World Resources Institute Podcasts Plus: Recent Episodes
WRI's Big Ideas Into Action podcast
"Big Ideas Into Action" is the relaunched podcast from the World Resources Institute, bringing you the big ideas that combat the world's most pressing environmental and developmental challenges. You'll hear the voices of those meeting the challenges on the ground across the globe and find out about the way we're finding the answers and translating them into action.
We'll be podcasting in series of six to eight at a time, once a week, with occasional special episodes to add our insights and analysis in response to big events.
The World Resources Institute works around the globe to turn big ideas into action at the nexus of environment, economic opportunity, and human well-being. We focus on seven urgent global challenges that must be addressed to reduce poverty, grow economies and protect natural systems: climate change, energy, food, forests, water, cities, and the ocean.
Forests and farmland are part of the lives of more than 700 million people in India, but they need to be kept healthy if those people are to flourish. At a time of climate and biodiversity crises, nature-based solutions are a vital part of the answer. This WRI podcast explores the role of nature-based solutions in India. It is presented by Anjali Koppala, and features Romit Sen, Senior Vice President, Corporate Sustainability at HSBC India, and Siddharth Edake, Senior Manager in the Food, Land and Water program at WRI India.
Measuring the impact of nature-based solutions (NBS) interventions takes consistent ground-level data alongside independent, verifiable, satellite-based data. When collected together, the door opens for more private sector investment, helping to close the nature finance gap that’s at least $700 billion large. We bring you examples from Bangladesh and India to explore how projects are enticing more resources through the capture and use of remote sensing data.Episode Guests include: - Paulina Villalpando, Associate Director for Nature, HSBC - Fred Stolle, Land & Carbon Lab Director of Impact, WRI - Dipak Zade, Social Sciences Thematic Lead, WOTR - Tapas Ranjan Chakrabotry, Climate Change Senior Programme Manager, BRAC
What do the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries need global leaders to achieve at this year’s COP29 UN climate summit? Experts from the Allied for Climate Transformation by 2025 (ACT2025) consortium — a unique coalition amplifying the voices of climate-vulnerable countries in climate negotiations — discuss their hopes, ambitions and concerns going into this year's climate conference, and reflect on progress since COP28. Topics in this episode include the agreement in Baku on a new climate finance goal (NCQG), which will replace the $100 billion goal set in 2009, progress on addressing loss and damage, next-generation nationally determined contributions (NDCs) that are due early next year, and how to close the significant gaps that remain in finance for adaptation.With Gabrielle Swaby of WRI, Alejandra Lopez from Transforma, and Saqib Huq from the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD).
Paving the way to COP29 next month and COP30 in 2025, Brazil hosted an impactful Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) at the beginning of October. WRI experts met with global leaders all week, laying a foundation for Latin American countries to demand enabling regulatory frameworks for renewable energy deployment and financing — two topics that regional expert peers also highlighted during our discussion. It’s critical to enact policies in emerging markets that allow private and public finance to flow into and upgrade energy systems. Episode Guests: - Sylvana Bohrt, International Clean Energy Associate, WRI Energy Program - Ana Teixeira, Country Transition Analyst, Bloomberg NEF - Juan Paredes, Senior Renewable Energy Specialist, Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)Additional BNEF Resources:- Energy Transition Factbook 2024, launched in October 2024:https://assets.bbhub.io/professional/sites/24/Clean-Energy-Ministerial-Factbook-2024.pdf- Brazil Transition Factbook, launched in September 2024:https://assets.bbhub.io/professional/sites/24/Brazil-Transition-Factbook.pdf
The Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) is the annual COP of energy where the major drivers of responses to climate change and clean energy solutions can hammer out what the future global energy system could and should look like. It’s a perfect chance ahead of COP29 to gather, deliberate and plan for a decarbonized planet. WRI experts will be on the ground in Brazil all week (September 30 – October 4) sharing their expertise and collaborating with renewable energy industry leaders to advance clean energy in Latin America, a region that’s surprisingly less dependent on fossil fuels than most. . In addition to providing an opportunity to forge stronger partnerships, CEM demonstrates how WRI is well-positioned to help ensure a just and equitable future for people, nature and climate. Alex Dolan, Communications and Engagement Lead for WRI’s Global Energy Program, explores the role that South America countries will play at the conference and beyond. Episode Guests: - Javier Busta-Salvano, Executive Director for ACENOR - Tatsatom Goncalves | Research Fellow, WRI Energy
China’s impact on global supply chains is unparalleled, so decarbonizing the businesses that set up shop in that country — from fashion sector leaders like Decathlon to food & beverage behemoths like Budweiser – is paramount to meeting international energy targets.In the third episode of this series, you’ll hear about the different strategies the CSP team in China is using to slash Scope 3 emissions, which typically make up a majority of a corporation’s carbon footprint. WRI China researchers laid out a sector-wide blueprint to begin their science-based decarbonization journey and partnered with major brands to model a new strategy for increasing renewable energy use up and down supply chains. Pairing the economic influence of big companies with the ambition of small businesses that make up their supply chain is a replicable recipe to reduce emissions... rapidly. Episode Host:- Wenquan Zhang - WRI China Research AssociateEpisode Guests:- Mofan Zhang - WRI China Research Analyst- Anthony Wei - Decathlon’s North Asia Zone Sustainability Director- Terry Yao - Budweiser's Sustainability & Agriculture Development Director of Procurement APAC
Delivering healthcare is a 24/7 job. But what happens when the electricity supply – necessary for so many critical procedures and equipment, medications, and operating facilities – is unreliable? Hear how HSBC India partnered with WRI India to finance solar power and battery energy storage solutions for rural healthcare facilities across three Indian states of Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Assam. Creating a consistent electrification plan has improved service for more than 400,000 patients. Ensuring reliable, renewable energy means that health facilities can focus on what they do best; serving their patients safely. Shivani Shah, Senior Communications Manager, talks about the successes and challenges of scaling solar-based healthcare to thousands of facilities across the country, with multiple WRI and non-WRI experts. Guests for the episode include: - Dr. Rajni Gupta – Program Manager, Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI) - Romit Sen – Senior Vice President, Corporate Sustainability, HSBC India - Lanvin Concessao – Program Manager, WRI India Energy Program - Rishikesh Mishra – Senior Program Associate, WRI India Energy Program
All eyes are on Asia as it attempts to complete a clean energy transition away from fossil fuels. National governments will have to work with the private sector to achieve their ambitious climate goals. That’s where the Climate Solutions Partnership (CSP) comes into play. With financial support from HSBC, WRI researchers are innovating and implementing data-backed solutions to steer more private finance toward the scaling up of renewable energy across Asia. Hear from three experts at the forefront of the nexus between capital and clean energy to see how the Asian countries where the CSP operates in – China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam – are leading the way toward a decarbonized future, as well as the challenges they face in completing that journey. Guests include:- Justin Wu, Asia-Pacific Co-Head of Climate Change, HSBC - Beni Suryadi, Acting Manager of Sustainable & Renewable Energy, ASEAN Center for Energy (ACE) - Deepak Krishnan, Deputy Director, Energy Program, WRI India
Looking back on the Asian Development Bank’s Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF), WRI experts, Marlon Apanada and Jennie Chen explain the important role that WRI plays as a thought-leader, as well as convening stakeholders and implementing innovating solutions to help Asia achieve its clean energy transition goals. Apanada and Chen explore pre-conference predictions and anticipate upcoming major regional agreements that will impact the future of renewable energy on the continent, as well as how WRI’s work aids Asia in meeting these goals while ensuring benefits for people, nature and climate.
As ACEF 2024 wraps up, WRI brings you a closer look at the innovative aspects of agrivoltaics that China is tapping into to reach its goal of tripling renewable energy by 2030. Looking beyond the clean energy conference, Shengnian Xu, a research associate in WRI China’s Energy program, sees WRI being well-positioned to help lead the global discussions around critical minerals...a topic that dominated the discussions at the Asian Development Bank’s week-long event.Check out our full coverage of ACEF at: https://www.wri.org/podcasts
After the first couple of days at ACEF 2024, WRI experts talk about how their work ties into the forum’s overall goals – specifically about how India’s goal of installing 500 GW of clean energy capacity and Indonesia’s plan to decarbonizing difficult to abate industries can be achieved in a manner that doesn’t leave anyone behind. Nada Zuhaira, a Net-Zero Research Analyst with WRI Indonesia’s Energy program and Sandhya Sundararagavan, the Energy Transition Program Head for WRI India’s Energy Program, take you behind the scenes of the Asia’s premier clean energy gathering and share some highlights about who WRI is keeping an eye on; from companies to countries, everyone has something valuable to bring to the discussion about the clean energy transition.
Ahead of the Asia Clean Energy Forum, or ACEF for short, WRI examines the purpose of the premier conference of clean energy stakeholders on the continent. Marlon Apanada, WRI’s Southeast Asia Engagement Lead, for Energy & Climate explains why the tripling of renewable energy and how Asia develops its critical mineral sector are the two key talking points for 2024.
Ultimately, the story of supply chains is a story about people. We spoke with a dozen different supply chain experts from around the world who guided us through the relationships between large corporations and the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that make up their supply chain.As we wrap up this three-part series, our guests explain what companies stand to gain by working more intentionally and in partnership with small businesses in their supply chains. These partnerships may look different within a single supply chain or specific sector, but many share similar elements. The experts we spoke with highlight the best partnership examples from the corporate world in Part 3 of Voices on Supply Chains.
The approach that many corporations take with their supply chains passes the environmental and monetary costs down to the small businesses and workers that rely on them. These workers are far more vulnerable to supply chain disruptions – which are becoming more frequent and more destructive as climate impacts worsen.In part two of this three-part series, we discuss the ways that large companies and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can establish partnerships founded on trust and transparency. The ripple effects of strong partnerships could improve supply chains and working conditions for workers around the globe.
