers across the West and Great Plains while accelerating the interconnection of renewables to the grid. The purpose of this snapshot, however, is to highlight the project’s strengths as they relate to engaging with and providing tangible benefits to communities. An overarching strength of this project has been the developer’s effort to secure wide stakeholder buy-in prior to seeking regulatory approval. Facets of this effort are described below:
1) Intensive and intentional landowner engagement: NPC LLC went above and beyond the legal requirements for community engagement. Their early, and equally important, continued engagement with local community stakeholders helped reduce uncertainty, promote trust and mitigate opposition. Even more, the willingness of the developer to modify the route to accommodate landowner preferences resulted in a socially optimal route tailored to the communities’ needs. Though it produced a route that is not as economically efficient, NPC LLC did far more to honor the siting requests of landowners than industry standards dictate.
2) Developing local credibility through trusted philanthropy: NPC LLC worked with established philanthropic non-profits in both Montana and North Dakota to help distribute local investments. As a result, the company benefited from additional credibility, effective distribution of millions of dollars across a few communities, and continual positive press from local news outlets. While it is impossible to know if NPC LLC’s philanthropy would have been as well received had the company granted funds directly, several stakeholders interviewed emphasized that the local philanthropic partners improved community perception of the grants. Regardless, it is notable that NPC LLC made the effort to give communities a high level of autonomy to decide how grants were distributed.
3) Leveraging federal funds for local impact: To augment its private funding, NPC LLC leveraged its own technical expertise in federal grant writing to help state and local governments apply for federal grants. As of the writing of this snapshot, all federal disbursements of the Inflation Reduction Act grants have been paused. If the funding is ultimately distributed by the federal government, it will sustain continued local investment over the next several years, which is directly attributable to the project’s developers.
4) Tribal engagement for greater equity and economic opportunities: NPC LLC voluntarily engaged with more than 20 Tribal partners during its development, securing significant benefits for the Northern Cheyenne and Standing Rock Sioux tribes and making efforts to avoid damaging the cultural sites of many others. The construction of NPC will not only allow more Native-owned renewables to interconnect, it may also spur widespread transmission development across Great Plains Indian country. A National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC) that touches the NPC’s route before running south through Standing Rock Sioux lands to South Dakota and Nebraska was just advanced to the final round. If approved, it will ease permitting burdens and provide funding for transmission development within the corridor. The existence of NPC, which has a large capacity and connects several markets, will only make these potential lines more economically viable and may have been a consideration in advancing this NIETC to the final round.
Challenges and GapsHigh upfront investments into socially optimal routes and community engagement is unproven and requires patient capital: NPC LLC made a strategic choice to invest more capital and time into the early development of its project than is typical with the hope that these early investments - designed to improve community relations and ease regulatory approvals - will ultimately save the project money in avoided litigation and regulatory delays. NPC LLC has added 50 miles to the line’s route to accommodate landowners, potentially increasing line costs by $35-$50 million in the process. The company also made over $5 million in donation commitments to local communities at the outset of the project and has delayed applying for state regulatory approval and environmental permits until nearly all the required easements have been signed. This approach differs from many developers, who opt to pursue site control and regulatory approval simultaneously.
While advocates of this approach argue that high upfront investment will reduce time and legal expenses, this has yet to be proven. In fact, the high upfront costs of frequent community engagement and route alterations may increase the overall cost of the project in the end. Furthermore, this approach requires, as one developer put it, “patient capital.” For developers who rely on ratepayers to fund line development, high upfront costs may be considered too risky or undesirable by those who will inevitably bear the cost of the line. Though it is yet to be seen whether this financial plan will pay out in the end, what is clear is that NPC LLC and Grid United’s approach has significantly reduced the amount of opposition projects in Montana and North Dakota have historically had to battle.
Further Resources north-plains-connector-beach.jpg Climate United States U.S. Community Benefits Snapshots U.S. Climate Energy Type Snapshot Exclude From Blog Feed? 0 Projects Authors Joe Hack Josh RogersWe're Not Adapting to Climate Change Fast Enough. Behavioral Science Could Help.
Farmers are on the frontlines of the climate crisis, with changing rainfall and increasingly extreme weather making their livelihoods less predictable. Shifting to more sustainable farming practices can help buffer against these impacts ― yet in the face of uncertainty, many farmers prefer to stick to the methods they know.
Farmers in Colombia's Norte de Santander region were no exception, at first. But recently change has taken root. The Lands for Life program, led by the non-profit Rare, worked closely with local farmers and found that they were more likely to adopt new practices if they saw others successfully doing so ("social proof") or if they believed it was expected ("social pressure"). A few farmers involved with the program began exploring techniques like composting and organic farming. As their production rose and their land improved, others followed suit. Today sustainable farming is becoming a norm in the community, and the program has expanded to new areas.
