Building Sustainable Cities
August 15th, 2023
Via The World Bank, a look at the importance of building cities that “work” – green, resilient and inclusive– and recent IFC financing supporting this: IFC provides $236 million to Absa to finance green real estate in South Africa. By 2050, seven in 10 people will live in urban centers around the world; Asia and Africa […]
Read more »Stormwater Reform Won’t Be Enough – We Need ‘Sponge Cities’ To Avoid Future Disasters
August 15th, 2023
Via The Conversation, a look at how – during the 2023 Auckland floods – people recognized that even stormwater reform won’t be enough and there is a need for ‘sponge cities’ to avoid future disasters: We’ve built our cities to be vulnerable to – and exacerbate – major weather events such as the one we […]
Read more »Building Foundations For Safe, Green and Inclusive Cities in Sub-Saharan Africa
August 15th, 2023
Via The World Bank, a look at efforts to ensure that development in the world’s fastest growing regions incorporates the latest “green” thinking: A new report provides a snapshot of the status of building regulatory frameworks in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. The study reviewed the current building regulations in the region and how well they […]
Read more »Cool It On City Playgrounds: Swings and Slides Get Hot Enough to Burn
August 14th, 2023
Courtesy of The Washington Post, a report on the impact of urban heat on playgrounds and some green solutions to help cool things down: In a child’s imagination, a climbing frame can become a pirate ship or a princess’s castle. But during this summer’s heat waves, the Sahara desert and the surface of Venus might […]
Read more »We’re Building Harder, Hotter Cities: It’s Vital To Protect and Grow Urban Green Spaces
August 14th, 2023
Via The Conversation, commentary on the urgent need to protect and expand urban green spaces: Recent extreme weather events have provided a foretaste of how supercharged storms might threaten our future. So the release today of a new report from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) is very good timing. Titled “Are we building harder, hotter […]
Read more »What Cities Can Teach Countries About Tackling Climate Change
August 14th, 2023
Courtesy of Foreign Policy, a look at how urban areas have made more progress than national governments on climate change—and offer a compelling political roadmap: Unprecedented heatwaves, storms, and torrential rains have afflicted the southern United States, much of Europe, and parts of Asia—from the Himalayas to South Korea—in recent months, threatening human health and […]
Read more »'Black Swans' are highly improbable events that come as a surprise, have major disruptive effects, and that are often rationalized after the fact as if they had been predictable to begin with. In our rapidly warming world, such events are occurring ever more frequently and include wildfires, floods, extreme heat, and drought.
'Green Shoots' is a term used to describe signs of economic recovery or positive data during a downturn. It references a period of growth and recovery, when plants start to show signs of health and life, and, therefore, has been employed as a metaphor for a recovering economy.
It is my hope that Black Swans / Green Shoots will help readers understand both climate-activated risk and opportunity so that you may invest in, advise, or lead organizations in the context of increasing pressures of global urbanization, resource scarcity, and perils relating to climate change. I believe that the tools of business and finance can help individuals, businesses, and global society make informed choices about who and what to protect, and I hope that this blog provides some insight into the policy and private sector tools used to assess investments in resilient reinforcement, response, or recovery.