Modern supply chains are global, complex, and touch nearly everyone in some way — you’re either part of the production process for a given commodity, a consumer of that product or service, or both. However, current supply chain practices fail to properly value our natural resources and the people working within them.Over the course of three episodes, you'll hear from a dozen experts who will explain why centering people is an effective strategy for large corporations to meet their supply chain sustainability goals. This first episode is focused on a key missing ingredient in most corporate plans: the voices of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their workers.Across any global supply chain, workers upstream and the small businesses they work for typically share one thing; a lack of representation and decision-making power when it comes to the buyers furthest downstream setting sustainability targets for the whole value chain.In fact, as Dan Viederman from the Working Capital Fund points out, there are more than 1,000,000,000 workers who don't make enough money from their jobs to support their livelihoods. While supply chains are increasingly more complex, a simple solution to improve them is by treating the most vulnerable workers better.This series — hosted, produced and edited by Daniel Baker — is funded by the Ares Charitable Foundation as part of their CREST Initiative; a 5-year career preparation and reskilling project that aims to close the gap between the demand for a skilled workforce for green jobs and the number of people prepared for these opportunities to build an equitable, low-carbon economy.Episode 2 premiers on Wednesday, April 24. Episode 3 premiers on Wednesday, May 1. Make sure to subscribe to WRI's Big Ideas Into Action podcast to hear the rest of the series.Episode 1 Featured Guests:Adel Guitouni | Associate Professor of Business, University of VictoriaAndrew Olah | Founder, Ethical Denim CouncilBecca Coughlan | Senior Advocacy Manager, RemakeBrian Lipinski | 10x20x30 Initiative Project Manager, WRIDan Viederman | Partner, Working Capital Fund Jacques Leslie | Yale Environment 360 & LA Times WriterJason Judd | Executive Director, Global Labor Institute & Professor, Cornell UniversityLydia Elliott | Deputy Director of Supply Chain Decarbonization, We Mean Business Coalition's SME Climate HubNamit Agarwal | Social Transformation Lead, World Benchmarking AllianceRene Zamora | Restoration Policy Senior Manager, WRISheri Hinish | Global Sustainable Supply Chain Leader, Ernst & Young (EY) & Podcast Host, Supply Chain RevolutionTaj Eldridge | Managing Director for Climate Innovations, Jobs for the Future (JFF) Labs
What do climate-vulnerable countries want from the forthcoming COP28 conference? In this podcast Nicholas Walton talks to Mark Bynoe and Maria Laura Rojas, two members of the ACT2025 grouping, a coalition amplifying the voices of vulnerable countries in the climate negotiations. What are they hoping for, what are their concerns, and how optimistic are they ahead of COP28?
Carbon Dioxide Removal promises to be an important tool in fighting climate change, but how can countries best use it as they reduce their emissions? WRI recently published a working paper on the challenges and questions surrounding carbon dioxide removal, such as equity, its role in mitigation, and how its use can be monitored. In this WRI podcast Nicholas Walton asks the authors - Katie Lebling, Clea Schumer and Danielle Riedl - about their findings and recommendations.
What are the big stories to watch for 2023? In this World Resources Institute podcast Ani Dasgupta and Nicholas Walton discuss four: the longer term impact of Russian's invasion of Ukraine on energy; what the re-election of President Lula in Brazil means for tropical forests; why 2023 is a big year for climate finance; and how is the Inflation Reduction Act affecting the US and beyond? You can see Ani's full presentation of Stories To Watch 2023 at https://www.wri.org/events/2023/1/stories-watch-2023
What is being done to stop marine biodiversity loss? Marine ecosystems are essential for all life on earth, providing benefits ranging from food to economic and recreational opportunities and more – with 3 billion people depending directly on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods. However, it is being lost at an alarming rate. COP15 in Montreal saw governments from around the world take a step towards addressing this threat to nature by agreeing ‘30 by 30’, effective conservation and management of at least 30% of the world’s lands, inland waters, coastal areas and oceans by 2030. In this podcast, we learn about the cost of marine biodiversity loss in Mexico, a megadiverse country and home to almost 70% of the world’s diversity of species. We hear how Mexico are working to go above and beyond ‘30 by 30’, to manage 100% of the ocean under national jurisdictions, as part of their role on the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. Global Director of WRI’s Ocean Program, Kristian Teleki sat down with Martha Delgado and Andrew Rhodes from the government of Mexico during COP15, to discuss what these targets mean and what happens next for the future of our ocean.
The evidence continues to mount that the climate crisis is urgent, and action needs to be taken now to avert it and to minimise its impacts. Nowhere is this more true than for those vulnerable countries who are most at risk from its impacts. Many of these countries are part of a grouping called ACT2025, which tries to ensure that their voices are heard. So what exactly do they want?
In this podcast we hear from Preety Bhandari of WRI, and Maria Laura Rojas of Transforma, an ACT2025 partner in Colombia. The presenter and producer is Nicholas Walton.
For more:
- https://www.wri.org/initiatives/allied-climate-transformation-act2025/resources/cop27-call-enhanced-implementation
- https://www.wri.org/initiatives/allied-climate-transformation-act2025/act2025-podcast
- https://www.wri.org/un-climate-change-conference-resource-hub
Tackling climate change and its impacts is complex and multifaceted, and involves everything from simply reducing the fossil fuel emissions in energy generation through to looking at agricultural land use. And then there’s the role of the circular economy in making a decisive impact on tackling climate change. That’s the subject of a new report led by the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy, or PACE, titled 'Circular Economy as a Climate Strategy: current knowledge and calls-to-action'.
In this podcast we hear from three of the report's authors: Ke Wang of PACE; Patrick Schröder of Chatham House; and Garvin Heath of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the United States. The presenter and producer is Nicholas Walton of WRI.
You can find out more at www.pacecircular.org and @pacecircular.
Why is climate finance such an important issue, and how does it affect the world's most climate-vulnerable countries? In this podcast we look at the Pacific island nation of Fiji, which is on the frontline of climate change-related impacts such as coral bleaching, sea level rises, and extreme weather events.
Fiji's attempts to meet this challenge were dealt a severe blow by Cyclone Winston and then - especially - the Covid 19 pandemic, which hit the tourism-dependent economy very hard. In this WRI podcast we hear about the challenges, the solutions that are being found, and the central role that climate finance plays in this.
The interviewees are Caitlin Smith and Prashant Chandra of WRI, and Prelish Lal of Fiji's Ministry of Economy. The podcast is presented by Nicholas Walton, who also produced it with significant help from Hayden Higgins from WRI's Finance team.
The World Resources Institute is now 40 years old, but how have the world's climate challenges changed in that time? And how has WRI evolved to meet them?
In this podcast, Ani Dasgupta talks about 4 decades of climate action, about technology, growing global awareness of climate change, and the need to make sure climate action is about equity as well as carbon reduction. Former WRI presidents Gus Speth and Jonathan Lash also feature.
WRI Big Ideas Into Action podcasts are produced and presented by Nicholas Walton.
Is it possible to predict conflict? That's what the Water, Peace and Security Partnership's machine learning early warning tool sets out to do. Four times a year the predictions are analyzed and turned into a quarterly report.
In this third WPS quarterly report podcast we look at the water stresses facing Iraq, from water shortages to water quality, and hear why they're undermining governance in the south of the country. The interviewee is Laura Birkman, head of the Climate and Security Program at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, and the producer and presenter is Nicholas Walton of WRI.
https://waterpeacesecurity.org/ https://hcss.nl/expert/laura-birkman/
The Inflation Reduction Act that has been signed into law by President Biden is seen as good news for US efforts to combat climate change. But what are the international implications of the Act?
In this short podcast the President of WRI, Ani Dasgupta, talks about how the Act will add momentum to international climate action with Nicholas Walton.
You can find out more here: * 6 benefits from the Inflation Reduction Act: https://www.wri.org/insights/inflation-reduction-act-benefits * WRI statement about the Inflation Reduction Act: https://www.wri.org/news/statement-us-house-representatives-passes-inflation-reduction-act-historic-climate-measures
Some cases of just transition are obvious - such as finding replacement jobs and taxation money when a local coal-fired power station closes down. But as we transition towards a low-carbon economy some other impacts on livelihoods and communities may not be so easy to predict.
This case study from Karnatka in India examines the unintended consequences of building a vast new solar energy farm on seemingly underused land. It is the fourth in WRI's Just Transition In Action podcast series. In the previous three episodes we dealt with broad just transition issues and looked at case studies in both Australia and the United States.
We’ve also got a special resource section of our website where you can find out much, much more – go to wri.org/just-transitions.
Go to wri.org/podcasts for many more of these WRI podcasts on all sorts of environment-related issues from cities and energy to forests, oceans, restoration and food - or you can subscribe using any podcast app. And don't forget to rate us! Thank you.
When a coal-fired power station near the US-Canada border closed, what happened to the local community, shorn of its jobs and the healthy tax revenues that it brought in? As the world shifts toward renewable energy we need to grasp the challenges that this throws up, finding new funding and sources of jobs and economic growth, while enjoying opportunities such as reduced pollution and lower carbon emissions. Learning from what's happened in previous case studies will help us to identify challenges, opportunities and solutions.
This case study from upstate New York is the third in WRI's Just Transition In Action podcast series. In the previous two episodes we dealt with broad just transition issues and looked at a case study of finding new jobs for workers in Australia. In the next episode we'll be looking at the development of a vast solar farm in India.
We’ve also got a special resource section of our website where you can find out much, much more – go to wri.org/just-transitions.
Go to wri.org/podcasts for many more of these WRI podcasts on all sorts of environment-related issues from cities and energy to forests, oceans, restoration and food - or you can subscribe using any podcast app. And don't forget to rate us! Thank you.
What happens to the workers and communities connected to an Australian coal-fired power station when it is closed down? As the world shifts towards renewable energy more fossil fuel-fired power stations will close down. Learning from what's happened in previous case studies will help us to identify challenges, opportunities and solutions.
This case study from Australia is the second in WRI's Just Transition In Action podcast series. In the opening episode we looked at the broad issues, and after this one we'll be looking at two further case studies in India and in the US.
