Blog

USAID is supporting renewable energy in Vietnam — through strategic, discrete interventions to remove barriers for the private sector.

• 11/09/2021
• Kristin Kelly Jangraw

As the 26th Conference of Parties approaches, many least developed countries have struggled to advance their National Adaptation Plan (NAP) processes. A decade after the introduction of the NAP process, now is an opportune time to reflect on lessons learned and consider how USAID and other development partners can most effectively support developing countries’ NAP processes into the future.

• 11/04/2021
• Dr. Keith Bettinger

As an Agency that stares down the world’s toughest challenges, none pose a greater threat than climate change. The science is clear: we have a narrow window remaining to dramatically reduce global emissions or we all face catastrophic consequences — with the most vulnerable populations continuing to get hit the hardest.

• 11/03/2021
• Gillian Caldwell

The Eastern and Southern Caribbean (ESC) countries are on the front lines of the climate crisis, experiencing some of the most severe impacts of climate change, ranging from prolonged periods of drought to increasingly strong tropical storms and hurricanes.

• 11/02/2021
• Christine Chumbler

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

In November 2020, two back-to-back category 4 hurricanes, Eta and Iota, struck Central America, making landfall on the coast of Nicaragua, near its border with Honduras, and also affecting El Salvador and Guatemala. Altogether, they caused an estimated one billion US dollars in damage. Despite such impacts, the region was better able to prepare for and respond to Eta and Iota using space-based technologies.

• 10/26/2021
• Betzy Hernandez Sandoval, Emil Cherrington, Kel Markert, Eric Anderson, Daniel E. Irwin, Ashutosh Limaye, Peter Epanchin, Bathsheba F. Bryant-Tarpeh

Part II: Climate Finance in Action

• 10/20/2021
• Sashi Jayatileke

CEADIR’s final report contains summaries and links to seven years of assessments, analyses, tools, and training and technical assistance materials on planning, financing, and implementation of clean energy, sustainable landscapes (natural climate solutions), and climate adaptation.

• 10/19/2021
• Eric Hyman, Christine Chumbler

After more than three years supporting Southeast Asian agribusiness, forestry and other land use companies to lower their greenhouse gas emissions, USAID Green Invest Asia found this sector often lacks trust to jointly address climate risks – and opportunities – even when they share suppliers.

• 10/14/2021
• Angela Hogg

To strengthen communities' access to and management of water and pasture, USAID EKISIL—which means “peace” in the local language of Karamoja—initiated climate risk management (CRM) actions in the Abim, Kaabong, Kotido, and Moroto districts

• 10/13/2021
• Lorine Giangola, Leah Quin

With agriculture driving deforestation, global climate protection and biodiversity conservation goals seem to collide with the drive to produce more food. Researchers warn of an impending “food security-biodiversity-climate” crisis and “looming land scarcity.”

• 10/12/2021
• Daniel Evans

With USAID support, a local traditional chief and his administration are using land resource rights to empower women, protect forests and wildlife, and build a chiefdom for the future.

• 10/07/2021
• Chando Mapoma

With the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) portfolio of climate change programs, partnerships, and expertise around the globe, the Agency is positioned to answer the global call to action for the climate crisis. USAID will work across the intersection of climate and development to reduce emissions, sustainably develop economies, increase resilience, and promote adaptation.

• 09/30/2021
• Sashi Jayatileke

Across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), approximately 60% of healthcare facilities are without electricity access. Without such access, healthcare providers face difficult and all-too-often dangerous challenges.

• 09/28/2021
• Amer Barghouth, Alice Brower, Justin Larson, Gordon Shaw

Electrifying health facilities can be accomplished through one of two approaches: connecting to a utility grid or on-site generation. The combination of these two technologies is much cleaner than using diesel generators, the preferred mode of rural clinics for providing off-grid power, and over time is less expensive. Renewable energy solutions such as solar also reduce future greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

• 09/23/2021
• Jacob Brunell, Julia Fonteles, Will Putzier, Nicolette Salazar