Meeting climate targets requires an eightfold rise in lithium demand and a doubling of magnet rare earth demand by 2040, according to the International Energy Association. The primary constraint is the midstream processing stages, where China controls 60% to 70% of lithium conversion and more than 85% of rare earth separation.

Many Global South countries and companies within them are trying to expand their processing capability. Yet, many of these actors lack understanding of the latest research, development, and innovation in critical mineral processing.

Affordable energy is a necessity for maintaining a safe home. Without consistent electricity and power, households are unable to preserve or prepare food, charge medical devices, or heat and cool their living spaces. Although access to electricity is ubiquitous in the United States, many families are burdened with unaffordable bills that force difficult decisions between maintaining a safe and comfortable home environment and accessing other needs. 

This guidebook from ICLEI USA and Duke University’s Nicholas Institute offers a practical framework to help local governments systematically remove barriers to finance and structure their resilience projects in ways that can attract private investment.

Kenya’s e-mobility transition is often discussed through a relatively narrow lens focused on vehicle adoption, charging infrastructure, and the fiscal implications of declining fuel tax revenues. The consultations that informed this knowledge roadmap pointed to a much broader opportunity.

Communities across the country are losing ground to floods, fires, heat, and storms. Insufficient resilience investment is often framed as a simple shortage of money; however, there is existing capital across federal agencies, state programs, pension funds, philanthropy, community lenders, and private infrastructure investors. Better coordination is needed, not just access to funding. On April 20, 2026, Duke University and the Milken Institute brought together more than 40 senior practitioners—from green banks, infrastructure investment, commercial finance, think tanks, academia, housing and community development finance, local and state government, climate adaptation and resilience organizations, and international development—to examine what financial infrastructure is needed so that capital consistently reaches the communities and projects that need it.

This report examines California’s legislative record on extreme heat from 2014 through 2025. During this period, California introduced 128 bills addressing extreme heat mitigation and adaptation, of which 57 passed—a passage rate of approximately 45%. California has also committed funding at a scale no other state has approached, treating heat as a comprehensive public investment rather than a narrow regulatory problem.

Buildings account for a significant portion of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, yet the building sector lacks high spatial and temporal resolution emissions estimates that could help drive emissions reduction actions. This report presents a new methodology for estimating GHG emissions at the asset level. The findings allow municipal-level analysis of individual buildings’ emissions for any community in the world.

The publication summarizes high-level takeaways from a working session about implementing Virginia's new grid utilization law (HB 434/SB 621), which aims to lower energy costs by better using existing infrastructure. Participants in the convening—organized by Deploy Action Labs and Duke's Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability and moderated by Tim Profeta—included private sector leaders, advocates, researchers, regulators, and legislative staff. 

Resilience investment will not scale through better metrics alone; it requires practical handoffs that link risk reduction to performance, capital, insurance, public budgets, and community outcomes. This was the central takeaway from an April 22, 2026, workshop during DC Climate Week, hosted by Duke University.

The power sector faces intersecting challenges: surging electricity demand, rising customer costs, and the imperative to decarbonize the grid. Competitiveness policies that broaden market participation and better align utility incentives with these goals offer a path forward.