We’ve also got a special resource section of our website where you can find out much, much more – go to wri.org/just-transitions.
Go to wri.org/podcasts for many more of these WRI podcasts on all sorts of environment-related issues from cities and energy to forests, oceans, restoration and food - or you can subscribe using any podcast app. And don't forget to rate us! Thank you.
It’s one of the thorniest issues in the shift to low carbon economies – what happens to those whose lives, livelihoods and communities are left behind as we move away from fossil fuels. To help examine these transitions we've put together a podcast miniseries that looks at the challenges, opportunities and solutions of just transition.
In this Just Transition In Action podcast series we’ve this opening podcast looking at the broad issues, and then we'll examine three case studies – from Australia, India and the US – and ask what we can learn from them.
We’ve also got a special resource section of our website where you can find out much, much more – go to wri.org/just-transitions.
Go to wri.org/podcasts for many more of these WRI podcasts on all sorts of environment-related issues from cities and energy to forests, oceans, restoration and food - or you can subscribe using any podcast app. And don't forget to rate us! Thank you.
How has Africa been affected by the growing food crisis sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine? In this podcast we hear from three experts, their analysis of the situation, and their solutions - both to the immediate challenge and to making Africa's food system more resilient in the face of challenges such as climate change and conflict.
The podcast features Lawrence Haddad of GAIN, Ndidi Nwuneli of Sahel Consulting, and Assan Ngombe of AGRA, along with voices from Addis Ababa's food markets (thanks to Kalkidan Wondimu of the Food and Land Use Coalition) and UN Secretary General António Guterres (https://unsdg.un.org/latest/announcements/un-chiefs-remarks-launch-global-crisis-response-group-food-energy-and-finances). The podcast was presented and produced by Nicholas Walton.
Many governments and authorities started to build cycling infrastructure during the Covid-19 lockdowns, but were these developments temporary or the foundation of a permanent shift towards truly cyclable cities?
In this WRI Big Ideas Into Action podcast we hear that many of those cities are starting to make things permanent, and - of course - why helping to get more people out of cars and onto bicycles is a good thing for them, for the cities, and for the environment as well. In this podcast we hear from Jill Warren of the European Cyclist’s Federation in Brussels, Carlota Pederson Madero, who is the advisor to the subsecretary on mobility planning for Buenos Aires, WRI's Health and Road Safety director Claudia Ariazola-Steil, and from WRI Europe Santiago Londono in The Hague and Sophie Mongalvy in Paris. The podcast was produced and presented by Nicholas Walton.
Is it possible to predict conflict? That's what the Water, Peace and Security Partnership's machine learning early warning tool sets out to do. Four times a year the predictions are analyzed and turned into a quarterly report.
In this second WPS quarterly report podcast we'll look at the countries most at risk of conflict thanks to the fall out of the war in Ukraine, which has led to much higher fuel and food prices, along with serious predicted future food supply problems. The guest for this podcast is Susanne Schmeier, Associate Professor in Water Law and Diplomacy at IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, one of the WPS partners, and the producer and presenter is Nicholas Walton of WRI.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has delivered its latest three reports, covering climate science, the impacts of climate change, and the actions necessary to minimise the damage. In this podcast we hear from two WRI experts, Sophia Boehm and Preety Bhandari, on the content of the reports and what they will be watching to see if the world is turning their analysis into effective action.
WRI Big Ideas Into Action podcasts are written, produced and presented by Nicholas Walton. This podcast features part of a recording of the IPCC's press conference launching the third of its 2022 reports.
For more go to: www.wri.org/climate www.wri.org/insights/ipcc-report-2022-mitigation-climate-change www.ipcc.ch
Beyond the immediate human suffering, what are the wider implications of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on energy and food? This is an edited, public version of a WRI press call examining the issues and the questions that will need to be asked in the coming months and years.
The podcast features four WRI experts: Stientje van Veldhoven, Craig Hanson, Jennifer Layke and Dan Lashof. It was produced and presented by Nicholas Walton. For more, go to www.wri.org/podcasts
What is climate justice, and how do we ensure that climate action helps to address rather than exacerbate inequalities in the world? After all, those that are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change are often in poorer countries with fewer means to address their worsening situation - and yet they have done less to cause the problem of climate change than those in richer countries.
This deeper dive looking at climate justice is the fourth of a short series of WRI podcasts looking at the individual subjects of our Stories To Watch project for 2022, and features Nate Shelter, Wanjira Matthai and Ani Dasgupta. It was produced and presented by Nicholas Walton.
For more, go to: www.wri.org/stories-to-watch www.wri.org/multimedia/podcast-stories-watch-2022 www.wri.org/podcasts
How much do air quality and pollution issues affect women and girls, and how much can solutions to those problems be helped by making sure they have a seat at the decision-making table?
These are the decisions addressed in this podcast timed to coincide with International Women's Day. The podcast features Gillian Caldwell of USAID, Azra Khan of WRI, and Debby Thalita of the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law. Alice Gottesman helped with the interviews, and it was presented and produced by Nicholas Walton.
Useful links:
WRI blog on Air Quality: https://www.climatelinks.org/blog/women-transportation-and-air-pollution-india WRI Air Quality work: https://www.wri.org/cities/air-quality Clean Air Catalyst: https://www.cleanaircatalyst.org/ WRI Podcast on Clean Air Catalyst: https://www.wri.org/multimedia/how-clean-air-catalyst-fixing-air-quality-problem WRI Gender work: https://www.wri.org/equitable-development/gender
With the world continuing to struggle with the cost of the Covid 19 pandemic, what are the chances that humanity's continued ill-treatment of nature will lead to the emergence of future diseases? What are the issues and questions behind the link between environmental degradation and disease that we need to be examining?
This deeper dive looking at pandemics and biodiversity is the third of a short series of WRI podcasts looking at the individual subjects of our Stories To Watch project for 2022, and features Krista Karch, Chip Barber and Ani Dasgupta. It was produced and presented by Nicholas Walton.
For more, go to: www.wri.org/stories-to-watch www.wri.org/multimedia/podcast-stories-watch-2022 www.wri.org/podcasts
One of the biggest challenges of a transition to a low carbon world is to change the way we get around. Electrifying transport is a key element of this, but it's about far more than selling electric cars and installing charging points in the cities of the rich world. But what are the issues and questions that we need to be examining?
This deeper dive looking at electric mobility is the second of a short series of WRI podcasts looking at the individual subjects of our Stories To Watch project for 2022, and features Kar Lopez, Claudia Adriazola Steil, and Ani Dasgupta. It was produced and presented by Nicholas Walton.
For more, go to: www.wri.org/stories-to-watch www.wri.org/multimedia/podcast-stories-watch-2022 www.wri.org/podcasts
Coal is one of the most potent drivers of climate change. Phasing it out is critical for cutting harmful emissions and transitioning to a low-carbon economy. Yet despite rising commitments to do so, many countries seem to want to hang on to coal. Why?
This deeper dive looking at coal is the first of a short series of WRI podcasts looking at the individual subjects of our Stories To Watch project for 2022, and features Joel Jaeger, Jennifer Layke and Ani Dasgupta. It was produced and presented by Nicholas Walton.
For more, go to: www.wri.org/stories-to-watch www.wri.org/multimedia/podcast-stories-watch-2022 www.wri.org/podcasts
Is it possible to predict conflict? That's what the Water, Peace and Security Partnership's machine learning early warning tool sets out to do. Four times a year the predictions are analyzed and turned into a quarterly report.
We'll be doing a short podcast about the headline story from each quarterly report - this time the focus is on the Horn of Africa, especially Ethiopia, Somalia and northern Kenya, and the interviewee was WRI's Charlie Iceland.
You can read the quarterly report in more depth at www.waterpeacesecurity.org, and follow the Partnership on Twitter, @waterpeacesec.
WRI is one of the Water, Peace and Security partners.
What are the Stories To Watch for 2022? Every year WRI works out what the important ones are for the year ahead and presents them to the world. This podcast - with Ani Dasgupta interviewed by Nicholas Walton - looks at the background and inside story of those Stories, and the big changes in the world that have informed them.
To read more about WRI's Stories To Watch 2022 go to www.wri.org/stories-to-watch.
This series of ACT2025 podcasts from the World Resources Institute looks at climate from the point of view of vulnerable countries.
In this podcast we hear an evaluation of the outcomes from the COP26 conference, from Preety Bhandari, Senior Advisor in WRI’s Global Climate Program and the Finance Center. She was interviewed by Molly Bergen.
ACT2025 was formed to make sure their voices are heard — and this series is about the issues that are important to them. WRI is the secretariat and a core partner of ACT2025. You can also find episodes on key issues: ambition, adaptation, finance, loss and damage, and rules.
This new series of short WRI podcasts looks at why COP26 matters for different issues. In this episode Nicholas Walton looks at Air Quality with Jessica Seddon.
Other episodes look at Oceans, Cities, Circular Economy, Energy, Food and Land Use, Business, and an overall look ahead to COP26.
For more on #COP26 go to our resource hub: www.wri.org/un-climate-change-conference-resource-hub
This new series of short WRI podcasts looks at why COP26 matters for different issues. In this episode Nicholas Walton looks at the Ocean with Kristian Teleki.
Other episodes look at Cities, Circular Economy, Energy, Food and Land Use, Clean Air, Business, and an overall look ahead to COP26.
For more on #COP26 go to our resource hub: www.wri.org/un-climate-change-conference-resource-hub
This new series of short WRI podcasts looks at why COP26 matters for different issues. In this episode Nicholas Walton looks at Food and Land Use with Morgan Gillespy.
Other episodes look at Oceans, Cities, Circular Economy, Energy, Clean Air, Business, and an overall look ahead to COP26.
For more on #COP26 go to our resource hub: www.wri.org/un-climate-change-conference-resource-hub
This new series of short WRI podcasts looks at why COP26 matters for different issues. In this episode Nicholas Walton looks at Cities with Rogier Vandenberg.
Other episodes look at Oceans, Circular Economy, Energy, Food and Land Use, Clean Air, Business, and an overall look ahead to COP26.
