PHOTO CREDITS PAGE 2 ISTOCKPHOTO PAGE 3 DAO INSTITUTE FOR ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT STAFF PAGE 4 ISTOCKPHOTO PAGE 6 FLICKR/STEFAN_GARA PAGE 8 MORAY McLEISH, WRI PAGE 9 MORAY McLEISH, WRI (top) PAGE 9 BETH GINGOLD, WRI (bottom) PAGE 9 DREAMSTIME PAGE 10 CENTRO DE TRANSPORTE SUSTENTABLE MEXICO PAGE 11 EMBARQ – THE WRI CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT PAGE 12 MONIKA KERDEMAN, WRI PAGE 15 TOYOTA NORTH AMERICA NEWPAGE CORPORATION PAGE 19 HECHLER PHOTOGRAPHERS Annual Report 2009 Report Annual www.wri.org 20002 DC Washington, Suite 800 Suite 10 G Street, NE Street, G 10 Financial Overview Financial Projects at a Glance a at Projects About Our Board Our About Acknowledging Our Donors Our Acknowledging WRI’s Program Updates Program WRI’s with the Chairman and President and Chairman the with In Conversation In Inside… WRI at a Glance: Mission, Goals, Approach MISSION APPROACH Th e World Resources Institute (WRI) is an environmental Everything WRI does is built on four key elements: think tank that goes beyond research to fi nd practical ways Q Focus on Results: we organize all our work to to protect the earth and improve people’s lives. Our mission produce powerful and practical solutions, strategies is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s and tools, policies and partnerships. environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. Q Analytical Excellence: we identify problems, drivers, The WRI logo represents a knot tying together the threads of natural economic incentives, and consequences to arrive at resource use and conservation, economic development, and social equity WRI has a global reach, working with more than 400 partners comprehensive, incentive-based, practical solutions. through research, capacity building, and institutional change. in 50 countries. Each of our projects contributes to one or more of four program goals: Q Partnerships: we work with scientists, governments, businesses, NGOs, and international institutions GOALS worldwide to create incentives and pressure for change. Q Climate Protection Protect the global climate system from further harm due to Q Communication: we foster change by disseminating emissions of greenhouse gases and help humanity and the our solutions and ideas to targeted audiences. VALUES natural world adapt to unavoidable climate change. In our day-to-day work we are guided by our core institutional values. Q Governance Empower people and support institutions to foster environmentally sound and socially equitable decision- Innovation: Independence: Urgency: Integrity: Respect: to lead change for a our eff ectiveness we believe that change honesty, candor, and our relationships are making. sustainable world, we depends on work that in human behavior openness will guide our based on the belief that Q Markets and Enterprise will be creative, forward is uncompromised is urgently needed to work to ensure credibility all people deserve respect. Harness markets and enterprise to expand economic thinking, entrepreneurial, by partisan politics, halt the accelerating and build trust. opportunity and protect the environment. and adaptive. institutional or personal rate of environmental allegiances, or sources of deterioration. Q People and Ecosystems fi nancial support. Reverse rapid degradation of ecosystems and assure their capacity to provide humans with needed goods and services. On the Cover A road in Indonesia shows the stark contrast between forested land and an oil palm plantation. Read how Project POTICO (page 9) is diverting oil palm plantations onto degraded lands in Indonesia to combat illegal logging, protect the environment, and create sustainable livelihoods. Photo credit: Films4Conservation WRI is helping companies along international supply chains ensure that they source and supply forest products of legal origin, thus complying with the requirements of the U.S. Lacey Act. This law was amended in May 2008 to prohibit trade in plant products including timber and other forest products that are harvested or traded in violation of local laws. Photo credit: Environmental Investigation Agency A Conversation with James Harmon and Jonathan Lash 2009 was a tough year around the world. What is your message for 2010 to the WRI community How has WRI weathered the economic crisis? worldwide? Harmon: So much has happened in the last year and much Harmon: WRI will grow signifi cantly in 2010 and will of it was positive for WRI. Even in the most challenging manage this growth carefully in order to meet the goals of economic environment, our programs achieved substantial our fi ve-year strategic plan. Set in motion two years ago, growth. Our long-term consistency in pursuing our mission, this plan focuses on scaling up critical initiatives that can values, and goals has been essential to a successful year. drive big changes in the world; maximizing our infl uence I also believe WRI has been able to attract a continuous in China, India, and Brazil—three countries that will source of capital in