News

New Report: Managing the Global Land Squeeze
July 20, 2023

In this report, WRI researchers explore how rising demand for food, wood and shelter is squeezing land that’s needed for storing carbon and protecting biodiversity. This research uses new modeling to give a true global picture of the carbon opportunity costs for land use and proposes a four-pronged approach–produce, protect, reduce, restore–for…

Wood Is Not the Climate-friendly Building Material Some Claim it to Be
July 20, 2023

Because concrete and steel used to construct buildings are a major source of global greenhouse gas emissions, there is growing interest in “mass timber” — a supposedly lower-carbon option — to replace them. Here are five interrelated reasons that turning to more wood for buildings is not a climate- or environmentally friendly solution…

Harvesting Wood Has Overlooked Carbon Costs
July 5, 2023

Research papers and policymakers have largely overlooked the contribution that harvesting wood has on fueling climate change, but a closer look tells a much different story.

Keeping More Ammonium in Soil Could Decrease Pollution, Boost Crops
May 25, 2021

Modern-day agriculture faces two major dilemmas: how to produce enough food to feed the growing human population and how to minimize environmental damage associated with intensive agriculture. Keeping more nitrogen in soil as ammonium may be one key way to address both challenges, according to 

Planting crops — and carbon, too
Jan. 22, 2021
Washington Post
Op-Ed: Is burning wood for power carbon-neutral? Not a chance
Dec. 28, 2020
Los Angeles Times
by Tim Searchinger
The future of food in a changing climate
Sept. 21, 2020
Princeton University News