High Heat Insurance
March 25th, 2024
Via Fast Company, an article on one start-up company’s efforts to insure against extreme weather: Legislators in Florida recently made headlines by proposing a ban on heat-related protections for workers—including breaks to hydrate and get out of the sun. While the merits of that bill are questionable, especially as it potentially puts millions of outdoor workers in […]
Read more »Extreme Heat Inflames Stark Gender Inequalities
February 23rd, 2024
Via the Arsht-Rock Resilience Center, a detailed look atthe impact of climate-driven extreme heat on women’s unpaid domestic labor, paid employment, and health in India, Nigeria, and the United States: Extreme heat affects us all, but it does not affect us equally. It’s becoming painfully clear that some are more exposed to its devastating impacts […]
Read more »California’s Uninsurable Future?
February 9th, 2024
Courtesy of Impact Alpha, an interview with California’s climate-risk pioneer Dave Jones on the state’s march ‘toward an uninsurable future’: Dave Jones was California’s state insurance commissioner eight years ago when the then-novel idea of fossil fuel “stranded assets” caught his attention. The research from a group called Carbon Tracker made Jones concerned that the insurers […]
Read more »Climate Change Is Breaking Insurance. Here’s How Tech Could Save It.
December 10th, 2023
Via Wall Street Journal, a report on a new breed of insurer is finding opportunity as larger companies exit some markets: If floodwaters outside a warehouse in Freeport, Texas, owned by private investment firm Postlane Partners rise to 8 inches, an internet-connected sensor will trigger an automatic $3 million payment from an insurance company, a […]
Read more »Fighting Extreme Heat With Parametric Insurance
December 5th, 2023
Via the Arsht-Rockefeller Center, a look at how the Extreme Heat Income Micro-Insurance, Arsht-Rock’s new parametric insurance product, will help 21,000 women in India cover wages they would otherwise lose due to climate-driven extreme heat: Manju was just 10 when she and her siblings began working as waste recyclers to sustain their family’s income after […]
Read more »One of the World’s First Insurance Schemes for Extreme Heat
August 25th, 2023
Via The Print, a report on one of the world’s first insurance schemes for extreme heat in which poor workers in Gujarat can receive payouts when temperatures add up to between 134C and 138C over three days, assessed using satellite data. The policy can pay out multiple times, to a maximum of $85. A bright […]
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.