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Most people understand the benefits of urban trees, which provide green space to city dwellers while also cooling and cleaning urban air. But where do denser forests, located further away from populated areas, come in? New research from WRI and Pilot Project’s Cities4Forests finds that more remote forests provide many benefits to cities — including curbing climate change, preventing floods, improving the water supply, boosting people’s health and more. Learn more. 

The holiday shopping rush is upon us, and with it, emissions and air pollution from delivery trucks. Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, urban freight and delivery services have steadily risen. Some U.S. cities are piloting a novel approach to reduce the environmental impact of America’s online shopping: zero-emission delivery zones, areas of a city where only zero-emissions vehicles have unrestricted access. A new WRI research paper unpacks this emerging strategy and provides policy makers with a blueprint for how to apply it in their city. Read more.