large part because of its greatest play a profound role in shaping the future sustainability assets—a stellar reputation, talented and dedicated people, of our planet; and fi nancing innovative ideas. I’m and clear, sometimes world-changing results. confi dent that our program strategy combined with sound fi nancial oversight, eff ective fundraising, and strategic Lash: Of course there is a paradox for us in that we have communications will keep us on a steady course through done well while much of the world has not. Th e recession any turbulence that lies ahead. has imposed hardship across the United States and deepened the suff ering of people in the poorest parts of the world. But Lash: Very simply, we will keep our focus on even as economic growth stalled, concern rose for the issues transformational results. We take the phrase “to move we have focused on for more than two decades. human society” in our mission statement very seriously and we are proud of the way we use analysis, ideas, and We’re fortunate that many donors and institutions we work partnerships to make a diff erence. I hope that readers will with regard issues such as climate change and ecosystem scrutinize this annual report both to see how we have degradation as enormously important. Together we were managed to grow in diffi cult times, and to evaluate the able to fi nd ways for them to continue to make signifi cant results we have achieved. We hope that our friends and investments in our work. Th at says a lot about their supporters will share our pride in WRI’s work throughout leadership and commitment. Th at says a lot about WRI the world. too. It refl ects the quality of our work, the value of our partnership approach, our commitment to managing for results, and the strength of our long-term vision. James Harmon Jonathan Lash CHAIRMAN PRESIDENT WRIWRI 2009 2009 Annual Annual Report Report 1 1 Shaping Tomorrow’s Markets Today IN BRIEF: MARKETS AND ENTERPRISE PROGRAM “WRI operates on the frontiers of green fi nance, which is where the future lies.” Piet Klop, Senior Fellow, Markets and Enterprise program WRI’s Markets and Enterprise team supplies environmental intelligence for tomorrow’s markets. To achieve more sustainable results we help investors understand how climate change and environmental scarcities can aff ect companies fi nancially. We also help small and medium-sized companies capitalize on the business opportunities aff orded by emerging sectors such as clean energy, effi cient water use, and sustainable agriculture. 2 WRI 2009 Annual Report Green Entrepreneurs One company supplies solar lanterns to communities without electricity. Another makes energy effi cient air conditioners for the developing world. A third turns coff ee waste into ethanol. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the engines of local economies. Sustainable SMEs—those that manufacture and market environmentally friendly products and serve low- income communities—add even more value. Th ey create models for the businesses of the future, those that will thrive in a low-carbon, resource-constrained world. Compared to traditional copiers, Ecostar copiers can reduce wastewater effl uent by WRI works with such businesses in six of the world’s major 81 percent, solid waste by 62 percent, and CO2 emissions by 72 percent. emerging economies—Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Indo- nesia, and Mexico. Over ten years, our New Ventures program has facilitated some $181 million of investment in “green sec- Transforming Investment tor” companies, including fi rms working on renewable energy, Greening economies also requires greening investment. green consumer products, and clean technologies. Our experts With complex environmental trends confronting businesses have helped over 250 businesses to build their capacity, learn and investors, WRI’s ENVEST team helps investment banks, key management skills, and fi nd the right investors. multinational corporations, and fi nancial institutions to Take Ecostar, a pioneering new venture in refurbishing copy navigate the risks and opportunities. We do so by providing machines. Founded in Nanjing, China, by a visionary entrepre- environmental intelligence, including analysis of the risks that neur named Gao Guoqiang, Ecostar refurbishes used machines climate change, water scarcity, and forest loss pose to many from the United States and re-sells or leases them, for 20 per- industrial sectors. cent less than a branded photocopier. Executing this simple, Environmental data is often scarce, and even when available creative idea has brought multiple benefi ts: preventing landfi ll does not fi t neatly into traditional fi nancial models. ENVEST disposal of copiers, supplying a valuable aff ordable resource provides the tools to bridge this gap by capturing environ- for companies across China, and generating jobs and profi t. mental risks in terms that businesses and investors can under- New Ventures has helped Mr. Gao connect with investors and stand and employ to make wise decisions.