Trend Category

Climate Change, Energy, and the Environment

From the impacts of climate change to innovations in energy production and grid modernization, existing and emerging environmental trends shape both the built and natural environment.

Trends to Act on Now

Growing Renewable Energy

Renewable energy is growing rapidly worldwide; investment in solarsurpassed investmentin oil for the first time in 2023, though global renewable...

Sea level rise worsens

In 2022, the global average sea level reached arecord high, having risen four inches above 1993 levels. Polar ice cap...

Increasing natural disasters

Climate change is not only increasing the frequency of natural disasters, such as coastal storms, severe flooding, and wildfires, it...

The Rise of Youth Climate Action

At the same time, youth in the U.S. and worldwide are also engaging in climate action. In 2023, a Montana...

Climate Migration Spans the Globe

Climate displacement is on the rise. In 2022 alone, nearly33 millionpeople across the globe were displaced due to natural disasters,...

Water scarcity grips the world

As the impacts of climate change continue to become more pronounced, people globally are facing increasing shortages of clean water....

Mass extinction and rewilding

Our planet is experiencing what scientists are calling "the sixth great mass extinction."Wildlife populationshave seen an average decline of 69...

Legal rights for water bodies

In Quebec, the Magpie River, a sacred site and vital natural resource for the Innu First Nation, was recentlygranted legal...

Declines in Air Quality

Wildfires are both asymptom and an amplifierof climate change. This dynamic became a vivid reality in 2023 asCanada's unprecedented wildfiresburned...

Climate Impacts on the Economy

Mitigating the climate crisis requires the adoption of new technologies and industries, which likewise entails developing a workforce to support...

Climate Justice Gains Attention

A variety of provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act reflect a commitment at the federal level to reduce the exposure...

US Government Continues Climate Policies

The U.S. is continuing climate action under the Biden Administration. This is evidenced in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,...

Rising Temperatures and Urban Heat

Extreme heat is one of the deadliest climate risks worldwide, and in urban areas, its effects are especially pronounced. 2023...

The Methane Emissions Gap Could Narrow

The Inflation Reduction Act takes major steps toward addressing methane emissions, which are a sizable contributor to climate change. A...

Decarbonization in the building sector

Improving building performance has increasingly been a focus of federal and local policy. In 2022 the Biden Administration released the...

Growing interest in nature-based solutions

An increasing number of cities are considering urban forests and the integration of nature-based solutions to resolve myriad urban challenges....

Trends to Prepare For

Single-Use Plastic Bans

Single-use plastics refer to products that are usually used once and disposed of right after use, including plastic and polystyrene...

Circular Economy

The circular economy considers production processes and outlines how to reuse, repair, and recycle items, thus increasing sustainable manufacturing and...

Energy Efficiency Through Innovative Construction Practices

The construction industry is shifting towards more sustainable practices, including the use of lumber, which sequesters carbon and emits fewer...

The Ocean's Centrality to Sustainability

Our world'soceans are crucialto global environmental and economic sustainability. When oceans are healthy, the natural benefits that they provide can...

Natural Ecosystems Nearing the Point of No Return

The dynamic relationship of pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change, natural resources consumption, and socioeconomic factors is a grave cause for...

Trends to Learn About and Watch

Space-Based Solar Power

Energy production fromspace-based solar poweris beginning to attract attention fromNASA, the European Space Agency, and the UK government. In the...

Geoengineering

Though technically a form of geoengineering,direct air capture(DAC) is rarely referred to as such, given that it is significantly less...

Bringing Back Extinct Species

The concept ofresurrection biologyis centered on the revival or recreation of extinct species. The impacts of climate change and the...

Extracting Energy from the Air

Long the domain of science fiction, technology that extracts energy from the air itself has taken a few small steps...

Generating and Storing Energy from the Soil

An experimental class of new batteries aims to both generate and store energy from the natural decomposition of soil.Bioo, a...

Floating Solar Arrays

An emerging approach to solar installations, floating solar arrays ("floatovoltaics") are a demonstrated technology with some significant upsides. At large...

Fusion power

Ongoing innovations in fusion power could lead to the power of the sun at our fingertips. Recent breakthroughs in waste-...

Trend Reports

APA's foresight research is made possible in part through our partnership with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

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