For more on #COP26 go to our resource hub: www.wri.org/un-climate-change-conference-resource-hub
This new series of short WRI podcasts looks at why COP26 matters for different issues. In this episode Nicholas Walton looks at the Circular Economy with Stientje van Veldhoven.
Other episodes look at Oceans, Cities, Energy, Food and Land Use, Clean Air, Business, and an overall look ahead to COP26.
For more on #COP26 go to our resource hub: www.wri.org/un-climate-change-conference-resource-hub
This new series of short WRI podcasts looks at why COP26 matters for different issues. In this episode Nicholas Walton looks at the Business world with Kevin Moss.
Other episodes look at Oceans, Cities, Circular Economy, Energy, Food and Land Use, Clean Air, and an overall look ahead to COP26.
For more on #COP26 go to our resource hub: www.wri.org/un-climate-change-conference-resource-hub
This new series of short WRI podcasts looks at why COP26 matters for different issues. In this episode Nicholas Walton gets an overview of what to expect from COP from Helen Mountford.
Other episodes look at Oceans, Cities, Circular Economy, Energy, Food and Land Use, Clean Air, and Business.
For more on #COP26 go to our resource hub: www.wri.org/un-climate-change-conference-resource-hub
This new series of short WRI podcasts looks at why COP26 matters for different issues. In this episode Nicholas Walton looks at Energy with Jennifer Layke.
Other episodes look at Oceans, Cities, Circular Economy, Food and Land Use, Clean Air, Business, and an overall look ahead to COP26.
For more on #COP26 go to our resource hub: www.wri.org/un-climate-change-conference-resource-hub
Cities are a place of opportunity and inequality, and where more than half the world's population will experience the impacts of climate change. They're also part of the solution.
This podcast draws on WRI's major new report, "Towards a more equal city", which uses its six years of research to look at the challenges of the world's cities through the lens of equity.
THIS PAPER WILL LAUNCH ON OCTOBER 19th. PLEASE VISIT THIS PAGE TO REGISTER FOR THE LAUNCH: https://events.wri.org/world-resources-report-synthesis-launch-seven-transformations-for-more-equitable-and-sustainable-cities/
The podcast guests are Ani Dasgupta, Anjali Mahendra, and Robin King. The presenter is Nicholas Walton.
ACT2025: Adaptation - for more go to www.wri.org/ACT2025
This new series of World Resources Institute podcasts looks at what vulnerable countries want from the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. Success at COP26 is seen as critical if the world is going to avoid catastrophic climate change.
We’re increasingly familiar with what many of the world’s richer and larger countries are saying ahead of the conference, about their apparent ambitions to make reductions in the amount of carbon they’re putting into the atmosphere. But what of smaller, poorer, more vulnerable nations? Many have joined a grouping called ACT2025 to make sure their voices are heard — and this series is about the issues that are important to them. WRI is the secretariat and a core partner of ACT2025.
This episode deals with ADAPTATION, and was put together by Molly Bergen and Nicholas Walton. It features WRI's Yamide Dagnet and Chuks Okereke, Professor of Environment and Development at AE-Funai University in Nigeria.
ACT2025: Loss and Damage - for more go to www.wri.org/ACT2025
This new series of World Resources Institute podcasts looks at what vulnerable countries want from the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. Success at COP26 is seen as critical if the world is going to avoid catastrophic climate change.
We’re increasingly familiar with what many of the world’s richer and larger countries are saying ahead of the conference, about their apparent ambitions to make reductions in the amount of carbon they’re putting into the atmosphere. But what of smaller, poorer, more vulnerable nations? Many have joined a grouping called ACT2025 to make sure their voices are heard — and this series is about the issues that are important to them. WRI is the secretariat and a core partner of ACT2025.
This episode deals with LOSS AND DAMAGE, and was put together by Molly Bergen and Nicholas Walton. It features WRI's Yamide Dagnet, Saleemul Huq of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development, and Ineza Grace of The Green Fighter and the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition.
ACT2025: Finance - for more go to www.wri.org/ACT2025
This new series of World Resources Institute podcasts looks at what vulnerable countries want from the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. Success at COP26 are seen as critical if the world is going to avoid catastrophic climate change.
We’re increasingly familiar with what many of the world’s richer and larger countries are saying ahead of the conference, about their apparent ambitions to make reductions in the amount of carbon they’re putting into the atmosphere. But what of smaller, poorer, more vulnerable nations? Many have joined a grouping called ACT2025 to make sure their voices are heard — and this series is about the issues that are important to them. WRI is the secretariat and core partner of ACT2025.
This episode deals with FINANCE, and was put together by Molly Bergen and Nicholas Walton. It features WRI's Yamide Dagnet, Maria Laura Rojas Vallejo, co-founder and executive director of Transforma, and Sara Jane Ahmed, a finance advisor for the V20 — a grouping of 48 ministers of finance representing many of the most climate-vulnerable economies.
ACT2025: Rules - for more go to www.wri.org/ACT2025
This new series of World Resources Institute podcasts looks at what vulnerable countries want from COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. Success at COP26 is seen as critical if the world is going to avoid catastrophic climate change.
We’re increasingly familiar with what many of the world’s richer and larger countries are saying ahead of the conference, about their apparent ambitions to make reductions in the amount of carbon they’re putting into the atmosphere. But what of smaller, poorer, more vulnerable nations? Many have joined a grouping called ACT2025 to make sure their voices are heard — and this series is about the issues that are important to them. WRI is the secretariat and a core partner of ACT2025.
This first episode deals with RULES, and was put together by Molly Bergen and Nicholas Walton. It features WRI's Yamide Dagnet, Tony La Viña of the Manila Observatory, and Sandra Guzman of the Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean.
ACT2025: Ambition - for more go to www.wri.org/ACT2025
This new series of World Resources Institute podcasts looks at what vulnerable countries want from the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. Success at COP26 is seen as critical if the world is going to avoid catastrophic climate change.
We’re increasingly familiar with what many of the world’s richer and larger countries are saying ahead of the conference, about their apparent ambitions to make reductions in the amount of carbon they’re putting into the atmosphere. But what of smaller, poorer, more vulnerable nations? Many have joined a grouping called ACT2025 to make sure their voices are heard — and this series is about the issues that are important to them. WRI is the secretariat and a core partner of ACT2025.
This episode deals with AMBITION, and was put together by Molly Bergen and Nicholas Walton. It features WRI's Yamide Dagnet, Mark Bynoe of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, and Tasneem Essop of Climate Action Network International.
The recent IPCC report underlines just how grave and urgent the environmental challenges facing us are. But how should we frame such challenges in a way that helps us to find solutions - not just to climate change, but to the array of other issues, from food and forests to energy, cities, water and oceans.
Who better to ask these questions than WRI’s new president, Ani Dasgupta? In this podcast he tells Nicholas Walton about how his childhood in Delhi shaped his understanding of the links between the environment, development and equity, and explains the WRI approach to finding solutions that can make a difference to the planet and individual human lives.
For much, much more, go to www.wri.org.
Whatever the commitments countries are making about decarbonizing their economies, one thing is certain: climate change is happening, and its impacts are being felt disproportionately by the poor. In Africa the agricultural sector, dominated by small producers and subsistence farming, is especially vulnerable. Adaptation can play a vital role in helping these farmers, and in this podcast you'll hear from Rodger Voorhies, President for Global Growth and Opportunity at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Cristina Rumbaitis del Rio, co-author of a new WRI paper on how digital services can transform the lives of 300 million farmers (www.wri.org/research/digital-climate-informed-advisory-services).
The WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities is the premier global award celebrating and spotlighting transformative urban change, and its winner for 2020-21 has been announced. Which finalist won the $250,000 first prize?
The 5 finalists were from Ahmedabad in India, London in the UK, Rosario in Argentina, Kibera in Kenya, and Monterrey in Mexico. Each would have been a worthy winner, each finding innovative and inspiring ways to meet environmental urban challenges in equitable and sustainable ways.
For more on the Prize go to https://prizeforcities.org, and the Cities Program part of www.wri.org.
If you were a farmer and the climate changed, what would you do about it? At first you might simply try small experiments to adapt – after all, farmers are used to annual variations in the weather. But what about if the changes aren’t just annual variations, but are serious shifts in weather patterns associated with climate change? Drier weather, higher temperatures, more frequent storms, prolongued periods of rainfall.
These issues are the subject of a new WRI report, "Food systems at risk: transformative adaptation for long term food security". In this podcast two of the authors, Rebecca Carter and Tyler Ferdinand, talk to Nicholas Walton about why transformative adaptation is happening, what the challenges are, and how it can be made more effective.
The WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities is the premier global award celebrating and spotlighting transformative urban change. The five finalists for the 2020-21 prize come from five very different urban environments - in Kenya, Argentina, Mexico, India and the United Kingdom - but all demonstrate how effectively innovative ideas can tackle inequality and climate change.
In this podcast we hear about all five finalists, and what makes each of them special. Anne Maassen, WRI's global lead on the prize, explains the challenges faced by residents in each of the five urban areas, and the solutions they've come up with.
For more on the prize, including videos of each of the finalists, go to www.prizeforcities.org. The winner is due to be announced on June 29th 2021.
This is a special World Ocean Day podcast that was orginally for the WRI Ocean program and the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. It's with Carlos Manuel Rodriguez of the Global Environment Facility, and it's about what he's learned about the ocean from his decades of surfing, especially off the coast of Costa Rica. Go to oceanpanel.org or @oceanpanel on Twitter if you're interested to find out more.
Cameroon sits just north of the equator, right on the edge of the vast Congo River basin. It has around 20 million hectares of tropical forest, mainly in the south, but according to data on Global Forest Watch it has lost nearly 4 percent of its primary forest since 2002. Knowing this about what's happening to Cameroon's forest is one thing, however, and doing something about it is another. Or is it?
This podcast is about how satellite data translates into action to protect the forests on the ground. Nicholas Walton talks to an NGO worker, a journalist and a WRI staff member, all in Cameroon, and a WRI researcher who has analyzed the relationship between forest loss data and action.