There's a lesson here, and not just for farmers. Every part of society will need to adapt to climate change in different ways ― from city dwellers dealing with extreme heat, to coastal communities experiencing sea-level rise, to businesses managing supply chain risks. Yet adaptation measures are often viewed as too expensive, too complex or too far in the future; something that can be put off for now.
But what if, like in Norte de Santander, new behaviors that boost resilience to climate change become the norm?
As the need for climate adaptation grows, behavioral science could be one of the keys to unlocking action on a much broader scale than we've seen to date. It can help uncover what's blocking us from adapting to climate change and provide insights on how to design solutions so that people feel more compelled ― and empowered ― to act.
Why Shifting Behaviors Is Critical to Building Climate ResilienceDespite global commitments to bolster climate resilience, adaptation efforts continue to be too small, slow and scattered to address the enormity of the climate crisis. These efforts are also vastly underfunded: In 2024, the global adaptation finance gap was estimated at $187-$359 billion per year.
Many of the barriers to closing this gap are external and structural in nature. Large-scale adaptation won't happen until governments and other stakeholders set clear action plans, build up their technical capacities, and scale up finance and implementation.
However, some of the barriers are perceived: People don't favor taking action when it's not clear when or how climate hazards will play out. The benefits of adaptation often seem years away, and short-term priorities tend to take up most of our available attention and resources.
Villagers planting mangroves in Yunxiao County, China. Adaptation solutions like mangrove planting can build resilience to climate change while bringing other environmental and social benefits, but these efforts are piecemeal and chronically underfunded. Photo by Xinhua/Alamy Stock PhotoClimate uncertainty doesn't mean we can't take action now to prepare for the future. In fact, data shows that investing in adaptation not only saves lives, protects economies and reduces damages, but also results in economic, social and environmental benefits, even when anticipated disasters don't occur. Yet these benefits aren't always clear or easy to calculate, while the upfront cost of action is real and immediate.
Behavioral science can help overcome some of these barriers. A better understanding of what drives people to act (or not act), and accounting for this in the design and roll-out of plans, could break through some of the challenges adaptation is currently facing. This could help move from planning to implementation, attract much-needed funding, and develop more effective and sustained solutions at the community level.
We explored three ways to unlock this potential:
1) Designing Projects and Programs to Empower CommunitiesStudies have shown that adaptation initiatives can be more effective when local communities are meaningfully involved in planning and implementation. But building local momentum (and sustaining it over the long term) can be challenging. Decision-makers often assume that providing people with more information leads to changes in behavior; however, a growing body of research shows that information alone is not enough to drive lasting change. Other variables, which vary by group and situation, often play more decisive roles.
In Fiji, for example, increased flooding and poor land management are eroding riverbanks that provide a vital source of food, water and income for many communities. Between 2018 and 2020 the Fijian government piloted a project to address this threat. It provided select communities with free vetiver seedlings, a deep-rooted grass that can help stabilize riverbank soils. It also offered a collective payment to each village and held a training session on vetiver planting, targeted at men and youth.
With roots that often reach 3 meters underground, vetiver grass is a natural solution that can help stabilize riverbanks and reduce erosion. Photo by jianghaistudio/iStockBut in 2023, when project observers returned, they found little to no vetiver growing on the riverbanks of the three villages surveyed. Community members confirmed that most of the plants had been left unattended and washed away.
This "intention-action gap" is common in many projects ― where despite having the best intentions and access to resources, behaviors don't change. The question is, why?
Interviews with villagers revealed that even though Fiji's government provided free seedlings, the one-time vetiver training session wasn't enough to build up the skills and confidence needed for planting (a behavioral driver called "self-efficacy"). In addition, women, who are important custodians the region's riverbanks, were left out. Discussions revealed that the project could have been improved by offering more ― and more inclusive ― trainings; emphasizing a collective sense of responsibility with regular support from the local government; and tapping into community members' strong concerns about flooding and erosion ("salience of loss"), as well as their cultural attachment to their land.
Identifying behavior drivers like this at the beginning of a project, and tweaking the approach over time based on how people respond and what works best, can lead to more effective interventions and maintain momentum long-term.
2) Changing the Way Climate Risks Are Communicated to Spur ActionClimate risks might seem far off in the future, and it's natural to focus on the current moment (what's known as "present bias") and problems that are prominent now ("salience effect"). But emerging climate communications strategies, tied to behavior change insights, can help people better understand the pressing risks that climate change poses ― and what to do about them. These include crafting powerful messages by:
- leveraging trusted messengers;
- aligning communications with audiences' values;
- building trust between policymakers and the public;
- highlighting solutions;
- storytelling;
- and bringing the future into the present.
In Malabon City ― a cyclone- and flood-prone area of Manila, Philippines ― locals rely on the national government's weather agency for climate risk information. Partners for Resilience (a network of civil society organizations and nonprofits focused on reducing disaster risk) leveraged this trusted relationship by printing out the government's flood risk maps on large tarps and visibly posting them in different neighborhoods.
