Blog

In 2021, Climatelinks featured a wide array of USAID’s climate-related work through its blogs. The Climatelinks blog acts as a resource for the global Climatelinks community and serves as a storehouse for information in the form of lessons learned, success stories, newsletter recaps, and report summaries. 

• 12/28/2021
• Steve Hardeman

Over the course of 2021, the Climatelinks community contributed over 140 blogs on topics from youth climate action to a new wave of private investment for climate solutions. Climatelinks blogs share USAID’s work on climate and development while also offering the global network of climate and development practitioners a platform to share their own work. Blogs highlight the vast range of work achieved by past and ongoing programs and activities and often connect to monthly themes such as climate finance, air pollution, health, youth climate action, and climate and gender. 

• 12/09/2021
• Sophie Schrader

After many years of partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) national laboratories on various energy sector studies and programs, the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID's) mission in India realized an opportunity to coalesce these initiatives into an interlaboratory consortium.

• 12/02/2021
• Isabel McCan

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

Despite the government’s deliberate initiatives to reach more people, Tanzania lags behind in its grid electricity connection targets. Only 24.5% of rural households in Tanzania have access to electricity. To help realize a future where all people enjoy the benefits of modern energy, Pact develops solutions and implements projects to expand access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy and the means to use energy productively.

• 09/16/2021
• Marianna Balampama, Valentina Socias

USAID has partnered with India to develop projects that support the achievement of these clean energy targets and overall decarbonization of the power sector.

• 09/14/2021
• Kate Minden

In July, Climatelinks explored the important health and climate impacts of air pollution. As the world’s largest environmental health risk, air pollution contributes to approximately 6.7 million premature deaths each year. This is a significant development challenge, as low and middle income countries are at the highest risk for the greatest health burdens from poor air quality.

• 08/24/2021
• Climatelinks

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

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

On April 23, 2021, the White House called for a Global Climate Ambition Initiative to “support developing countries in... implementing their nationally determined contributions and... enhance and meet their climate goals in ways that further their national development priorities.”

• 06/28/2021
• Andrew Fang, Michael McNeil

The water-energy-food nexus represents a $5 trillion consumer market, millions of livelihoods, and the source of all food that people around the world eat.

• 06/03/2021
• Katie Bailey

As one of the most densely populated countries in the world, Bangladesh understands how critical a reliable energy supply is to the country's growth. However, Bangladesh is currently dependent on a waning natural gas supply and has reached a point where it must evaluate energy independent paths that are sustainable, cost-effective, and ensure long-term domestic energy supply. 

• 05/11/2021
• Isabel McCan, Carishma Gokhale-Welch

Improving energy efficiency is an integral but often-overlooked part of low-emission development (LED) strategies that can help countries reach their climate targets while meeting growing demands for energy.

• 05/05/2021
• Andrew Fang, Michael McNeil, Katie Koerper

Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius demands a dramatically different power sector – one that helps reduce overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 7.6 percent globally each year from 2020 to 2030.

• 04/23/2021
• Sophia Peters, Michaela Palmer