Useful links:
- Learn more about Global Forest Watch’s Small Grants Fund and Tech Fellowship programs: www.globalforestwatch.org/grants-and-fellowships/about/
- Learn more about Global Forest Watch’s impact assessment: www.globalforestwatch.org/blog/data-and-research/glad-alerts-reduce-deforestation-africa/
- WRI's recent podcast analysing the latest tree cover loss figures: https://soundcloud.com/world-resources-institute/big-ideas-into-action-14-global-tree-loss-data-for-2020
- WRI's podcast page: www.wri.org/podcasts
Ensuring that women have equal access to land rights, as well as a strong and respected voice in decision making, makes an enormous difference to the prosperity of communities across the world. This episode examines the issue, following the WRI report "On Equal Ground".
This episode features women in Mexico, Cameroon and Indonesia, explaining why this issue matters, especially at a time when the Covid pandemic is harming economic life and land is being sold to large-scale commercial agricultural companies.
The WRI report can be found here: https://www.wri.org/research/equal-ground-promising-practices-realizing-womens-rights-collectively-held-lands
The Leaders Summit called by President Joe Biden was in effect an opportunity to accelerate the response to the climate crisis - but did it achieve what it set out to? Where does it leave us on the road to Glasgow and COP26?
Nicholas Walton spoke to Helen Mountford, our Vice President for Climate and Economics, and David Waskow, the director of the International Climate Initiative at WRI.
Further reading: https://www.wri.org/insights/leaders-summit-climate-offers-jolt-momentum-global-action
Air quality is critical. Air pollution is linked to more than six million deaths a year , and it affects everything from the health of our lungs to the health of our planet. So what can be done about it?
This podcast looks at the Clean Air Catalyst, a new initiative from WRI, along with the US Agency for International Development, the Environmental Defence fund and other partners. For more go to https://wrirosscities.org/our-work/project-city/clean-air-catalyst
Here at WRI we’re used to talking about big ideas, big concepts and big things – from the climate to the ocean to the great cities and forests. But what about the people that we work with, those people all around the world who face the great environmental challenges of our age and are looking for solutions?
Over in WRI Brasil, some of our colleagues came up with a way to put some of those people squarely in focus, in a series of videos and longform articles that they’ve called Faces of Restoration. You can see them at www.wri.org/faces-restoration
After eight and a half years Andrew Steer, our President and CEO, is leaving WRI, to lead the Bezos Earth Fund. What has he learned about how environmental challenges can be met and what makes him optimistic for the future?
Lawrence MacDonald, WRI's Vice President for Communications, probes Andrew's views on everything from the role of communities in fixing the environment to the way businesses and finance have changed their attitudes over the past few years.
Every year the World Resources Institute analyses the latest data on how much of the world's tree cover has been lost in the previous calendar year. This year, the figures for 2020 make grim reading. Although there are some bright spots, the overall picture is going in the wrong direction, and there is evidence that a negative feedback loop is emerging between climate change and forest loss. To find out more go to www.globalforestwatch.org.
Food loss and waste is a big deal. It means that a third of the food the world produces never gets eaten, and that carries a cost in terms of carbon, food security, biodiversity loss and health. A quarter of all water used by agriculture is in turn lost because it's used to grow food that's not eaten. So what is to be done?
In this podcast I turned to Liz Goodwin, WRI's lead on food loss and waste for the overall picture. I heard from Toine Timmermans of Wageningen University about how behaviour change makes a difference in reducing the amount lost. Yolanda Kakabadse - Ecuador's former environment minister and the former president of WWF International - told me about where the main problem was in Latin America, and measures being taken to stop it. I also took a quick look in my fridge to see how much I was contributing to the problem.
For more, go to https://champions123.org/ and www.wri.org/our-work/topics/food, and follow WRI's food program on https://twitter.com/WRIFood. Liz is https://twitter.com/LizGoodwin and Toine is https://twitter.com/ToineTimmermans.
In February 2021 Texas was hit by extremely cold weather. People died, transport ground to a halt, and the state's energy system failed. Demand spiked as people tried to keep warm, just as vital parts of the infrastructure froze.
In this WRI Big Ideas Into Action podcast we're looking at energy resilience. What are the lessons of Texas, and - as the world pushes towards low-carbon and renewable energy - what's the situation elsewhere in the world? We hear from WRI experts in both India and the US about what can be done and what is being done.
For more, go to WRI's energy program - www.wri.org/our-work/topics/energy - and take a look at the blog post on the main lessons from Texas - https://www.wri.org/blog/2021/02/strengthening-us-energy-resilience-texas-storm
What are the stories to watch in 2021? Every year the World Resources Institute comes up with the questions to ask, the challenges to face and the opportunities to seize. WRI's president, Andrew Steer, has just given the first public presentation of Stories To Watch 2021, and shortly afterward he spoke to the presenter of Big Ideas Into Action, Nicholas Walton. You can find Andrew's full presentation at https://events.wri.org/c/stories-to-watch-2021
Adaptation is a vital tool to help combat the impacts of climate change, helping us to prepare for everything from changing weather patterns to rising sea levels. This podcast looks at Locally-Led Adaptation, which involves local communities in the process, giving them a say in what happens and how. We hear why this is critical from WRI practitioners and activists at the local level, from South Africa to India.
It's now five years since the Paris Agreement, a landmark moment in the fight against climate change. The Agreement's aim is to help countries towards their climate targets, taking into account related issues like finance and adaptation. But after its first half decade is it a success? WRI's Yamide Dagnet was there, and in this short podcast she gives her professional - and personal - assessment.
The 14 serving national leaders of the Ocean Panel have announced their headline commitment: to sustainably manage 100% of their national waters - an area equivalent to the Exclusive Economic Zones of the whole of North, South and Central America, plus the Caribbean, combined. In this special podcast we have a short interview with the co-chair of the Ocean Panel's expert group, Jane Lubchenco, explaining what this involves and why they have done it.
What will a Joe Biden presidency mean for the environment, for climate action, for energy, for technology? How will this tie in with recovery from the covid crisis, and what does it mean for the rest of the world?
In this special episode we sift through the issues with WRI experts Andrew Steer, Helen Mountford, Dan Lashof, Lori Bird, Christina deConcini and Joe Thwaites.
For more on what a Biden presidency means for the environment, including a blog post setting out our recommendations for his ten priorities, go to www.wri.org.
Nearly 800 million people around the world lack secure access to the energy they need. Health services, schools, businesses and farms all need reliable electricity if they are to work properly. So how do you improve access to energy?
This episode of WRI's 'Big Ideas Into Action' podcast is about electricity access, and about using data to match up opportunity with potential impact. From India we hear about hospitals in Jharkhand and emergency flood shelters in Assam, and from East Africa we hear about helping businesses and farmers use energy to flourish.
This is the last in this relaunched series of WRI podcasts, which has taken in the sustainable ocean economy, restoration in Rwanda, how to solve water-based conflict, helping communities combat pollution, road safety – and now energy access. There’ll be another series along again in a while, and maybe the occasional special program when the occasion – and events in the wider world – demands it. If you go to the podcast bit of WRI.org you can find back episodes – or even better, subscribe to Big ideas into action on whichever podcast service you use.
Useful links:
WRI’s work on energy access: www.wri.org/our-work/topics/energy-access Energy for development: www.wri.org/our-work/project/energy-development-initiative Blog: Solar Power: A Rural Indian Hospital’s Key to Fighting COVID-19 Tool: Energy Access Explorer: https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/07/renewable-energy-rural-hospital-coronavirus Commentary: A New Nexus Approach To Powering Development: https://www.wri.org/news/new-nexus-approach-powering-development WRI Energy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRIEnergy WRI Energy newsletter: www.wri.org/sign-wri-energy-news-and-updates
Is a city truly sustainable if pedestrians, cyclists and children are being killed and injured on its roads? Over 55% of the world's people now live in cities, but while this has brought opportunities it's also meant traffic jams, pollution and road accidents. They’re now the number one killer of children and young adults between the ages of 5 and 24.
In this WRI 'Big ideas into action' podcast we look at the impact of road safety, its connection to urban development and sustainability issues, and ask what can be done to make roads safer. We hear from Istanbul, Addis Ababa and Bogota about the work the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities is doing, and why it matters.
Useful links:
www.wri.org/our-work/topics/sustainable-cities wrirosscities.org https://wrirosscities.org/our-work/topics/health-and-road-safety https://twitter.com/WRIRossCities https://prizeforcities.org/ https://prizeforcities.org/project/sarsai
Millions of people in low and middle income countries around the world are affected by problems such as pollution in the air, the soil, the water, but don’t know what they can do about it. In the fourth of this relaunched series of WRI's Ideas Into Action podcasts we take a look at WRI's STRIPE project, which is helping people around the world combat pollution.
In this podcast we hear about the challenges facing fishermen in Indonesia and communities in Mongolia, and we hear from a Jamaican lawyer who has helped reduce the health problems near bauxite mines. We also get the big picture from Liz Moses of WRI, and hear just how dangerous it can be to stand up for your environmental rights, from the woman who founded the STRIPE project.
STRIPE stands for Strengthening the Right to Information for People and the Environment – and the project empowers communities to improve their environmental health through the right to access information.
This if the fourth in this series of Big Ideas Into Action. You can read more about them at www.wri.org/podcasts.
For more about the STRIPE toolkit: www.wri.org/publication/toolkit-for-community-led-action
STRIPE infographic: https://www.wri.org/resources/data-visualizations/strengthening-right-information-people-and-environment
WRI Governance: www.wri.org/our-work/topics/governance
WRI Governance Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRIGovernance
STRIPE video about Mongolia: www.youtube.com/embed/6D13ubSdkOo
WRI blog about Mongolia: www.wri.org/blog/2020/mongolia-mining-pollution-environmental-justice
Blog about Indonesia: https://icelindonesia.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/stripe-report-indonesia_final.pdf
Jamaica Environment Trust www.jamentrust.org/
How much of a role does water play in conflict, and how do you solve such challenges? These are the key questions at the heart of the third "Big ideas into action" podcast from WRI.