A signpost in Manila, Philippines signals evacuation routes in case of a disaster. Photo by Neil Bussey/iStockThe signs served as a daily reminder for households and community members to know their evacuation zones. They also promoted strategies like mangrove restoration that can help reduce flood risk. In addition, the city trained local officials in community-based disaster risk management, enabling them to work directly with residents on understanding local threats and developing response plans.
Storytelling ― whether through writing, film, TV or otherwise ― is another powerful strategy that's often been overlooked by climate communicators. But climate stories are starting to emerge more frequently, such as the documentary Years of Living Dangerously, the UN-MIET Africa radio program and novels like The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. Research shows that by creating relatable characters and visualizing progress, along with knowing what motivates the audience, stories like these can shift how people think about and respond to climate risks.
Climate impacts and adaptation benefits can also be brought into the present through novel communication methods. Virtual Planet Technologies has used virtual reality (VR) headsets to show individuals and policymakers, in 360 degrees, how coastal erosion, worsening storms, sea-level rise and extreme heat could affect their communities in the future. After watching waters rise to overtake beaches and parks, users can explore how solutions, such as restoring mangroves or building a sea wall, may reduce climate risks.
Residents of climate-vulnerable communities who experienced this VR stated that it increased their awareness of the risks and the steps they can take to build resilience. Importantly, the focus on solutions helps people stay engaged and motivated, rather than feeling hopeless
3) Using Policy to Remove Behavior Change BarriersAt the upstream level are national and local governments, which play crucial roles in shaping people's decision-making contexts. They can use behavioral insights to design better programs and policies that help people plan for and respond to climate risks.
A key piece of the puzzle is overcoming barriers like cost and convenience that might prevent people ― especially vulnerable groups ― from changing the way they do things.
Following the record-breaking heat wave of 2003, which claimed over 70,000 lives, European policymakers realized that heat warning systems alone are not enough to drive people to take heat safety measures. This prompted France, Germany, Belgium and many other countries to begin integrating behavior change into their heat response plans.
These countries started tailoring messaging to at-risk groups like the elderly, children and those with chronic health conditions. They provided incentives such as cooling equipment discounts, and leveraged social media campaigns to amplify heat warnings and heat safety behaviors. Some cities, such as Paris and Brussels, made it easier for people to stay safe during extreme heat days by creating more green urban spaces and providing extended access to air-conditioned cooling centers, fountains and swimming pools.
Indeed, there are many ways countries can leverage policy to shift people toward pro-climate behaviors. But these are largely underutilized. Our review of 20 countries' national climate commitments showed that most are not leveraging behavior tools as much as they should to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ― and that when they do, they're using only a limited set of the tools available. Climate adaptation is even further behind.
Source: The Living Lab, WRI, adapted from the IPCC's 2022 Working Group III Report We Can and Should Start Using These Tools TodayUnderstanding what drives different behaviors is essential for governments and other decision-makers to enable and incentivize climate adaptation on a larger scale. Research shows that leveraging behavioral science for adaptation is less costly and resource-intensive, and can be more effective, than interventions that don't intentionally incorporate behavior change.
Knowledge of how behavior change can support environmental and climate goals is expanding. Until now, behavior change research on environmental issues has centered on short-term decisions and actions, not on the medium- and longer-term timeframes that are so critical to climate adaptation. More studies are needed on which factors drive and deter adaptation behaviors, how these vary by context, and how to evaluate and capture all the co-benefits of adaptation action. Lessons from other disciplines where behavior science is more advanced, such as health care, business and education, can help inform this research. Funding case studies and trials to learn what works ― and what doesn't ― is crucial.
While knowledge gaps remain, our understanding of what drives human behavior has progressed enough to start informing adaptation policy, program design and the broader climate-decision-making environment. A suite of resources is already publicly available to learn from and build on. Behavior change alone will not solve climate adaptation, but it should be a critical part of the toolbox that does.
Related resources- Rare's Center for Behavior & the Environment designed a behavior change framework that unpacks six science-based levers for shifting behaviors.
- The COM-B model is a behavior change framework that can help users understand why specific behaviors occur and craft effective interventions.
- The Science of Changing Behavior for Environmental Outcomes: A Literature Review analyzes how behavioral science and social science can be leveraged to help address biodiversity conservation, climate mitigation, water management and conservation, waste management and land management.
- The paper Act to Adapt: Behavioral Design for Climate Adaptation by Ideas42 lays out common behavioral barriers to adaptation and possible design tools to address them, paired with theoretical case studies.
Solar Power Doubled Mango Production — and Farmers’ Incomes — in Chamwino, Tanzania
To farmers in the dry, windswept Chamwino district in central Tanzania, mangoes looked like a golden opportunity.
With the country's mango industry expanding, 200 smallholder farmers in Chamwino launched a new farming cooperative, AMCOS, in 2013 to establish a foothold. The farmers contributed TZS 30,000 (US$10) each and in return were allotted plots of land, seedlings, trucks and other resources, largely provided with support from the local government.
