The challenge for 2024 is to understand how we can move those in power to make the necessary shifts toward a net zero, climate-resilient future. In WRI’s Stories to Watch 2024, WRI’s President & CEO, Ani Dasgupta, presents four key stories that help explain how we can make these shifts. Each story hinges on whether leaders use their power to make life better for people, nature, and the climate — and the factors that influence them. Our four stories look at the political barriers to effective climate action, how to fix the world’s dysfunctional food system, the missing link in the clean energy revolution, and climate change’s ‘silent killer’. Learn more: https://www.wri.org/events/2024/1/stories-watch-2024

2. Ani Dasgupta
President & CEO
World Resources Institute
@AniDasguptaWRI

3. Source: Copernicus Climate Change Service
2023: Hottest year on record

4. Need to reduce emissions by 43% below 2019 levels by 2030 for 1.5ºC future
Source: IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report
The world is off-track

5. Source: State of Climate Action, 2023.
Exponential progress is possible

6. Source: Compiled by WRI authors
A year of elections

7. Source: Compiled by WRI authors
A year of elections

8. President Lula’s day 1
priorities are paying off
for the Amazon
Elections
matter for
climate
Photo: UNclimatechange/Flickr

9. COP28
outcomes
Photo: UNclimatechange/Flickr
• Just transition away
from fossil fuels
• Loss & Damage Fund
Operationalized
• Global Goal on
Adaptation
• Food Declaration
• Local Climate Action
Summit

10. Global
goals must
convert to
country-
level action
Photo: Adennysyahputra/iStock

11. Spotlight
on India
• 500 gigawatts of
renewable energy
capacity by 2030
• 13 million jobs tied to
coal
• 900 million people
eligible to vote
Source: IISD, National Foundation for India (NFI),
Election Commission of India
Photo: ClaudineVM/iStock

12. Politics
must adapt
Photo: Jim West/Alamy Stock Photo

13. Climate:
Adapting Politics to 1.5ºC

14. Voting for a
fair, livable
future
Photo: Sjo/iStock

15. Finding new
sources of
prosperity in
a low-carbon
world
Source: New Climate Economy
Photo: kruwt/iStock
$26 trillion in net global
economic benefits by 2030

16. Developing
a new
climate
politics
Source: New Climate Economy
Photo: emre563/iStock
65 million additional low-
carbon jobs by 2030

17. How do we
bring every
person and
country
onboard?
Photo: Jenson/iStock
WHAT TO WATCH

18. Spotlight
on the U.S.
Source: The White House
Photo: Jim West/Alamy Stock Photo
WHAT TO WATCH
• Nearly $370 billion in
investments
• 210,000+ new clean
energy jobs in the first
15 months

19. Spotlight on
Indonesia
Source: UNDP
Photo: Umar Sahidin/iStock
WHAT TO WATCH
JETP to mobilize
US$20 billion

20. How will
elected
leaders come
together to
solve a global
crisis?
Photo: ollo/iStock
WHAT TO WATCH

21. Will more
resources be
allocated to
emerging
economies?
Source: NRDC (pledge data as of 2 December 2023)
and WRI.
WHAT TO WATCH

22. Will more
resources be
allocated to
emerging
economies?
Source: NRDC (pledge data as of 2 December 2023)
and WRI.
WHAT TO WATCH

23. Will more
finance be
put on the
table at
COP29?
Photo: dszc/iStock
WHAT TO WATCH
New Collective
Quantified Goal

24. Will new
investments
keep climate
goals in
reach?
Source: CPI 2023
WHAT TO WATCH
At least $5.9 trillion climate
related finance needed
annually by 2030

25. Will politics
help countries
get the
transition
right?
Photo: Long Visual Press/Alamy Stock Photo
WHAT TO WATCH

26. Food:
Reforming What Feeds Us

27. Food
connects
people,
nature and
climate
Photo: Angela_Ostafichuk/iStock

28. Some plates
are too full,
some plates
are too
empty
Source: FAO
Photo: Simon Shepheard/iStock
735 million people face
hunger while 1/3 of food
for human consumption
is lost or wasted

29. Patterns of
consumption
are unequal
Source: Crippa et al. 2021, WRI World Resources
Report 2019, Xu et al. 2021
Photo: Austin Santaniello/Unsplash
• Food = 1/3 of global
GHG emissions
• 2/3 of agricultural
emissions are from
livestock production
alone

30. Food system
is hungry for
land
Source: Our World in Data
Photo: RDW Environmental/Alamy Stock Photo
Drives 3/4 of tropical
deforestation

