Neighborhood-Scale Building Decarbonization
February 7th, 2024
Via Smart Cities Dive, a look at two approaches to neighborhood-scale building decarbonization: Communities must shift to a neighborhood-scale approach to building decarbonization if they want to meet federal and state climate goals, speakers said at a Jan. 25 webinar organized by the Building Decarbonization Coalition. This emerging strategy focuses on decarbonizing entire street segments, developments or neighborhoods at once. The […]
Read more »The Promise of Passive House Design
February 5th, 2024
Via Yale Climate Connections, a look at the promise of passive design – the extraordinarily energy-efficient building method slashes climate pollution from homes, hospitals, schools, and high rises: Imagine a home so efficient that it could be heated with a hair dryer. That’s the promise of a passive house, a design standard that’s becoming increasingly […]
Read more »Going Dutch: An Approach to Flood Control Flows into Charleston
February 5th, 2024
Via Charleston City Paper, a look at how Charleston is borrowing flood control techniques from the Dutch: The Dutch solution to flood control is not confined to its iconic 17th century crescent-shaped network of canals lined with skinny houses and flat houseboats that form an inner-city drainage and transportation system in Amsterdam’s historic core. In […]
Read more »Extreme Heat: Which Cities Will Be Ready for Summer 2024?
February 3rd, 2024
Via Smart Cities Dive, an article on measures cities are undertaking to be ready for summer 2024: Asking what Miami-Dade County’s chief heat officer does in the winter is like asking what Santa Claus does in the summer. Immediate extreme heat response might not be needed, but numerous plans and preparations are in the works […]
Read more »UK Heatwave Plan Urgently Needed to Save Lives, say MPs
February 3rd, 2024
Courtesy of The Guardian, an article on the urgent need for nature-based solutions such as parks and ponds as part of Britain’s heatwave adaptation plan: The UK urgently needs a plan to prevent thousands of heatwave deaths a year as the climate continues to warm, a cross-party committee of MPs has warned. More than 4,500 […]
Read more »Climate Resolve Launches ‘Shine On’ Initiative to Combat Climate Change Through Cool Surface Solutions
February 3rd, 2024
Via Informed Infrastructure, a report on a new initiative to help scale up the adoption of cool surfaces as an essential strategy for combating climate change: Climate Resolve, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization, has launched Shine On, a new initiative funded by the Grantham Foundation and ClimateWorks Foundation’s Clean Cooling Collaborative (CCC). This innovative program […]
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.