The AMCOS farmers also received water pumps and a diesel generator to operate them. This was essential, as Chamwino's water supplies had diminished over the years due to overuse, poor management and more frequent droughts. The pumps offered a steady water source.
Cattle trough built by AMCOS. Photo by Birouke Teferra/WRIIn 2015, AMCOS built a cattle trough and began charging livestock owners for water, bringing in a new revenue stream for the farmers.
But challenges arose. Between rising diesel prices, frequent pump maintenance and occasional breakdowns, the cost of the diesel pump soared, and it was eventually abandoned. The water supply once again became unreliable, and mango seedlings withered. Across the district, only 5%-40% of the seedlings survived.
With hope dwindling, some farmers gave up mango farming altogether. But that was before the solar pumps arrived.
How Solar Power Revived Chamwino's Mango FarmsIn 2019, World Resources Institute partnered with Tanzania's Traditional Energy Development Organization (Ta-TEDO) to identify areas where decentralized renewable energy could help support agriculture. Through this initiative, AMCOS received funding and assistance to install new solar-powered water pumps with the capacity to irrigate 80 hectares (200 acres) and a drip irrigation system capable of covering 10 hectares (25 acres).
The results were transformative.
With a reliable, sustainable and affordable water supply, mango yields skyrocketed. Between 2021 and 2022, production more than doubled from an average of 40 fruits per tree to 97. Farmers who adopted drip irrigation counted over 120 mangoes per tree the same year. And average incomes from mango sales nearly doubled, increasing from around TZS 150,00 (US$56) to TZS 297,000 (US$112) per month.
Women members of AMCOS standing next to a mango tree. Photo by Ta-TEDO"This solar project has truly transformed our lives," said Suzana Machela, a farmer and AMCOS member. "Our mango production has soared, and we now have ample water for our animals and household. I harvested over two sacks of mangoes, and there's more than enough water to meet our needs."
Along with these earnings came savings. With the diesel generator out of service, watering the mango trees meant hauling buckets of water from distant wells; a grueling task. Farmers and families who did this work themselves saved time and effort thanks to the solar pumps. Those who previously hired help for watering, but adopted the new drip irrigation, saw their labor costs drop to near zero.
In addition, compared to running the diesel pump, the solar pumps saved the cooperative over TZS 2.3 million (US$900) per year on fuel and maintenance.
Farmers were also trained by TaTEDO experts in agricultural best practices such as intercropping (growing two or more crops in the same area at the same time), which can increase crop yields, use water more efficiently, and reduce the need for harmful chemicals and fertilizers.
"Before this, the cost of irrigation and operations was high, and farmers were unaware of the value of intercropping," says Jensen Shuma from TaTEDO. "Since its implementation, operational costs have decreased, productivity has increased, and farmers have benefited from intercropping, hence additional incomes."
AMCOS Is a Model for Progress — but Bigger Challenges RemainChamwino's water shortages are not unique. Growing populations, competing demands and poor water management have strained Tanzania's water supplies, pushing it past the "water stressed" threshold. Across Africa, around 1 in 3 people face water scarcity. And shifting weather patterns due to climate change only exacerbate the problem. In the past 15 years, Tanzania has seen seven significant droughts.
Solar water pumps not only support irrigation, but can also help improve local water access. In Chamwino, AMCOS can now sell water from the solar pump to community members during the dry season, reducing the distance they must travel in search of water for domestic use and livestock. However, solar pumps won't resolve broader water shortages. To ensure long-term water security, they must be paired with sustainable management, conservation, efficient irrigation and better governance.
Solar power system installed in Chamwino to power water pumping, irrigation and water systems. Photo by Ta-TEDOThe project also faces challenges that have hampered its potential — challenges that similar initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa may grapple with as well.
While farmers now have better access to water, the solar irrigation system has its limitations. Issues like clogged pipes and insufficient storage capacity mean the system hasn't been able to cover the full 200 acres expected, leaving many farmers feeling excluded. Some left mango farming altogether.
In addition, support resources are still scarce. To expand the cooperative's initial success, farmers need more training on agricultural best practices, such as irrigation and intercropping, as well as how to use modern farming technologies beyond the solar pumps, like pest management systems or specialized pruning tools. But plans to develop a capacity-building network between farmers and supportive stakeholders (via a special purpose vehicle) were delayed.
And there are structural challenges. Most farmers, lacking processing facilities and access to better markets, still depend largely on local buyers, limiting their financial growth.
Related- A New Solution to Power Africa: Productive Use of Renewable Energy
- How Local Banks Can Unlock Africa's Clean Energy Future
Local renewable energy offers substantial economic opportunities throughout sub-Saharan Africa. But to scale up initiatives like Chamwino's, partnerships with government, NGOs and private sector players are essential. These collaborations can provide the necessary funding and technical support to ensure successful implementation and long-term sustainability.
