Cracks Starting To Show: Homeowners Battle Insurers Over $2.9 Trillion Climate Risk
June 14th, 2025
Via Bloomberg, a report on how subsidence is a worsening risk and insurers don’t want to pick up the tab. When Bernard Weisse first noticed a tiny crack in the outer wall of his house on the outskirts of Paris, he dismissed it as little more than a nuisance. But in the four years since, […]
Read more »If These Walls Could Cool
June 11th, 2025
As summer begins here in the Northern Hemisphere, staying cool is on everyone’s mind. And with cities around the world getting warmer each year, specialized paints that keep buildings cool have become a hot topic. These paints generally reduce temperatures using radiative cooling, which works by reflecting sunlight to radiate heat into the air. […]
Read more »High-Rise Forests: ‘A Home For Trees and Birds, and Also Humans”
June 10th, 2025
Via BBC, a look at how high-rise forests can transform city life: It’s been 10 years since the creation of the first vertical forest, Milan’s Bosco Verticale. How has it inspired other buildings – and affected their residents’ happiness and health? In 2007, Italian architect Stefano Boeri witnessed the frantic construction of a city in […]
Read more »Power-Hungry Data Centers Are Warming Homes in the Nordics
May 15th, 2025
Via Bloomberg, a look at how – by pairing computer processing facilities with district heating systems – countries like Finland and Sweden are trying to limit their environmental downsides: When Finnish engineer Ari Kurvi takes a hot shower or turns up the thermostat in his apartment, he’s tapping into waste heat generated by a 75-megawatt […]
Read more »Private Equity Eyes Up US$1.3 trillion Climate Adaptation Market by 2030
May 15th, 2025
Via EcoBusiness, a report on a new study that – while the public sector is expected to account for the bulk of adaptation funding – identifies six investable segments for private investors, from climate risk data providers to flood defense infrastructure: As the climate crisis intensifies, adaptation and resilience are emerging as the next frontier for […]
Read more »Are China’s Battery Swap Stations The Future of Electric Cars?
May 7th, 2025
Via BBC, a look at China’s swap stations, where drivers can get new fully charged EV battery in five minutes: At a battery swap station near the Beijing Olympics Sports Centre, the owner of a Nio car watches as a fully charged battery is placed into his vehicle. The station’s staff drive his car onto […]
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.