This week we focus on the work of the Water, Peace and Security partnership, drawing together everything from on-the-ground insights to AI and big data to identify where water stresses are likely to lead to conflict, and then help resolve conflicts once they have broken out.
You can find more of our relaunched "Big ideas into action" podcasts at You can also find us at www.wri.org/podcasts.
The paper mentioned, "Ending conflicts over water", can be found here: https://www.wri.org/publication/ending-conflicts-over-water
You can follow the work of the Water, Peace and Security partnership at https://twitter.com/waterpeacesec and https://waterpeacesecurity.org
The sounds from the war in Yemen that you can hear at the start of the podcast are from "Yemen's forgotten war", part of the BBC World Service's highly-recommended Assignment series of radio documentaries. You can listen to it in full here: - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0325f2f
What is landscape restoration, and what does it look like on the ground? In this second WRI "Big ideas into action" podcast we travel to Rwanda, to hear from the villagers, the entrepreneur and the woman working to educate the nation's schoolchildren about the importance of nature.
Restoration is about far more than planting trees - it's about restoring degraded landscapes, growing those trees, repairing soils and harnessing nature as a solution to development challenges. As well as hearing from Rwanda's people, we'll get some expert context from WRI's Forests Program liaison on the ground and WRI Africa's regional director.
We'll be bringing out one podcast a week for this first season of "Big ideas into action". You can also find us at www.wri.org/podcasts.
For more about restoration in Africa, visit afr100.org or follow the team on Twitter at https://twitter.com/restoreforward and https://twitter.com/WRIafrica.
Just what is a sustainable ocean economy, and should we get excited about it? That is the subject of the first in a relaunched series of WRI podcasts that now goes under the name of “Big ideas into action”.
Put simply, a sustainable ocean economy is one where humanity effectively safeguards marine and coastal ecosystems, uses ocean resources such as seafood in a sustainable way, and ensures that benefits from the ocean and ocean industries are shared fairly and can last into the future.
We'll be bringing out one podcast a week for this first season of "Big ideas into action". You can also find us at www.wri.org/podcasts.
For more about the sustainable ocean economy, go to www.oceanpanel.org or follow them on Twitter https://twitter.com/oceanpanel.
A high-level cast of experts looks at some of the big issues about building back better in the wake of the Covid crisis – including the impact on development and climate issues. This is a condensed version of a webinar that our climate team hosted at London Climate Action week – it starts with a quick fire question: How soon will the global economy recover from the Covid crisis?
What is the role of finance and multilateral development banks in #BuildingBackBetter in the wake of the Covid crisis? Sir Suma Chakrabarti, the outgoing president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, was the special guest at a WRI webinar looking into the priorities for the sector.
The Covid-19 crisis has focused attention on the critical issue of air quality. Some places have experienced much cleaner air thanks to the lack of cars and buses, but at the same time we're now more aware of how much air pollution is a vital public health issue. We recently held a public webinar on these issue as part of our Build Back Better series, and this is a shortened version of what was discussed.
How has the food system fared during the #Covid19 crisis? A recent WRI webinar explored that question, from Colombia to Nigeria to China, and across the globe. What failed and what succeeded, and what lessons did we learn about how the food system needs to work in the time of crisis. This is a shortened, condensed version of that webinar - you can hear the full-length version on the events page at wri.org.
How - and why - do you build a sustainable ocean economy? WRI's Andrew Steer asks 4 experts affiliated with the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (@OceanPanel on Twitter) what the transition to this would look like, and why it is so important for livelihoods, ocean life and the planet's climate. The speakers are Peter Thomson, Jane Lubchenco, Mary Ruckelshaus and Vidar Helgesen. 14 national leaders are part of the Ocean Panel. Together their countries account for 30% of the world's coastlines, 20% of the world's shipping fleet and 20% of the world's fisheries, and they are building momentum toward a sustainable ocean economy, where effective protection, sustainable production and equitable prosperity go hand-in-hand. The Blue Paper featured is 'The ocean transition: what to learn from ocean transitions' - please go to oceanpanel.org for more.
WRI's Frances Seymour takes Nicholas Walton through the latest global tree loss figures from Global Forest Watch. The overall picture is bad, but there are positive signs in Indonesia and West Africa. Will the rest of the world learn from them?
WRI press call on how a COVID-19 stimulus package on infrastructure can create millions of jobs and economic growth in the near-term.
How do you #BuildBackBetter in a more resilient way after COVID19? This is the shortened version of a live WRI webinar on resilience, featuring Christina Chan, Ulrika Akesson, Sheela Patel, Maarten van Aalst and Rosemary Atieno. More at www.wri.org/coronavirus-recovery
This is the fifth in a WRI series looking at the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and asking how we can build back better. This podcast is all about the world’s cities. It is taken from a public webinar looking at everything from the physical form of cities to their finances to their communities – especially the poor. The panelists include Sameh Wahba, Sheela Patel, Henk Ovink, Ani Dasgupta and Maimunah Mohd Sharif.
For more information, visit: https://www.wri.org/events/2020/04/webinar-build-back-better-cities-frontlines-covid-19
The fourth in a World Resources Institute series looking at the impact of the Covid 19 crisis and asking how we can build back better. This podcast focuses on the critical role of public transport around the world, bringing in issues such as employment, revenue and equity. Go to wri.org/coronavirus-recovery for more from us on the challenges ahead.
This is the third in a WRI series looking at how we can #buildbackbetter following the Covid 19 crisis. This is a shortened version of the WRI webinar on the role of international financial institutions in the Covid19 crisis. Expert perspectives are from Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, Amal-Lee Amin, Anthony Nyong, Joaquim Levy, Jolie Schwarz and Scott Morris.
This is the second in a WRI series looking at how we can #buildbackbetter following the covid 19 crisis. This is a shortened version of the WRI webinar on how the US can shape its stimulus package, and hosted by WRI’s Dan Lashof. The expert perspectives are from Devashree Saha, Richard Kauffman, Cathy Zoi, Chris Castro and Lauren Faber
How can the world #BuildBackBetter from the Covid crisis? WRI's experts from across the world share their thoughts about how we can build a more sustainable and resilient world, looking at Africa, the climate, cities, China, the US and across the globe. This is from the first WRI #BuildBackBetter public webinar - we'll be holding a series to go to the events page on our website to register.
Jane Lubchenco is one of the world's foremost ocean ecologists. Formerly the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, she is now a co-chair of the expert group for the High Level Panel for the Sustainable Ocean Economy. She's interviewed on this podcast by Lawrence MacDonald, vice president of communications at WRI.
This press call took place on February 11, 2020 to discuss upcoming policy movements in the U.S. for tree planting as a means of carbon removal and climate mitigation.
As an advocate for road safety, Zoleka Mandela draws on her grandfather's legacy in speaking out against the injustice of the hidden epidemic that threatens children, especially in the developing world. In this podcast, she is joined by Claudia Adriazola-Steil, director for health & road safety at the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, as they discuss the unimaginable toll--emotional and economic--taken by road deaths, and what we can do to turn this loss into action. Interview by WRI Vice President for Communications Lawrence MacDonald.
Andika Putraditama, sustainable commodities manager with WRI Indonesia, breaks down how producers and consumers of palm oil can work together through certification programs to protect vulnerable peatlands, reverse deforestation and avoid associated carbon pollution, all while continuing to grow Indonesia's economy. WRI Vice President for Communications Lawrence MacDonald hosts.
Combining socioeconomic data and WRI's Aqueduct water stress tool with record of conflict, the Water, Peace and Security project attempts to track indicators of resource-fueled conflict as they arise. Nicholas Walton talks to Charlie Iceland, director of national and global water initiatives at WRI, about the tool's development and promise.
Negotiators will soon gather in Madrid at COP25 (December 2 to December 13, 2019)to iron out rules for international carbon markets and prepare for the consequential year of 2020, when countries should put forward more ambitious climate commitments under the Paris Agreement. While nearly 70 countries intend to step up their climate commitments, these nations account for only 8% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
This is the recording of a press call on what to expect at COP25, featuring Andrew Steer, WRI President & CEO and international climate policy experts Yamide Dagnet and David Waskow, who discussed the most consequential and contentious negotiation topics like Article 6; how COP25 relates to stepping up climate efforts in the year ahead; and how countries, businesses, cities and others are responding to both the climate crisis and civil unrest stemming from social inequity.
Nicholas Walton with WRI Europe speaks with Paul Polman, co-chair of the Food and Land Use Coalition and the former CEO of Unilever, about the potential for land-use change to drive emissions or be part of the climate solution. The conversation is bookended by a few words from Ed Davey with the Food and Land Use Coalition.
WRI Water Program Director Betsy Otto knows the world should be stressed about water: her team's research showed this year that one-quarter of the world's population lives in extreme water stress. In this conversation with WRI Vice President for Communications Lawrence MacDonald, though, she talks about the solutions--technological, political, and managerial--that we can apply to alleviate the strain.
Road safety is a worldwide epidemic. WRI's Claudia Adriazola-Steil (director, health & road safety) and Amit Bhatt (director, integrated urban transport, WRI India)talk with our host, VP for Communications Lawrence MacDonald, about a life-saving new law in India.
Following Friday’s largest climate protest in history, leaders from government, business and civil society came together for the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit on September 23 to offer strategies on how to address the global climate emergency. The summit featured speeches from over 60 country leaders.
World Resources Institute hosted a press call with leading experts on international climate policy to share their reflections on the summit. Which countries stepped up to Guterres’ challenge to bring concrete plans – and which failed to do so? Are these international diplomatic settings up to task of combating the climate crisis? Which initiatives were announced that are potentially transformational? And what are the biggest opportunities to advance climate action over the next couple years?
