How To Make Climate Risk Good Business
August 28th, 2024
An interesting TEDx talk examining h0w – by leveraging massive data stores that can be parsed and used predictively in the same way investors rely on these insights for stocks and interest rates – climate risk can turn into financial opportunity: The risk profiles of many real estate markets are rapidly increasing globally. Insurers and […]
Read more »Coating Clothes With This Material Could Cool Your Body By Up To 8 Degrees
August 26th, 2024
Via CNN, an article on a new coating which can be added to fabric to help reduce temperatures underneath clothing: Spending time outside during a heat wave can be sweaty, uncomfortable, even health-endangering, but scientists have come up with an innovation they say could provide relief: clothes that physically cool down the body. Researchers at the University […]
Read more »Are You Sure Your House Is Worth That Much?
August 26th, 2024
Via The Atlantic, a look at how climate risk is still not being priced into American homeownership: Across the United States, homeowner’s insurance is getting more expensive. In storm-battered Florida and coastal Louisiana, they’ve gone up a lot; the same is true for scorched Colorado and California. But even Ohio and Wisconsin have seen rate […]
Read more »Urban Forests: ‘Critical but Underfunded’
August 21st, 2024
Via Smart Cities Dive, a look at urban forests and the potential offered by carbon credit programs, revolving funds and partnerships with conservancies to provide some of the money needed to prevent these green spaces from degrading: Cities need to diversify the funding sources used to care for forested natural areas, which are “a critical but […]
Read more »AC: Keeping Us Cool, But Heating Up the Planet
August 21st, 2024
Via China Water Risk, a look at the hidden costs of air conditioning: It’s not just us, lots of things need cooling – medicines, textiles, data centers etc.; Plus extreme weather & warming = more indoor-grown food & refrigeration facilities needed More Cooling = more power = more emissions = hotter climate; By 2050, cooling […]
Read more »Conserving & restoring waterways can mitigate extreme urban heat in Bangladesh
August 21st, 2024
Via Mongabay, a look at how conserving & restoring waterways can mitigate extreme urban heat in Bangladesh: Conserving existing wetlands and restoring urban waterways can be an effective way for urban planners to protect city residents from extreme heat. In Dhaka, as in other large cities, paved urban landscapes absorb heat and intensify the risk […]
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.