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December 2005, Volume 1, Number 4

Looking to the Carbon-Constrained Future

The 157 countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol agreed at a recently concluded United Nations climate conference to continue their dialogue on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Under Kyoto, about 40 nations must cut emissions of greenhouse gases to less than their respective 1990 levels over the next few years. In addition to prominent participation in panel sessions and side events at the conference, WRI released multiple publications during the conference to help businesses, governments, and NGOs move forward on mitigating climate change. Navigating the Numbers synthesizes the sometimes bewildering range of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data in digestible form. Greenhouse Gas Protocol: The GHG Protocol for Project Accounting, published in partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, provides specific principles, concepts, and methods for quantifying and reporting GHG reductions from climate change mitigation projects.

Dispelling the notion that developing nations are not contributing to greenhouse gas reductions, Growing in the Greenhouse highlights policies and practices in Brazil, China, India and South Africa that recognize the need for continued economic development while delivering climate change benefits. Podcasts on many of these topics (see related article below) are also being made available. (more here)

Google Picks WRI

WRI was one of only a handful of organizations chosen to help launch a new Google effort dubbed "Google Base." WRI has already submitted information on a 5 million-record database on sustainable development for 200 countries over a period of up to a century. The new Google feature should mean faster indexing of content, and better ability by content providers to describe their content, making searches and filters more reliable. (more here)

WRI and the Confederation of Indian Industry's Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre have announced a new effort to promote climate-friendly, sustainable enterprises across India. The Green Business Initiative will advance sustainable enterprises, and also facilitate the development of voluntary corporate greenhouse gas inventories and subsequent investments in greenhouse gas mitigation projects. India, the second most populous nation, is the 5th largest emitter of greenhouse gases. (more here)

Members of WRI's Green Power Market Development Group announced early this month that they have raised their total green power purchases for U.S. operations to 360 megawatts - equal to an entire coal-fired power plant - and are well on their way to their target of 1,000 megawatts. Many Group members now are leading corporate users of renewable energy in the United States. For instance, Johnson & Johnson is the country's largest corporate buyer of green power, GM and DuPont are the two largest users of landfill gas for thermal energy, and Starbucks, IBM, and Johnson & Johnson are the three largest buyers of renewable energy certificates from wind farms. Building on this success, WRI and partner The Climate Group have announced the launch of Green Power Market Development Group Europe. WRI has also recently published The Business Case for Using Renewable Energy, the seventh issue of its Corporate Guide to Green Power Markets. (more here)

At the recent Academy of Management Annual Conference, WRI's Business-Environment Learning and Leadership (BELL) project organized a panel to explore possible widespread corporate failure to align sustainability strategies with hiring practices. BELL works with select faculty and corporate leaders around the world to better understand current business challenges and to develop cutting-edge research and teaching cases related to sustainable enterprise, and is currently soliciting case study submissions. (more here)
BusinessWeek Pick

WRI's NextBillion.net has been selected as an "editor's pick" in BusinessWeek's Best of the New Web feature. Under the category "Giving Back," NextBillion.net shares space with DonorsChoose.org, Omidyar.net, OneWorld.net, and WorldChanging. (more here)

WRI has just begun to post sound recordings of WRI experts and partners explaining the details and importance of their current work. New recordings will be added regularly. Current offerings focus on climate change and sustainable development. (more here)

Harvard Business School brought together in early December academics and corporate, non-profit and government leaders to discuss the role of business in poverty alleviation. WRI staff presented business models of profitable delivery of electricity to low-income consumers, and an overview of innovation's role in serving the poor. more here)

WRI's Reefs at Risk project has mapped the watersheds most threatening to reefs in the Virgin Islands. Sediment carried by rains blocks light, reducing coral's ability to grow. A similar WRI study in southeast Asia prompted the Malaysian government to pass legislation restricting development in certain coastal areas. (more here)

Trouble Spots Mapped in Virgin Islands

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has announced an agreement to extend the Guidelines of the World Commission on Dams to all projects financed by Export Credit Agencies. The agreement also provides extended loan repayment terms for renewable energy projects. Both outcomes were recommended in the new WRI report, Diverging Paths: What Future for Export Credit Agencies in Development Finance.
(more here)

WRI's award-winning website, EarthTrends, focuses this month on climate change. Content includes data tables, a searchable database, maps, country profiles, and feature stories including the recent WRI editorial Mobilizing an Investment Framework for Clean Energy originally published in Environmental Finance. (more here)

Canada's leading export credit agency has released new environmental and social policies that reflect all of the key recommendations submitted by WRI's International Financial Flows and the Environment program. Export Development Canada (EDC) will now apply more stringent international environmental standards to large scale extractive and infrastructure projects. EDC will also increase opportunities for public comment. (more here)


WRI Digest is published monthly by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and sent to subscribers who have opted in. WRI is an independent non-profit organization with a staff of more than 100 scientists, economists, policy experts, business analysts, statistical analysts, mapmakers, and communicators working to protect the Earth and improve people's lives.

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