SPEAKERS • Helen Mountford, Vice President, Climate and Economics, WRI • David Waskow, International Climate Director, Climate Program, WRI • Yamide Dagnet, Program Director, Climate Negotiations, WRI
A discussion of climate change, science, and national security in the first public appearance by Dr. Rod Schoonover since leaving the U.S. government.
Learn more: https://www.wri.org/events/2019/07/climate-change-and-national-security-conversation-dr-schoonover
In a recent commentary, John Woolard, a Senior Fellow in World Resources Institute’s Energy Program, argues that it’s time for consumers to shift their focus from adding more renewables to committing to 100% zero-carbon energy. Woolard recently sat down with WRI Vice President for Communications Lawrence MacDonald to talk about the most effective ways to deliver affordable, clean power to the grid and why it’s crucial to examine the carbon emissions produced per unit of electricity.
In this podcast, WRI Europe's Nicholas Walton interviews Raj Bhagat of WRI India's Bengaluru office about his research into the causes of Chennai's recent water problems. Delving deep into the history of the city, the monsoon cycle and local management, Bhagat identifies not only a need to invest in infrastructure but to protect people. Also includes a conversation with Rutger Hofste, an associate with WRI's Water program, about how the Aqueduct platform can help journalists, researchers and the public understand how water stress affects them.
Press Call Featuring Caribbean Ministers on International Climate Action, European Council Decision by WRI's Big Ideas Into Action podcast
Press Call: Two Years After Trump’s Pledge to Withdraw from the Paris Agreement by WRI's Big Ideas Into Action podcast
Join Xcel Energy’s Energy & Environmental Policy team to learn more about the drivers and impacts of Xcel Energy’s ambitious new carbon goals. Learn more at: https://www.wri.org/events/2019/05/xcel-energy-setting-ambitious-carbon-goals-system-wide-transition
Mobility is a gateway to opportunity, and transportation can make cities more wonderful, livable and equitable. WRI Vice President Lawrence MacDonald is joined by Robin Chase and Harriet Tregoning to talk about the New Urban Mobility alliance (NUMO) and how they are building better cities for all.
Chase is the Executive Chair and Tregoning is the Director of NUMO.
About half of the world's land is collectively held. In this podcast, WRI Vice President Lawrence MacDonald interviews Peter Veit, director of the Land and Resource Rights Initiative in the Governance Center at WRI, about the social, environmental and economic case for securing tenure for indigenous and community lands.
WRI Better Buying Lab Director Daniel Vennard sits down with WRI Vice President Lawrence MacDonald to talk about his research into menu language, including the commentary "It's All In a Name: How to Boost the Sales of Plant-Based Menu Items." They talk about the link between his work and social marketing, how your brain models taste while you're ordering, and why "vegetarian" and "vegan" might not be the language that shifts the majority of the population to more sustainable diets.
https://www.wri.org/news/its-all-name-how-boost-sales-plant-based-menu-items
Three authors of WRI's World Resources Report, "Creating a Sustainable Food Future: A Menu of Solutions for Feeding Nearly 10 Billion People by 2050" join WRI Vice President for Communications Lawrence MacDonald to talk about how we'll feed the world without destroying the planet. Features Janet Ranganathan, Tim Searchinger, and Richard Waite.
The 20x20 Initiative aims to restore 20 million hectares of land throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. In this episode, WRI Vice President Lawrence MacDonald interviews Walter Vergara, a senior fellow and forests and climate specialist at WRI, alongside Etienne Demarais, CEO of Ecotierra, an agroforestry project developer with work throughout Latin America.
WRI Vice President for Communications Lawrence MacDonald interviews Molly Bergen, the Central Africa Communications Officer for WRI's Forests Program. Structured around recordings from Bergen's visits to central Africa--think elephants, song and markets--this podcast explores her unique role within WRI, working for more sustainable forest management in the Congo Basin.
In this episode, WRI Vice President for Communications Lawrence MacDonald interviews Jessica Seddon, director of integrated urban strategy for the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, about her work to improve air quality around the world. Beginning with her time as an academic in San Diego, where she first realized the importance of air quality, we follow her through years in India before she came to WRI, learning about the ways that air quality intersects with health, agriculture, and even renewable energy.
WRI Vice President for Communications Lawrence MacDonald is joined by Dan Lashof and Christina DeConcini to talk about what they're watching for in a Green New Deal.
Dan Lashof is director of WRI United States. Christina DeConcini is director of government affairs for WRI.
Lori Bird, Director of U.S. Energy at WRI, sits down with WRI Vice President for Communications Lawrence MacDonald to talk about the tech (batteries and rooftop solar), policy (net metering and RPS), movements and politics that are powering the renewables surge in the United States.
P4G Global Director Ian de Cruz is interviewed by WRI Vice President for Communications Lawrence MacDonald, offering updates on the first round of exciting P4G-funded projects. These public-private partnerships include projects that fund electric buses in Latin America, reduce food loss and waste in Indonesia and make delivery services in China greener. But how are such projects identified? What makes them successful? Ian answers these questions and more--and details P4G's call for a new, 2019 round of applications.
Embargoed: Press Call to Preview WRI’s Global Report on Creating a Sustainable Food Future by WRI's Big Ideas Into Action podcast
On the heels of the IPCC 1.5° C special report, climate negotiators and experts are gathering in Katowice, Poland, for the international climate talks, also known as COP24. This year’s global climate summit will be a critical moment for national leaders and negotiators to fully put in motion the vision set out by the Paris Climate Agreement. In particular, they need to focus on three tasks: finalize the rulebook to advance implementation of the Paris Agreement, send a collective signal they will strengthen their national climate commitments by 2020, and build confidence for the financial investments to support climate solutions. COP24 is taking place from December 3 to December 14, 2018.
On November 20, 2018, WRI hosted a press call to highlight the dynamics and expectation around the COP. Andrew Steer, WRI President & CEO, was joined by experts on international climate policy, finance, and economics: Yamide Dagnet, Joe Thwaites, and Helen Mountford. WRI experts discussed what’s at stake at COP24, highlighting countries to watch, the political context, and recent trends related to cities, businesses, and investors.
Every tenth of a degree matters. That's the message of the IPCC's 1.5 Degrees Report, which summarizes the distinctions between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius of warming for responding to climate change. Limiting warming to 1.5 will require massive transformation, but, as WRI Senior Associate Kelly Levin explains, bending the curve will help avoid huge costs from climate impacts.
In this podcast, WRI Vice President for Communications Lawrence MacDonald interviews Levin about her recent blog post, visible here: https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/10/8-things-you-need-know-about-ipcc-15-c-report
Maybe sustainable development and climate adaptation are two names for the same thing.
In this edition of the WRI Podcast, Christina Chan (WRI Climate Resilience Practice) and Niranjali Amerasinghe (WRI Sustainable Finance Center) discuss why adaptation and development are often handled by different agencies, how they are paid for, and why they should be tackled hand-in-hand.
WRI Vice President for Communications Lawrence MacDonald hosts.
To restore a physical landscape, it helps to understand the social landscape.
Social network analysis has been used in fields as diverse as epidemiology and counterterrorism. Now, WRI experts have devised a guidebook for applying social network analysis to environmental interventions and sustainable development. Kathleen Buckingham, Sabin Ray, Ruchika Singh and Satrio Wikacsono discuss the guidebook and case studies from India and Indonesia with Lawrence MacDonald, WRI vice president for communications.
In the early days at World Resources Institute, founder Gus Speth charged Rafe Pomerance with outreach on climate change. Pomerance went on to organize high-profile hearings in the U.S. Senate that put climate on the policy radar and introduced Jim Hansen to the world. These hearings are the subject of a new issue-length article in the New York Times Magazine, "Losing Earth." (Link below)
In a conversation with WRI Vice President for Communications Lawrence MacDonald, Pomerance returns to WRI to talk about what went into the hearings, what has hindered progress since then and why he thinks Florida is the key to decisive climate action in the United States.
Article: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/01/magazine/climate-change-losing-earth.html
Fijian diplomat Peter Thomson, UN Special Envoy for the Ocean and former President of the UN General Assembly, joins WRI Vice President for Communications Lawrence MacDonald and WRI Ocean Director Kristian Telecki to talk about global progress on monitoring oceans, setting goals, and delivering results.
At the Oslo Tropical Forest Forum (June 27-28), World Resources Institute’s Global Forest Watch released brand new 2017 global tree cover loss data, revealing how much forest was lost around the world last year and emerging country hot spots to watch. The new satellite-based data analyzed by the University of Maryland provides a transparent view of how countries are managing this important resource.
On June 21, 2018, at 10:00am EDT/16:00 CEST, WRI hosted a press call to preview the 2017 tree cover loss data findings for reporters. Speakers representing governments and civil society joined WRI experts to share insights from the data, discuss where progress has been made to protect forests over the past decade and explain where challenges persist.
Speakers below: Andreas Dahl-Jørgensen, Deputy Director of Norway's International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI) Carlos Nobre, Senior Researcher, Institute of Advances Studies, University of São Paolo, Brazil and Senior Fellow, WRI Brasil Frances Seymour, Distinguished Senior Fellow, WRI Mikaela Weisse, Research Analyst, WRI Nancy Harris, Research Manager for Global Forest Watch, WRI Dr. Putera Parthama, Interim Director General for Climate Change, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Indonesia Rod Taylor, Global Director of Forests, WRI Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Walter Vergara, Senior Fellow, WRI Moderator: Lauren Zelin, Media Relations Manager, WRI
Rangers in Uganda take mobile phones and tablets on their forest patrols. But they aren't bringing them to text friends, scroll Instagram, or play Temple Run during downtime. They're using them to follow deforestation alerts generated by satellites circling the earth, and to upload photos of illegal logging they find.
This app, Forest Watcher, was developed by Jane Goodall Institute, World Resources Institute and Vizzuality. In this podcast, we take a trip to the field, then sit down to talk about Forest Watcher with Rachael Petersen, deputy director of Global Forest Watch at WRI, and Dr. Lillian Pintea, vice president of conservation science at the Jane Goodall Institute.
