It’s Time for Buildings To Stop Using A Third of US Energy
July 8th, 2023
Via Stateline, an article on the potential for improving building energy efficiency as a key tool in combatting climate change: That building looming on the corner? With a few tweaks, it might help with climate change. States with big commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are beginning to require that the owners of large buildings […]
Read more »The Cooling Challenge
July 4th, 2023
Via the Clean Cooling Collaborative, a summary of the challenges/opportunities ahead: As temperatures rise, cooling demand is expected to triple by 2050. Cooling already produces more than 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions and if we don’t transform how we cool, these emissions could double over the same period. However, if we get cooling right, […]
Read more »AstraZeneca To Invest $400M To Plant 200 Million Trees
July 3rd, 2023
Via Greenbiz.com, a report on AstraZeneca’s ambition plans to expand a global reforestation program to support its 2045 net-zero and nature goals: AstraZeneca has expanded its global reforestation program with an enhanced commitment to plant over 200 million trees worldwide by the end of the decade, backed by $400 million of fresh investment. The British […]
Read more »The Race to Tesla-ify Heat Pumps
June 28th, 2023
Via Heat Map Daily, a look at growing importance of heat pumps: Gleaming solar panels, soaring wind turbines, sleek electric cars. These are the Avengers of the climate technoverse, the most widely recognized symbols of the fight to kick fossil fuels and halt global warming. But the lineup is incomplete. Clean electricity and transportation are […]
Read more »Boston’s Summer Heat Is An Issue of Racial Equity. ‘Greening’ The City is One Solution
June 28th, 2023
Via WBUR, a look at the negative impacts of urban heat and importance of city “greening”: Summer has officially arrived, and so has the heat. The numbers are alarming: New England has already warmed 1.83 degrees Celsius, far more than the rest of the country. And a report by the city of Boston found that Boston could have more […]
Read more »World’s Largest ‘Wood City’ To Be Built In Stockholm
June 28th, 2023
Via CNN, a report on a plan to build the world’s largest ‘wood city’ in Sweden: A rendering of Wood City shows what life in a timber-made community might look like. Courtesy Atrium Ljungberg In recent years, wooden buildings have reached new heights, with soaring timber skyscrapers completed or underway in countries like Norway, Switzerland and Australia. Singapore, meanwhile, […]
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.