Specifically, these projects need:
- Policies to address structural challenges for farmers: Governments can support farmers by addressing both sustainability challenges and economic barriers. Policies should focus on mapping water resources, improving management and strengthening governance to ensure long-term water access. Infrastructure investments, such as better roads, can enhance market access, while measures to combat threats like theft and fires can protect livelihoods. Combining these efforts ensures both sustainable resource use and improved economic opportunities for farmers.
- Training for local farmers and clean energy technicians: Agricultural extension programs can help ensure farmers are equipped with modern agricultural techniques to optimize productivity and efficiently manage resources. Strengthening the agricultural extension system with data-driven insights will help tailor training, inputs and technical support to meet farmers' specific needs. In addition, local technicians need training to maintain and operate renewable energy systems over the long term.
- Careful monitoring and continuous improvement: Ongoing monitoring helps evaluate performance in real-time and identify areas where system upgrades, such as durable metal pipes and additional water tanks, are most needed to ensure reliable water access and optimize drip irrigation.
- Better data collection: Baseline information on farmer profiles, production levels and incomes provides a clear reference point to assess progress over time. Data also plays a crucial role in evaluating a project's impact on productivity and community well-being, helping guide future initiatives. Embedding agricultural and related data into regular government surveys and reports can help fill current data gaps.
- Establishing a special purpose vehicle to channel support: Stakeholders should accelerate the establishment of a special purpose vehicle in Chamwino to help channel finance and support AMCOS farmers with capacity building, market linkages, data management, operational management and more. By fostering partnerships with financiers, NGOs and other stakeholders, the special purpose vehicle can leverage data, mobilize resources and help scale impact, ensuring that farmers' livelihoods are improved and that a project's full potential is realized.
As we look to the future, Chamwino provides a hopeful vision for how renewable energy can transform lives and communities in Tanzania, Africa and beyond. Scaling this success nationally — and internationally — will require all hands on deck: communities, policymakers, NGOs, development organizations and more.
Together, it is possible to empower communities, drive economic growth, and pave the way for a future where renewable energy is at the heart of rural transformation. With the proper support and resources, clean energy will continue to change lives for the better.
mangoes-tanzania-market.jpg Energy Tanzania Energy Access agriculture renewable energy low carbon development Type Vignette Exclude From Blog Feed? 0 Projects- Energy Access Explorer
- African Energy Dialogues: Energising the Future Together
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US Takes Important Step Toward Tackling Its Massive Abandoned Mine Problem
Estimates say there are as many as half a million abandoned mines across the United States. Tens of thousands of these are considered environmentally hazardous, exposing communities to chronic health issues, polluted waterways, species die-off and more — effects some Americans have grappled with across generations.
However, while the problem is plain to see, it's not easy to address. Often, the entities or individuals responsible for these mines no longer exist, cannot be found or are not financially viable, meaning no one can be forced to clean up the site. And government clean-up programs tend to be limited in scope and funding. As a result, many mine sites have been left to continue polluting, unchecked, for decades.
This is where "Good Samaritans" come into the picture. In some places, Good Samaritan groups — such as nonprofits or community organizations — have volunteered or would volunteer to clean up mine sites. They offer much-needed capacity to start addressing the problem on a larger scale than has been possible to date. However, their efforts are often hampered by laws which, while intended to protect the environment, could make anyone who attempts to clean up a site liable for its pollution.
That's now on the cusp of changing. At the end of 2024, after decades of concerted effort by conservation groups, the mining industry, and bipartisan members of Congress, former President Joe Biden signed into law the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act of 2024. This marks a significant first step toward making it easier for Good Samaritans to do their work. It could also open up alternative pathways for dealing with abandoned mines, such as allowing companies to reclaim valuable minerals — a move that could help meet the country's booming critical mineral demand.
The act was passed on a bipartisan basis and supports the Trump administration's emphasis on domestic resource extraction. However, it also relies on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to process and allocate permits. Success will depend on continued support, capacity and funding for the agency.
The Abandoned Mine ProblemThe United States' abandoned mine problem is vast. The U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and EPA have identified 140,000 abandoned hardrock mines across the country. ("Hardrock mining" refers to extracting non-fuel metal and mineral deposits such as copper, iron ore, potash and zinc.) The agencies estimate that there could be more than 390,000 others not yet in their databases. Of the 140,000 identified abandoned mines, about 22,500 are thought to be environmentally hazardous.
The new law defines "abandoned mines" as those that were abandoned before December 11, 1980. Under current laws, mine operators must reclaim a mine after it's decommissioned. This means they must return the site to a state where it can be used for some other purpose, such as a wildlife habitat or industrial development. Prior to these laws, however, many mines were not properly cleaned up or reclaimed. Where no responsible entity can be found and forced to clean up the sites, they've continued to pose safety and environmental hazards long after they're closed.
