Resource consumption has grown exponentially over the past: between 1970 and 2010, the quantity of extracted materials has tripled. Not only the overall amount...
Finding domestic alternatives for rare earths has become a matter of national security, according to a recently released Pentagon report. The United States’...
The shift to a low-carbon economy is not only underway, it is accelerating. What does a rapid energy transition mean for the countries that supply the inputs...
A new report analyses how the transition to a low-carbon economy – and the minerals and metals required to make that shift – could affect fragility, conflict...
Environmental peacebuilding strives to reduce conflict risks associated with natural resources and to enable societies to profit fully from their natural...
EU and island leaders are calling for more ambition at the International Maritime Organization, while major emerging economies resist a tough cap on emissions...
Representatives from around the world are meeting in Bonn this week to discuss progress towards the goals of the Paris climate agreement. A large part of this...
The Earth’s front-line defenders are disappearing at an astonishing rate. On average three environmental activists were killed each week in 2015, according to a...
Plastics have boosted our economy because they are versatile, cheap and durable. Yet, thanks to these same traits, in the course of establishing a US$750...
In 2010-11 Australia’s coal-rich Queensland region was hit hard by flooding events of historic proportions. They were the result of one of the strongest La Niña...
In May 2011, two weeks before I was scheduled to start research in the region, a Mongol herder named Mergen was hit by a mining truck while protecting his...
The global community places great hopes in the UN climate conference in Paris in December. Oliver Geden of the German Institute for International and Security...
Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, has become the latest person to deliver a blunt warning about the risks of climate change to global financial...
China’s economic slowdown is proving especially painful for countries that depend on Chinese investment. The Chinese are set to invest less in foreign countries...
The spiritual grandchild of the Rio Earth Summit agreement of 23 years ago, the universal climate agreement (UCA), is the world's best chance to limit global...
Alaska is perhaps the place where the conflicting interests between core interests and requirements to reduce energy consumption or use more expensive renewable...
Investors are, by necessity, experts at taking calculated risks. They scan the horizon of our ever-evolving world for new and sometimes unexpected economic...
World Water Week this year will focus on taking stock of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as they conclude and the role of water in the MDG’s successors...