‘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 »China: Making Cities ‘Spongy’ Could Help Fight Flooding
October 5th, 2023
Courtesy of NPR, a report on China’s ‘sponge city’ effort: In the shade of a willow tree, Li Tao and his buddy dabble lines in a slow-moving river channel and occasionally pull out a tiny fish. “It’s good to have a place like this for people to relax,” says Li, his shirt off in the […]
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 »Heat-Proofing India
October 3rd, 2023
Via Science.org, a report on how cities in India are testing measures that could help urban populations worldwide cope with rising temperatures: In Lal Matti, an informal settlement of tin-roofed homes in this coastal city, summer can be unbearable. Before the monsoon rains arrive, temperatures can top 37°C, with humidity at a sweltering 95%. The […]
Read more »Worried About Living In A Flood Zone? Try A House That Floats.
September 30th, 2023
Courtesy of The New York Times, a look at how coastal cities threatened with rising tides and bigger storms could use not just the waterfront, but also the water, as places to build housing: As sea levels rise and storms worsen, threatening the planet’s fragile coastlines, some architects and developers are looking to the water […]
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.