The biggest risk with these sites is water pollution. Abandoned mines are often associated with acid mine drainage, which occurs when rocks containing metal sulfides are exposed to water and oxygen, forming sulfuric acid that escapes into the environment. This acid can leach toxic heavy metals from rocks into waterways, posing human health risks that range from an increased risk of cancer to gastrointestinal issues and nerve damage. In Oklahoma's Tar Creek mining district, which has old lead and zinc mines, children have elevated lead levels in their blood — a known cause of brain and nerve damage.
Mine contamination also has a negative impact on the environment, with studies showing that acid mine drainage causes decreases in biodiversity. Runoff from California's Iron Mountain Mine flowing into a Sacramento River tributary caused massive fish kills before EPA started work to clean up the pollution in the 1980s.
These effects aren't limited to a few sites. Across the country, EPA estimates that abandoned hardrock mines have contaminated 40% of U.S. rivers and 50% of lakes.
Why Is Cleaning Up Abandoned Mines So Difficult?Some federal programs to clean up abandoned mines do exist. If a site is having a significant impact on the surrounding environment, it may be eligible for cleanup under the largest federal program, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as Superfund. CERCLA's primary aim is to clean up polluted sites, and the act gives EPA a range of tools to achieve that goal. However, due to capacity and financial constraints, Superfund cleanups are only triggered to address the highest priority cases. An estimated 98% of the abandoned mines do not qualify.
Sites that are not a high enough priority to be addressed as a Superfund cleanup must rely on Good Samaritans or cleanups funded through state and local governments. However, existing laws limit the extent to which Good Samaritan and government groups can help. CERCLA, for example, may impose liability on those responsible for or working on sites that pollute or could potentially pollute the environment. Even groups not involved with the original mine could be held liable if they take action on the site — including trying to help with cleanup.
A river in Amador County, Calif., U.S. polluted by runoff from an abandoned copper mine. EPA estimates that abandoned hardrock mines have contaminated nearly half of U.S. rivers. Photo by inga spence/Alamy Stock PhotoIt is also possible that anyone cleaning up an abandoned mine could be held liable for discharges of pollutants under the Clean Water Act. The law requires a permit to work on closing off a source of water pollution, such as an abandoned mine. The permit holder then becomes liable for this pollution and would have to bring the water quality fully in line with Clean Water Act standards. This discourages any actions that may improve, but not fully fix, water quality. In addition, cleanup efforts can sometimes accidentally result in discharges of pollution into waterways, triggering additional liability under the Clean Water Act.
The nonprofit Trout Unlimited ran up against these challenges in 2024 when it sought to clean up the Orphan Boy Gold Mine in Colorado, which was polluting local waterways and damaging wetlands and trout habitat. The group was able to do non-point source remediation, including regrading waste rock piles, installing erosion controls, and redirecting releases from a drainage passage connected to the abandoned underground mine workings. While these actions helped, Trout Unlimited was ultimately unable to address the source of pollution draining from the underground mine itself because of liability concerns under the Clean Water Act.
How the New Good Samaritan Law Changes ThingsEfforts to pass legislation limiting liability for Good Samaritans have been in the works since 1999. Advocates recognize the critical role these groups can play and have sought to make it easier for them to contribute. Opponents worry that such legislation could relax environmental protections too much — and that if an attempted cleanup makes the situation worse, there will be no recourse to fix it. The challenge was to reduce liability for well-meaning actors while maintaining protections for the environment.
The new law — the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act — seeks to find this balance. Signed into law in December 2024, the legislation establishes a seven-year pilot program administered by EPA, which will permit up to 15 Good Samaritan abandoned hardrock mine cleanups. Any entity that did not have a role in creating the mine and wants to carry out a low-risk remediation project can apply for a permit, which will enable them to clean up abandoned mine sites without being subject to liability for its pollution. In addition, they will not have to apply for any other permits under CERCLA or the Clean Water Act, simplifying the process. However, if a group violates a permit issued under the Good Samaritan legislation, they could still end up liable for pollution from the site.
While limited in scope and temporary in nature, this law is a positive step towards enabling Good Samaritans to clean up the thousands of toxic, hazardous mine sites across the country. If the 15 projects are successful, they will prove the concept is sound and provide data on how to best create a large-scale, permanent program.
Beyond Cleanup, the Act Could Boost the US Mineral IndustryStreamlining cleanup efforts isn't all the Good Samaritan Law did. It also opened up the possibility of reclaiming valuable minerals from abandoned mine sites on federal land, with approval.
Many operators of now-abandoned mines were focused on materials such as iron or gold. They would not have recovered minerals such as lithium, rare earths or vanadium that are now considered critical for renewable energy, electricity transmission, aerospace and defense. In addition, extraction methods used at old, abandoned mines were often less efficient than current practices; they may have left behind concentrations of minerals that could be extracted with modern technology. Or the price of minerals may have meant that significant amounts of the target mineral weren't collected.
