Blog

African and Asian countries have developed Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).

• 03/23/2022
• Funke Aderonmu

Rice production accounts for a significant portion of many Asian countries’ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and Vietnam is one of the world’s largest rice producers. To meet the targets set out in its nationally determined contribution (NDC) and to maintain transparency in national communications (NC), Vietnam assesses the spatial variation of emissions across its rice-producing regions.

• 12/30/2021
• Sadie Shelton

A wide range of environmental changes threaten development. Of these challenges, climate change and plastic pollution in particular inspire concern and action from governments, scientists, and advocates alike. USAID’s work on ocean plastic pollution operates at the intersection of these related problems, and highlights opportunities for innovation in waste management.

• 10/26/2021
• Ruby Rorty

Across the globe, people are struggling to improve air quality, but the sources of pollution that cause the most harm are a moving target. They can differ by location, time of year, and time of day.

• 07/29/2021
• Lauren Azmon

After its success with improving solid waste and water management, the city of Indore, India has consistently been ranked the cleanest city in that country by the government’s annual Swachh Survekshan survey. Now, Indore is focused on having cleaner skies.

• 07/27/2021
• Beth Elliott and the Clean Air Catalyst Indore and Global Teams

Poor air quality and climate change are major challenges facing Nepal. Air pollution poses the second highest risk factor for death and disability in the country, behind only malnutrition. Meanwhile, scientists predict that Nepal will be especially vulnerable to climate change over the next century.

• 07/15/2021
• USAID

Air pollution is the world’s largest environmental health risk, contributing to an estimated 6.7 million premature deaths each year globally. It is also a critical development challenge because low and middle income countries (LMICs) experience the greatest health burdens from poor air quality.

• 07/13/2021
• Jacquelyn Spade, Nila Cousar

In response to growing demand from countries seeking support for increased electric vehicle (EV) deployment to bolster climate change objectives, the USAID-NREL Partnership has developed several different projects aimed at streamlining development of EV charging infrastructure, workforce training, and grid management, which build upon the recently launched global Greening the Grid EV Toolkit.

• 04/01/2021
• Britton Marchese

Uptake of low emissions agriculture research outputs by policymakers and other stakeholders requires time. Even when researchers are interested in pursuing the scaling and use of research outputs, most are not incentivized to take this on. Allocating targeted resources and donor support, while involving science communicators and outreach specialists can be effective in overcoming constraints to delivering low emission development research to policymakers.

• 10/21/2020
• Arun Khatri-Chhetri

Research suggests that dairy farmers can reduce their carbon footprint by improving animal and herd management. The growing global population and increasing consumption of meat and dairy will increase global animal protein demand by 60 percent by 2030.

• 10/15/2020
• CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security CCAFS

Our food systems are failing us. However, they are also complex and each is unique, which requires many different behavioral changes and interventions along the supply chain. Our food systems are failing us, and a new report from the Transforming Food Systems Under a Changing Climate initiative (launching June 25th) argues that nothing short of a systemic transformation of food systems is required if we are to feed the world’s current and future population sustainably under climate change.

• 07/01/2020
• CCAFS