The WRI Ross Prize for Cities aims to spotlight exemplary real-world examples of urban transformation to help inspire better cities for all. Nearly 200 projects around the globe submitted applications for the inaugural $250,000 prize.
Amid the barrage of news about climate-related natural disasters and climate change summits, it’s important to recognize real inflection points—when there is truly cause to sit up and take note. The IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC, released last month, is a genuine wake up call.
In China, distributed solar PV is growing remarkably faster than large-scale solar power stations. China’s new installed capacity of distributed solar PV in 2017 was 19.4 gigawatts — 3.6 times higher than it was just a year before. Distributed solar PV generated 13.7 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2017, enough to power all the households in Beijing for 7.5 months. The accumulated installed capacity of distributed solar PV now accounts for 27.1% of China’s total solar PV installation.
One year ago this week, President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change. The president claimed that the Agreement was a bad deal for America. The reality is that his disavowal of the treaty is putting the United States increasingly at odds with the rest of the world and harming the American people.
The Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 was lauded as a turning point in the global fight against climate change. The question today is: Are countries responding to it?
The southeastern city, which connects Hong Kong to mainland China, announced at the end of last year that all of its 16,359 buses had gone electric. The city’s buses are the world’s first 100% electrified bus fleet, and its largest—bigger than New York’s, Los Angeles’s, New Jersey’s, Chicago’s and Toronto’s electric bus fleets combined.
WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities was named a winner of the Prince Michael Award for its inspired and significant work to reduce traffic fatalities in low and middle-income cities through sustainable transport and urban design.
This blog showcases three women from the developing world who have used small-scale solar panels, solar cook stoves, and solar lanterns to become successful businesswomen. Their stories demonstrate how women serve as frequent decision makers regarding how household energy is used and how they can serve as ideal agents of change who successfully spearhead the proliferation of solar energy.
Enthusiasm for sustainable investing is surging. Already, more than $8.7 trillion of investment capital is managed using environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in U.S. markets alone, a 184% increase since 2010. This pot of money increasingly includes investments in green infrastructure, renewable energy, affordable housing and more, as well as investments that more holistically integrate broad ESG factors.
Originally published on WRI. By Toni Lindau and Bruno Felin The Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the first South American city to host the modern games, famously faced challenges in the run-up to the event – from construction delays to a polluted venue to worries about the Zika virus … [continued]