A worker at an electric vehicle plant in Detroit, Mich. prepares a lithium-ion battery for installation. The U.S. is working to build up a domestic supply of critical minerals such as lithium, which are essential for clean energy, aerospace, defense and other technologies. Photo by Jim West/Alamy Stock PhotoUnder the new law, any proceeds from this reprocessing will be redirected into cleanup efforts. However, in the future, there could be an opportunity for a law to allow the reprocessing and sale of minerals from abandoned mines for profit.
Allowing for-profit reprocessing could help incentivize cleanup. And it could open up a new stream of domestic minerals that are in demand now, helping to minimize U.S. reliance on foreign sources. It could also help isolate heavy metals from the environment, preventing future contamination of water bodies on which people and wildlife depend, while avoiding the many issues associated with opening new mines. Reprocessing tends to be more cost effective than opening a new mine, too.
At the same time, there are concerns that reprocessing activities could increase pollution levels while in operation. This underscores the need for strong standards and the development of best practices.
Success Hinges on Continued EPA SupportThe Good Samaritan Law marks a positive first step toward addressing abandoned mines across the U.S. The 15 pilot projects will be proof of concept and help guide best practices for future Good Samaritan cleanups. And reprocessing holds strong potential for supporting the country's domestic mineral industry.
However, success hinges on EPA having the support and funding necessary to administer the program, and on Good Samaritans having access to funding to carry out cleanups. Recent reports of plans to dramatically shrink EPA's budget indicate that the new law will face difficulties.
This law shows that EPA administers programs that align with the current Administration's strong desire to see the U.S. secure its minerals pipeline, and that EPA's work is important across a range of policy priorities. Ensuring that EPA can carry out the Good Samaritan and other programs can help move the U.S. toward a cleaner, safer future.
epa-mine-pollution-treatment.jpg Freshwater United States water pollution environmental justice Type Explainer Exclude From Blog Feed? 0 Projects Authors W. Briana Fowler-Puja Melissa BarbanellSTATEMENT: Resumed COP16 Talks Conclude with a Strategy to Boost Biodiversity Finance
ROME (February 28, 2025) — The COP16 biodiversity negotiations officially concluded, with countries agreeing on a strategy to increase finance for biodiversity to $200 billion annually by 2030. Countries also adopted a monitoring framework to track countries’ progress toward the Global Biodiversity Framework targets, including the goals to protect 30% of the world’s land and water and restore 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2030.
These outcomes build on the prior outcomes from the COP16 negotiations in Cali, Colombia, which included a voluntary fund for companies to contribute to based on the genetic data from biodiversity they use, and a new permanent body to bring Indigenous Peoples and local communities into the negotiations.
Following is a statement by Crystal Davis, Global Director of Food, Land & Water Program, World Resources Institute:
“Amidst deeply fractured geopolitics, countries proved that they can still work together to preserve the biodiversity that all of humanity depends on. Agreeing on the first global roadmap to finance the world’s biodiversity protection is an important step forward, but it is still only a plan without the necessary dollars on the table.
“Now countries need to urgently get money to the nations and communities who need it to protect their biodiversity-rich ecosystems. Many of these ecosystems are imperative for people’s food and water, global climate stability, and countries’ economies and local communities’ livelihoods.
“Wealthy countries need to meet their commitment to provide $20 billion to developing countries this year. All countries should start reforming their nature-harming subsidies. Governments must provide the guidance and incentives to mobilize more private sector investment. And companies that use genetic data from biodiversity should contribute to the newly launched Cali Fund.
“More broadly, we must connect this outcome to larger finance efforts, including the COP30 roadmap for the $1.3 trillion annual goal for climate and nature. Amidst highly constrained budgets, it’s vital countries connect the many sources of finance for climate and nature and make them work together as a system.
“Operationalizing the monitoring framework is a bright spot. While not perfect, we are now better positioned to hold countries accountable for making progress toward the world’s goals to protect and restore the world’s forests, land and water. And it can help both governments and civil society learn and adapt by showing which actions work best to protect nature.
“It is groundbreaking that governments, for the first time, must now report on the extent to which they are protecting Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ rights and including them in conservation planning. Going forward, it’s critical that governments’ monitoring is transparent, cost-effective at scale, flexible and open source — and that independent monitoring accompanies official government systems.”
Forests Forest and Landscape Restoration nature-based solutions Indigenous Peoples & Local Communities Freshwater Finance Type Statement Exclude From Blog Feed? 02025 Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship Now Open for Submissions
Looking for an opportunity to catalyze sustainable, people-centered urban mobility? The Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship wants to help you transform ideas into reality.
The Schipper family, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, and Volvo Research and Education Foundations (VREF) are pleased to announce that applications are now open for the 2025 Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship for Sustainable Transport and Energy Efficiency. Jointly provided by VREF, WRI and the Schipper Family, the scholarship will award three extraordinary candidates up to US$10,000 each to advance transformative research in efficient and sustainable transport, including at least one a young researcher from Africa.
Applications are due by April 15, 2025.
Dr. Leon J. Schipper (“Lee”), 1947-2011, was a co-founder of EMBARQ (now WRI’s Urban Mobility program) and dedicated his professional life to the efficient use of energy in mobility. An international physicist, researcher and musician, Schipper inspired and shaped the thinking of a generation of students and professionals. Widely recognized for enriching policy dialogue with his passion for data and challenging conventional wisdom, this scholarship celebrates his vision.
2024 winners Olanike Babalola, Tom Courtright and Nicholas Goedeking will present their research at the Transforming Transportation 2025 conference in March 2025.
About the ScholarshipThe Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship aims to expand contributions to sustainable transport and energy efficiency research and policy dialogue. It prioritizes “iconoclastic” contributions that have clear, transformative outputs and contribute to measurable changes. Proposals relating to different aspects of policy dialogue are welcome, including data collection and data quality, diagnosis through data analysis (qualitative and quantitative), policy analysis and evaluation, and interdisciplinary and international comparative analysis.
Who’s Eligible?The scholarship is open to young researchers, defined as someone with five or fewer years of experience since their last academic degree (master’s or Ph.D.) and who has not yet turned 36 years by the expression of interest submission deadline (born after April 15, 1989). There are no geographic restrictions on scholarship applicants, so young researchers and students of all national origins and fields are eligible to apply. While applications should be submitted in English, research may be completed in other languages to enhance its impact.
Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Consistency with Lee Schipper’s contributions
- Alignment with the idea of sustainable transport and energy efficiency
- Creation of innovative, transformational outcomes (“real impact”)
- Feasibility (timely, realistic)
- Applicant (affiliation, background, previous contributions, references)
Additional African Scholar Eligibility Requirements:
The African Scholarship supports a young researcher from the African continent who is currently living and working in Africa. In addition to the global selection criteria above, applicants to the African Scholarship should also:
- Hold citizenship in an African country
- Currently live and work in Africa
- Be associated with an African based institution (or an African branch of an international institution)
The first selection phase requires an expression of interest to be completed by April 15, 2025. Interested applicants can learn more about this process in the scholarship guidelines. From this first phase, up to seven candidates for each of the Global and African Scholarships will advance to the next selection round and will be notified in May 2025 when a more detailed research proposal will be required. Final awardees will be notified in August 2025.
Schipper-Bus-EMBARQ-1140x518_0.jpg Cities Urban Mobility energy efficiency transportation Type Project Update Exclude From Blog Feed? 0 ProjectsSTATEMENT: EU Clean Industrial Deal Sets Right Direction, Yet Pending Details Will be Critical
Brussels (February 26, 2025) — Today the European Commission unveiled a flagship policy package, the Clean Industrial Deal. The policy package sets out a plan to decarbonize and revitalize the EU’s traditional energy-intensive industries, while boosting the emerging clean-tech sector, to enable the EU’s industrial transition.
The package supports the EU’s proposed net 90% GHG emissions reduction by 2040, accelerates renewable energy deployment, targets new financing to scale clean technology, aims to create markets for clean products and strengthen emissions reporting, makes energy more affordable, prioritizes circularity and fosters international partnerships.
Following is a statement by Stientje van Veldhoven, Vice-President and Regional Director for Europe of World Resources Institute:
“While some backtrack on climate, the EU has sent a clear message that its economic competitiveness hinges on ensuring that its businesses are equipped to make the inevitable clean energy transition. This policy package largely sets the right priorities, yet it is also lacking in important aspects.
“The plan’s language on simplifying and possibly delaying the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is concerning, as it opens the door to revisions and more uncertainty for companies. The EU should be a leader in creating a market for low-carbon and cleaner products, much like the EU Deforestation Regulation does for deforestation-free commodities.
“While the proposal rightly calls for rapid industry electrification, it falls short in addressing energy savings and resource efficiency as key measures. The EU should now provide more clarity on how it will reduce consumption of materials and energy to keep the industrial expansion within planetary boundaries. The same clarity is needed for how it will cut household energy bills by two-thirds by 2035 to address voters' concerns.
“The Commission’s proposal includes support for “social leasing” of clean and renewable energy products. However, if national fossil fuel subsidies persist, adoption may not follow. And the plan’s focus on circular economy leadership by 2030 is commendable, with steps toward coordinated raw materials purchasing and increased recycling and reusing, though it lacks concrete targets for resource use.
“The Commission’s announcement of mobilizing 100 billion Euros for clean manufacturing is a good step forward but its effectiveness will depend on the speed of such financial instruments and the ability to crowd in more funding. To overcome market barriers, the Commission rightly emphasizes how public and private procurement can drive a low-carbon industry by including strong sustainability criteria in EU contracts.
“The EU’s next step must be to release an ambitious new EU Climate Plan – or NDC – before the summer, setting an emissions reduction target of 70-75% for 2035, charting a path toward climate neutrality by 2050, and solidifying the EU’s global climate leadership.”
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