31. Feeding the
economy
Source: World Bank
Photo: subhrajoti mazumdar/iStock
In India, 44% of the
population works in
agriculture

32. Food finds a
foothold in
Dubai
Source: WRI 2023
Photo: UNclimatechange/Flickr
159 nations
representing:
• 68% (530 million) of
world’s farmers
• 77% of global food
production
• 83% of global
emissions from food
systems and
agricultural GDP

33. Will countries
follow up on
their food
commitments?
Photo: KuntalSaha/iStock
WHAT TO WATCH

34. Will countries
and companies
take action to
reduce
methane
emissions?
Photo: James_Gabbert/iStock
WHAT TO WATCH
Global Methane Pledge to
reduce methane emissions
by 30% by 2030

35. Will enough
finance flow to
forest nations?
Photo: WRI Brasil/Flickr
WHAT TO WATCH
Progress toward Glasgow
Leaders’ Declaration on
Forests to halt deforestation
by 2030

36. Will countries
change the
way they
consume?
Photo: Eivaisla/iStock
WHAT TO WATCH

37. Will restoration
commitments
bear fruit?
Photo: WRI/Flickr
WHAT TO WATCH

38. Will food stay
on the menu
of climate
solutions?
Photo: WRI Brasil/Flickr
WHAT TO WATCH

39. The Grid:
Leadership for Critical Infrastructure

40. Source: Ember Electricity Data Explorer
The clean energy revolution is accelerating

41. 3x renewable energy
capacity needed by 2030
Grids are the
keystone of
the energy
transition
Photo: Spitzt-Foto/Flickr

42. Source: World Energy Investment 2023.
Notes: *Estimated values for 2023. NZE = IEA Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario
Huge gaps in grid investments
80 million kilometers of new or upgraded power lines will be needed by 2040

43. Source: Africa Electricity Grids Explorer (World Bank), Africa Energy Outlook 2022 (IEA)
Connecting people
to the grid
Fewer than 60% of people in Africa
connected to national grids

44. Source: IEA 2023
40% of all electricity in Nigeria was
from generators

45. Years before expensive
investments are realized
Smoothing
out lumpy
investments
Photo: ollo/iStock

46. How will
countries and
their leaders
frame and
prioritize
investing in
grids?
Photo: reisegraf/iStock
WHAT TO WATCH

47. Spotlight on
Uruguay
Source: Ember Electricity Data Explorer, CEIC Data
WHAT TO WATCH
Electricity prices fell by 1/3
between 2010 and 2021

48. Will we
connect grids
across
borders?
Source: Guo et al. 2022
Photo: zhaojiankang/iStock
WHAT TO WATCH
Could reduce CO2
emissions by 10% through
greater efficiency

49. Will access to
land hamper
grid expansion?
Source: Autumn Statement 2023 and
Finance Bill 2023-24
Photo: Windmill Images/Alamy Stock Photo
WHAT TO WATCH
UK proposals would take
thousands off energy bills for
people living near new
power lines

50. Will we
modernize the
machine?
Photo: Agencja Fotograficzna Caro/Alamy Stock Photo
WHAT TO WATCH

51. Will grids help
unlock the full
potential of
clean energy?
Photo: Peter Schatz/Alamy Stock Photo
WHAT TO WATCH

52. Heat:
Tackling the Silent Killer

53. 1/2 a million heat-related
deaths a year
Hurricanes get
the headlines,
but extreme
heat is a
hidden killer
Source: Zhao et al. 2021
Lancet Planetary Health
Photo: johnemac72/iStock

54. Source: Global scale projections from the IPCC Interactive Atlas, Wouters et al. 2017
The clean energy revolution is accelerating
• Life-threatening
heat and humidity
are expected to
impact up to 3/4
the global
population by
2100.
• Cities will face
double the level of
heat stress
compared to rural
surroundings.

55. How will
leaders protect
the most
vulnerable
from heat?
Photo: AndresGarciaM/iStock
WHAT TO WATCH

56. Will action at
the community
and city level
lead the way?
Photo: WRI Ross Center for Cities
WHAT TO WATCH
• Progress from Local
Climate Action Summit
• Local, sub-national and
national governments
need to coordinate action

57. Can passive
cooling help
turn down the
heat in cities?
Photo: Luis Echeverri Urrea/iStock
WHAT TO WATCH

58. Will local
adaptation get
a global
boost?
Photo: Matus Beno/Alamy Stock Photo
WHAT TO WATCH
Progress on the Global Goal
on Adaptation has been
slow

59. Will leaders
protect their
communities
from the silent
killer?
Photo: fcafotodigital/iStock
WHAT TO WATCH