Blogs

This blog post originally appeared in TheCityFix.

In 2013, the world’s cities accounted for 64 percent of primary energy use and 70 percent of CO2 emissions. Energy use in buildings is the second largest contributor (after transport) to urban GHG emissions and to urban heat islands. Emissions reductions programs for buildings, then, could bring deep decarbonization to cities and other benefits to boot, like lower energy costs....

On average, two people die on Mumbai’s roads owing to traffic crashes every day. The city ranks seventh in the country in terms of absolute numbers of road traffic fatalities. Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are most vulnerable, and are involved in more than 90 percent of all road traffic fatalities. Young working populations – mostly men – are particularly affected.

Most crash data reports only talk about what happened – the crash itself. However, the political and societal influencers of road...

This blog post originally appeared in wri.org.

Diesel buses—and the choking smog they spew—are a common sight in most cities. But not in Shenzhen, China.

The southeastern city, which connects Hong Kong to mainland China, announced at the end of last year that all of its...

This blog post originally appeared in TheCityFix.

Provision of affordable, adequate and accessible housing is one of the major challenges facing India today, as it surges forward economically and demographically. Current government statistics put the housing shortfall at...

Inducing a modal shift from private transport to public buses will reduce road traffic deaths in India. In cities such as Bangalore and Mumbai, the city bus agencies – Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) respectively – account for 20-32 percent of the mode share, but were involved in only 5-13 percent of the road fatalities reported in the city in the last five years. The data suggests that the quantum of crashes per driven...

This blog post originally appeared on ET Energyworld.

In Davos, Switzerland last month, the World Economic Forum recognized climate change as among the top existential risks facing businesses over the next decade. Businesses have already taken note as more than 1,300 companies that together generate $7 trillion in revenue have adopted or are planning to adopt a market solution to the climate problem.

One of them is a leading Indian textile manufacturer. Its...

This blog post originally appeared in TheCityFix.

As today’s urban areas house more than half the world’s population and produce more than...

This blog post originally appeared in TheCityFix.

Photo Credit: Lubaina Rangwala/WRI India

One of the biggest challenges to climate action is not only understanding the risks of flooding, extreme heat and other challenges, but how your community might respond to these risks. What are its strengths? How might policymakers augment...

This blog post originally appeared on WRI.org.

Anand Mahindra, chairman of the India-based $19 billion Mahindra Rise conglomerate, told a World Economic Forum crowd that climate action is “the next century’s biggest business and financial opportunity.”

“Everything that our group of companies has done to try to improve energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has given us a return,” Mahindra Rise chairman...

Locals around Aberdare National Park say that the Kenyan Defence Forces hold a gun in one hand to protect the country from external threats and a seedling in another to protect an internal enemy - hazards of deforestation. Green Belt Movement (GBM), since its inception in 1977 by Nobel Laureate Prof. Wangari Mathai, has worked with locals and Kenyan Defence Forces to plant over 51 million trees in Mount Kenya, Aberdare and Mau complex - three of five major mountain ecosystems of Kenya.

WRI India's...