Reports

Worldwatch Report #188: Innovations in Sustainable Agriculture: Supporting Climate-Friendly Food Production

By tapping into the multitude of climate-friendly farming practices that already exist, agriculture can continue to supply food for the human population, as well as income for the world’s 1.3 billion farmers. Climate-friendly agriculture also can play a critical role in the global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the mitigation of climate change.

Worldwatch Report #187: Sustainable Energy Roadmaps: Guiding the Global Shift to Domestic Renewables

Worldwatch Institute’s Sustainable Energy Roadmaps provide decision-makers with a comprehensive toolkit for transitioning to sustainable energy. Tailored to a region’s unique circumstances, they examine opportunities for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and grid technologies; explore technical barriers and opportunities; and analyze socioeconomic impacts, including job creation. The roadmaps can be applied in a wide variety of locations and at multiple levels of political organization,offeringa long-term vision for energy development as well as specific policy, governance, and financial steps that are critical to making the shift to sustainable energy a reality.
Cover of Worldwatch Report Creating Sustainable Prosperity in the US

Worldwatch Report #186: Creating Sustainable Prosperity in the United States: The Need for Innovation and Leadership

This report assesses the country’s environmental record and calls for a broad range of policy innovations in the areas of renewable and non-renewable resource use, waste and pollution, and population growth that would help boost the sustainability of the U.S. economy while maintaining people’s overall well-being and quality of life.
Green Economy and Green Jobs in China

Worldwatch Report #185: Green Economy and Green Jobs in China: Current Status and Potentials for 2020

Since 2000, and especially during the 11th Five-Year period of 2006–10, China has prioritized green development in almost all of its leading economic sectors.  One of the greatest promises of China’s green transition is the potential for expanded employment in industries and economic sectors that can help slow and possibly reduce the country’s environmental impact. This report explores greening activities in three leading sectors of China’s economy: energy, transportation, and forestry. It sheds light on the current scale of investment and employment in these sectors and suggests potentials for 2020.

The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2010-2011: Nuclear Power in a Post-Fukushima World

Even before the disaster in Fukushima, the world’s nuclear industry was in clear decline, according to a new report from the Worldwatch Institute. The report, which Worldwatch commissioned months before the Fukushima crisis began, paints a bleak picture of an aging industry unable to keep pace with its renewable energy competitors.
Powering the Low-Carbon Economy Report Cover

Worldwatch Report #184: Powering the Low-Carbon Economy: The Once and Future Roles of Renewable Energy and Natural Gas

Over the past decade, renewable energy and natural gas have emerged as potential cornerstones of a low-carbon power sector. Wind and solar resources are abundant and can be converted into electricity using technologies that emit no greenhouse gases. Natural gas offers a cleaner alternative to coal that can deliver sharp, immediate reductions in carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector—if new supplies can be produced responsibly.

Natural Gas and Sustainable Energy Initiative Briefing Papers

This briefing paper series is designed to explore and communicate the potential of natural gas, renewable energy, and energy efficiency to work together to build a low-carbon economy. The papers provide a forum to examine potential environmental, social, and political obstacles that must be addressed if natural gas is to accelerate, rather than delay, a low-carbon energy transformation.

This publication available for free download.

Worldwatch Report #183: Population, Climate Change, and Women’s Lives

The growth of population is a major factor behind climate change today. Human-caused climate change is fundamentally an imbalance of scale, as people release heat-trapping gases into Earth’s atmosphere faster than the oceans and living things can remove them. This imbalance stems from both the explosion of technologies made possible through the combustion of fossil fuels since the late 1700s and the more than sevenfold increase in human numbers since that time. 

Worldwatch Report #182: Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in China: Current Status and Prospects for 2020

Over the past few years, China has emerged as a global leader in clean energy, topping the world in production of compact fluorescent light bulbs, solar water heaters, solar photovoltaic (PV) cells, and wind turbines. The remarkable rise of China’s clean energy sector reflects a strong and growing commitment by the government to diversify its energy economy, reduce environmental problems, and stave off massive increases in energy imports. Around the world, governments and industries now find themselves struggling to keep pace with the new pacesetter in global clean energy development.

Global Competitiveness in the Rail and Transit Industry

This report draws on lessons from Germany, Spain, Japan, and China, the four dominant international rail manufacturing countries, to conclude that greater investment in U.S. rail manufacturing could revive America’s former leadership in the world rail industry-–and potentially create hundreds of thousands of jobs. Written for the Apollo Alliance in partnership with Northeastern University and the Duke University Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness.