As We Build harder, Hotter Cities: It’s Vital To Protect and Grow Urban Green Spaces
June 19th, 2023
Via The Conversation, an article on the importance of urban green spaces: Recent extreme weather events have provided a foretaste of how supercharged storms might threaten our future. So the release today of a new report from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) is very good timing. Titled “Are we building harder, hotter cities? The vital […]
Read more »Hurricane Resilience: Hiding In Plain Sight
June 19th, 2023
Via Fast Company, a look at how leaders can explore and leverage green infrastructure to prepare for storm resilience? Preparation is an essential element of being a successful CEO. Preparation enables us to take advantage of opportunities, and it’s also essential to help our businesses withstand disasters of all kinds—including natural disasters. June 1 marks […]
Read more »Is Green The New Black? Developers Rush To Make Offices Energy Efficient
June 19th, 2023
Via South China Morning Post, an article on how Hong Kong developers are rushing to make offices energy efficient to shrink carbon footprint, fight for tenants amid glut: Hong Kong’s government has set a goal to reduce buildings’ electricity consumption by 20 per cent to 40 per cent by 2050 from their 2015 levels Vacancies […]
Read more »Climate Disasters Make It Harder To Insure Your Home
June 19th, 2023
Courtesy of The Washington Post, an article on how insurance premiums are soaring and carriers are pulling back coverage, citing disaster risks: Homeowners are bracing for hurricane and fire seasons, but with insurance premiums rising and carriers pulling back coverage in riskier states, more and more residents don’t know whether they can afford to insure […]
Read more »Five Ways Finance Is Trying to De-Risk Heat Waves
June 19th, 2023
Courtesy of Bloomberg, an article on how – from heatstroke insurance for humans to policies that reimburse farmers for lower milk output – more financial products are addressing climate change: Climate change-driven heat waves are impacting everything from nuclear reactors in France to glaciers in Pakistan. As millions of people around the world are forced to cope with more […]
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.