Posts in the 'Climate Action' category
Solving World's Housing Crisis Requires More Than New Construction
Solving World’s Housing Crisis Requires More Than New Construction
There’s a growing housing crisis that’s impossible to ignore. Consider the stats: Nearly 3 billion people lack access to housing that is both safe and connected to basic services like energy, water and sanitation. Around 40% of the world’s population lives in ...
Urban Trees: An Underused Tool for Keeping People Cool
Urban Trees: An Underused Tool for Keeping People Cool
On a hot summer afternoon, the difference between one city block and the next can feel like a different world. On one street, the sun beats down from above while the pavement radiates heat from below. Just around the corner, ...
In This Indonesian City, Community-Led Design Is Improving Water and Sanitation
In This Indonesian City, Community-Led Design Is Improving Water and Sanitation
On rainy days, Meliana Mei walks along an elevated pathway from her home in Makassar, Indonesia, to the market. Water collects in trenches below the path and drains away, giving her a much safer way to reach her destination. “Our ...
Using Spatial Analyses to Help Build Thriving, Resilient Communities in US Cities
Using Spatial Analyses to Help Build Thriving, Resilient Communities in US Cities
Picture this: you wake up on a Sunday morning and hop on a bike with your family or a close friend. Within a few minutes you arrive at a coffee shop, order your drink of choice while listening to the ...
Charted: How Could Rising Temperatures Affect Your City?
Charted: How Could Rising Temperatures Affect Your City?
A decade ago, scientists believed that unchecked global warming could heat the world to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) above preindustrial levels sometime around 2045. It now looks like we could pass this critical threshold as soon as 2030. Indeed, some research ...
Most Cities Are Getting Hotter. Not All Residents Feel It Equally
Most Cities Are Getting Hotter. Not All Residents Feel It Equally
On a hot day in February 2024, volunteers dispersed across Cape Town, South Africa, with sensors affixed to their cars. Their aim was to measure heat differences across the city. In Cape Town’s dense, highly developed center, they recorded air temperatures ...
Rwanda’s Cities Turn to Green-Gray Infrastructure to Address Climate Risks
Rwanda’s Cities Turn to Green-Gray Infrastructure to Address Climate Risks
Over the next few decades, Rwanda is positioned to become one of the most competitive investment destinations in East Africa. National targets, such as achieving upper middle-income status by 2035 and high-income status by 2050 (Vision 2050)1, signal the government’s ...
City Governments, Experts and Communities Unite to Address Heat and Health Challenges in Belo Horizonte and Campinas
City Governments, Experts and Communities Unite to Address Heat and Health Challenges in Belo Horizonte and Campinas
When the weather heats up in Belo Horizonte, residents of Morro do Papagaio get creative. “A lot of people put their blankets in the refrigerator,” said Amanda Lima, a 24-year-old university student, activist and resident of the south-central region of ...
Utah Pioneers a New Model for Wildfire Resilience
Utah Pioneers a New Model for Wildfire Resilience
Twenty years ago, the forested slopes above Alpine Acres — a small community at the source of the Weber River in Summit County, Utah — were overgrown with dry brush and primed for wildfire. With only one road in and ...
Climate Action Can Be One of the World’s Biggest Job Creators
Climate Action Can Be One of the World’s Biggest Job Creators
We are in the midst of a great economic shift — one that will shape livelihoods and growth for decades to come.  The rise of AI and digitalization, geopolitical changes, uneven population growth, and the urgent need to cut emissions ...
This Hillside City in South America Rebuilt Itself Around Nature — and Got Healthier
This Hillside City in South America Rebuilt Itself Around Nature — and Got Healthier
On most mornings, Cati Ochoa walks the green corridor along the Zamora River near her home in Loja, Ecuador, before starting work. The moment she steps beneath the trees, she feels her shoulders drop. “Green areas give us peace,” she said. ...
Inside Colombia’s New 2035 Climate Plan: What You Need to Know
Inside Colombia’s New 2035 Climate Plan: What You Need to Know
The center of gravity for climate progress is shifting. Increasingly, many of the countries driving the global climate transition are those that have contributed the least to historical emissions yet are among the most vulnerable to climate impacts. Emerging economies are showing ...
8 Signs 2026 Isn’t Business as Usual for Urban Sustainability Agendas  
8 Signs 2026 Isn’t Business as Usual for Urban Sustainability Agendas  
For better or worse, the year ahead brings a mix of reforms, political shifts and global milestones that will shape how urban sustainability agendas are governed and delivered.   From changes to the structure and leadership of the United Nations (UN) ...
3 Climate Stories That Will Shape the World in 2026
3 Climate Stories That Will Shape the World in 2026
As we enter a new year, people around the world are grappling with rising costs for housing, energy and food. Most worry about the state of the economy. Job prospects feel uncertain in the face of widespread AI, automation and other disruptions. These concerns ...
How Chennai Is Restoring Kadapakkam Lake With Nature-Based Solutions 
How Chennai Is Restoring Kadapakkam Lake With Nature-Based Solutions 
Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), India’s oldest municipal body, governs a sprawling and densely populated urban landscape where climate resilience is not just a goal, but a necessity. With much of the city lying barely two meters above sea level and ...
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