A leading economist, Montek Singh Ahluwalia served for a decade in the Indian government, retiring in 2014 as Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission--a cabinet-level post. In this conversation with Lawrence MacDonald, vice president for communications at WRI, Ahluwalia discusses India's prospects for transitioning to a low-carbon, high-efficiency economy, and what the world can learn from their successes.
In this episode of the WRI Podcast, Charles Iceland, director, Global and National Water Initiatives with WRI's Food, Forests, and Water Programs, explains what water stress is, how we measure it, and why it matters for understanding geopolitics today.
Country delegates will convene in Bonn, Germany next week for the next round of UN climate negotiations (April 30-May 10). During this session, negotiators need to make considerable progress on designing a robust set of rules to underpin the Paris Agreement (sometimes referred to as the “Paris Rulebook”) so they can be finalized and adopted this December. In addition, the Talanoa Dialogue will play a prominent role in Bonn, where negotiators and other stakeholders will engage in in-depth discussions which shall set the stage for countries to signal at the COP24 summit that they will enhance their national climate plans (NDCs) by 2020.
On Wednesday, April 25 at 9:30am EDT / 3:30pm CEST, World Resources Institute hosted a press teleconference featuring experts who reflected on what to expect at the Bonn negotiations regarding the Paris Rulebook and the Talanoa Dialogue. In addition, speakers zeroed in on what is happening on climate finance and how these negotiations fit into the broader political context, from the role of the United States to the forthcoming Global Climate Action Summit in California, and beyond.
Partnering for Green Growth (P4G) is a new partnership of global leaders that supports real-world solutions for sustainable development. We speak with Ian de Cruz, Global Director of P4G, about how the program is getting off the ground -- and how it will help ground-breaking public-private partnerships for green growth do the same around the world.
The first global stocktaking exercise of the Paris Agreement has officially begun with the opening of a new online portal for the 2018 Talanoa Dialogue. Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan, Climate COP23 Chief Negotiator, outlines how you can engage with the Talanoa Dialogue and jumpstart climate action in 2018.
More than a dozen of the world’s leading shared transport and technology companies will come together to announce their joint vision for the future of cities on Thursday February 1 at 9:00 am ET.
Despite competing for market share, the companies have a shared vision for making cities more livable by prioritizing people over vehicles, lowering emissions, promoting equity and more.
Press call speakers: • Robin Chase, Co-Founder of Zipcar • Bill Peduto, Mayor of Pittsburgh, USA • Jean Louis Missika, Deputy Mayor of Paris, France • Clement Michel, International Regional Director, Keolis • Joseph Okpaku, VP, Government Relations, Lyft • Chris Martin, Vice President, Mobike • Chris Taylor, Vice President and Head of North America, ofo • Jake Sion, Chief Operating Officer, Transit • Andrew Salzberg, Head of Transportation Policy and Research, Uber • Andrei Greenawalt, Vice President for Public Policy, Via • Jyot Chadha, Director of Urban Innovation, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities • Justin Holmes, Director of Corporate Communications and Public Policy, Zipcar • Moderated by Michael Oko, Director of Communications, World Resources Institute (WRI)
On Friday, October 27, at 9:30am EDT, World Resources Institute held a press call where WRI’s president and experts on international climate policy, finance, and adaptation shared insights on what to watch at COP23. Speakers include: Andrew Steer, Paula Caballero, Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, and Christina Chan
Energy is fundamental to economic productivity and livelihoods, and cities have a major role to play in how it is provided and consumed. Cities in the global south (India and South Asia, Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America) face three fundamental energy challenges: the urgent need to increase access to clean, affordable and reliable energy; how to meet increasing electricity demand while addressing inadequate supply and system inefficiencies; and the imperative to chart a new development model that slows the growth of carbon emissions.
Solutions exist that can both address the energy access needs of the urban under-served and provide economic and environmental benefits to the whole city.
On Wednesday, September 6, World Resources Institute will host a press call to discuss the release of a new working paper on energy access in rapidly urbanizing countries and associated issues related to sustainable cities: “Powering Cities in the Global South: How Energy Access for All Benefits the Economy and the Environment.” Leading experts will discuss how providing clean, affordable and reliable energy is a key sustainability challenge for cities in the 21st century. They will present practical solutions that city officials and the private sector can employ to make cities more livable, productive and environmentally sound for all.
Sean DeWitt, director of the Global Restoration Initiative, and Miguel Calmon, forests director at WRI Brazil, sit down with us to discuss the VERENA Project, an effort to restore Brazilian forests that focuses on native species and pays dividends for farmers, investors and ecology alike.
This episode of the World Resources Institute Podcast features special guests from both inside and outside WRI. Cy Jones is a Senior Fellow in WRI’s Water Program, Sara Walker is an Associate in WRI’s Water program and Beth McGee is Director of Science and Agricultural Policy at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Together with Lawrence MacDonald, they discussed how nutrient and water quality trading can help meet the nutrient reduction targets needed to restore the Chesapeake Bay.
Access to energy can help communities increase the productivity of their labor, earn more income, use household time more efficiently and enhance access to health, education and water.
Still, 1.2 billion households today lack access to electricity connections and millions of households, businesses and community institutions receive poor and inadequate supplies of electricity services. In sub-Saharan Africa, more than 600 million lack access to electricity.
In this episode of the WRI Podcast, Lawrence MacDonald is joined by two WRI energy experts, Lily Odarno and Sanjoy Sanyal, to discuss how advances in data, technology and finance are overcoming barriers for access to energy in East Africa.
In his first week of office, President Trump has issued orders that would implement sweeping changes to the way the United States deals with a pressing challenge that demands international cooperation: climate change. If the United States pulls out of the Paris Agreement, as many have suggested, it would join Uzbekistan, Syria and Nicaragua as the only nations not party to the landmark Agreement on climate change.
On this episode of the WRI Podcast, Lawrence MacDonald sits down with Ani Dasgupta, global director of WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.
Dasgupta highlights two recent developments that shed light on how city leaders can tackle these challenges.
The recent Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador, brought together leaders from around the world to discuss housing and sustainable urban development. World leaders ultimately agreed on a New Urban Agenda, which will set a course for the next two decades of urban development.
Dasgupta also previews the World Resources Report (WRR), which focuses on how to make cities more equitable and sustainable places to live. Moving developing cities away from car-centric roads, investing in services for the poor, and the interconnection between environment and economy stand out as central conclusions. Preliminary findings suggest that if decision-makers view climate change, economic productivity and quality of life as interconnected urban challenges, they’ll ultimately create more sustainable cities that work better for all citizens.
On this episode of the World Resources Institute Podcast Stientje van Veldhoven joins Lawrence MacDonald to discuss the revolutionary idea of a circular economy, and its potential to reshape how we think about sustainable consumption. With a growing world population, rethinking how and what we consider waste will be key in securing enough resources to go around.
WRI Podcast #9: Rising Tides with Christina DeConcini and Forbes Tompkins by WRI's Big Ideas Into Action podcast
In this episode of the WRI Podcast, Lawrence MacDonald sits down with Chip Barber and Austin Clowes of the Forest Legality Initiative to talk about their work on sustainability in the guitar industry.
The music industry sells millions of guitars a year, and the instrument is integral to musical traditions from blues and rock ‘n roll to flamenco and classical music. These traditions rely on specific types of wood, known as tonewoods, to produce the distinctive timbre of the guitar.
Some of these species are endangered by overharvesting and trafficking. Ebony, for example, is used for guitar fretboards, but has been so depleted that it is only commercially available from one country in the entire world. Rosewood, known as the “holy grail” of tonewoods, makes up 35 percent of global wildlife trafficking—nearly double that of ivory.
What to Do?
Guitar companies won’t stop building their guitars out of tonewoods, but they do have an interest in safeguarding their future. Some companies are starting to build their guitars out of more sustainable woods, like koa, or are identifying more sustainable supply sources, such as innovative co-ops that put ecology first.
Chip, director of the Forest Legality Initiative, and Austin, WRI’s tonewood specialist, have been the driving force behind the research and production of the Building a Sustainable Guitar blog series. On this podcast you will hear them talk about:
· How a wood impacts the instrument’s sound; · How the Lacey Act plays an important role in preventing illegal logging; and · How consumers and leading manufacturers are driving the guitar industry towards sustainability.
Best of all, you’ll get to hear these two classically trained musicians play a bit for us.
WRI Podcast #6 - Preparing for COP 22 with David Waskow and Paula Caballero by WRI's Big Ideas Into Action podcast
On this episode of the WRI Podcast Lawrence MacDonald sits down with Todd Gartner, a Senior Associate with the Water team at World Resources Institute and the co-author of a new paper on watershed protection, and Jasmine Qin, a Research Analyst and driving force behind Global Forest Watch – Water. Together, Todd and Jasmine layout the importance of natural infrastructure like forests and wetlands in preserving and protecting the watersheds that provide our communities with water.
On this episode of the WRI Podcast, Lawrence MacDonald interviews Liz Goodwin, a WRI senior fellow and our first director of food loss and waste. Goodwin, a British businesswoman and environmentalist, was previously CEO of the Waste Resources & Action Programme (WRAP), which catalyzed a national program that reduced UK food loss and waste by 21 percent, an achievement recognized last year when she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
FAO data has shown that about a third of all food produced is never eaten. If food loss and waste were its own country, it would be the world’s third-largest source of emissions after China and the United States.
In a new podcast, WRI's Lawrence Macdonald chats with Janet Ranganathan and Richard Waite, authors of a new paper, Shifting Diets for a Sustainable Food Future. The paper shows that eating less meat, particularly beef, and moving toward diets with a greater share of plant-based foods reduces pressure on forests and land, lowers greenhouse gas emissions and sets us up for a more sustainable future.
The paper also tackles the crucial question of how to shift people's diets at scale, an issue we take up in the second half of the podcast.
WRI Podcast #2: A Conversation With WRI President Andrew Steer by WRI's Big Ideas Into Action podcast
A conversation with interviewing industrialist and philanthropist Jamshyd Godrej, the chairman and leading benefactor of WRI India.