Archive for the ‘Insurance’ Category

Climate Change Is Breaking Insurance. Here’s How Tech Could Save It.

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 […]

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Fighting Extreme Heat With Parametric Insurance

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 […]

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One of the World’s First Insurance Schemes for Extreme Heat

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 […]

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Swiss Re: ‘High Time to Invest in More Climate Adaption’

Via BusinessGreen, commentary that insurers are now seeing the need for more adaptation investment: Severe thunderstorms, earthquakes, extensive flooding, and heatwaves have hit the global insurance industry for $50bn in the worst start to a year for the industry since 2011, according to a major new study that further highlights the intensifying impact of the […]

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Climate Crisis Has Become A Home Insurance Crisis

Via The New Lede, a look at how the climate crisis has become a home insurance crisis: It’s an ominous sign of how the climate crisis is hitting ever closer to home: Because of the heightened risk of catastrophic wildfires, the two leading U.S. homeowners insurance companies no longer offer new policies in California. Last […]

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Why Insurance Companies Are Fleeing Florida

Via HeatMap, commentary on why insurance companies are fleeing Florida – it’s not just the hurricanes: The Florida insurance market took another hit this week when Farmers announced it would pull out of the state, leaving around 100,000 customers unable to renew their policies. While the news garnered headlines, it was exceptional not so much […]

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ABOUT
BLACK SWANS GREEN SHOOTS
Black Swans / Green Shoots examines the collision between urbanization and resource scarcity in a world affected by climate change, identifying opportunities to build sustainable cities and resilient infrastructure through the use of revolutionary capital, increased awareness, innovative technologies, and smart design to make a difference in the face of global and local climate perils.

'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.