How To Build A Heat-Resilient City
October 10th, 2023
Courtesy of Grist, a look at a model metropolis for an era of high temperatures, using the coolest technology available: Florencia Fuertes / Grist Cities are hot. When you cover the ground with asphalt and concrete, jam millions of cars together on congested streets, and erect thousands of buildings that leak their own heat, you create […]
Read more »Blue Frontier and its Energy-Efficient AC
October 7th, 2023
Via MIT Technology Review, a report on a start-up company aiming to redefine air conditioning: Global demand for air conditioning is growing. But AC consumes lots of electricity, which comes mainly from fossil fuels, and leaks harmful refrigerants. Blue Frontier’s approach cools buildings more efficiently with alternative refrigerants, and its units store energy to avoid […]
Read more »How Green Roofs Can Help Cities Adapt To Climate Change
October 6th, 2023
Via Yale Climate Connections, a report on how green roofs can lower energy costs, help control stormwater, and cool urban areas: In cities, you may notice some roofs that are covered with plants. Many of these green roofs are planted with a low-lying ground cover like sedum. Kathryn McConnell of Brown University says other, more elaborate […]
Read more »‘Only The Rich Can Bear This Heat’: How Dhaka Is Battling Extreme Weather
October 5th, 2023
Courtesy of The Guardian, a look at how Dhaka is battling extreme heat, where high temperatures hit the poor hardest: Set in post-apocalyptic Dhaka, Nuhash Humayun’s Moshari became the first Bangladeshi film to qualify for the Oscars last year. The spine-tingling thriller follows two sisters and their fight for survival, but for the film’s co-producer, Bushra Afreen, […]
Read more »How Efficient Buildings Can Help India Meet Its Climate Goals
October 3rd, 2023
Via India Spend, a look at the role that improved building efficiency can help India meets its climate goals, a sector which currently consumes 37% of the country’s total annual primary energy, which is expected to rise by more than eight times, in the absence of effective energy-efficient measures: The building sector accounts for a […]
Read more »Unlocking the Power of Sustainable Cooling: Energy-Efficient Solutions in Southeast Asia
October 3rd, 2023
Via Clean Cooling Collaborative, a report on sustainable cooling solutions in Southeast Asia: Over the next two decades, there will be an estimated 300 million air conditioners (ACs) installed across Southeast Asia—a sixfold increase compared to today. This growth in demand for cooling is primarily driven by increasingly hot and humid weather and rising incomes. Due to […]
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.