Shows
Climate ProofersGarrett Kephart On Scaling Climate Intelligence Through Spatial FinanceWhat does it take to build a cutting-edge climate strategy firm? For Garrett Kephart, CEO and Co-Founder of Earth Finance, years of experience paddling through the Canadian wilderness and trekking the mountains of the Western US came in handy. As a seasoned outdoorsman, Kephart learned the importance of adapting to changing environments and making decisions under pressure — lessons he’s transferred over to his work building a top climate adaptation and transition strategy company. In this episode, Kephart gives us the lowdown on Earth Finance, describing its beginnings in the heyday of the Bide...2025-06-1737 min
Climate ProofersYue (Nina) Chen On Embedding Climate Risk Into Bank SupervisionThere are few things more devastating to a country’s economy than a full-blown financial crisis. In the US, the memory of the near-implosion of the banking industry in 2008-2009 is seared into the minds of policymakers. It may be hard to recall just how calamitous that event was with fifteen years distance — but at its nadir the US unemployment rate surged to 10%, and economic output shrank 4.3%. No wonder regulators are preoccupied with avoiding a repeat. One potential vector for a future crisis is unaddressed climate risk. An ever-growing barrage of extreme weather events — coupled with intensifying slow-o...2025-06-1044 min
Climate ProofersPaige Roepers On Geospatial Data For Coastal ResilienceClimate change is giving the coasts one hell of a beating. Rising oceans and worsening seaborne tempests are chipping away at our shorelines, degrading coastal ecosystems, and putting trillions of dollars of property, infrastructure, and water-based commerce at risk. The fast-changing vulnerability of coastal economies is a nightmare for insurers in particular, which are wrestling with how to model flood and erosion risks given the climate-induced tumult. Ocean Ledger is here to help. In this episode of Climate Proofers, Paige Roepers — CEO and Co-Founder of the geospatial analytics start-up — joins to explain how cutt...2025-06-0350 min
Climate ProofersLaurie Schoeman On Why Adaptation Needs A Seat At The Top TableWho better to star in our 50th episode than Laurie Schoeman? Laurie is a highly respected champion of climate resilience, housing policy, and sustainable investment in the US — with a career that’s taken her from construction projects in San Francisco to the heart of the White House. For two years, she served under President Biden: first, as Senior Advisor for Climate Risk and Resilience, and then as a Senior Housing Policy Advisor. In these roles, she leveraged the power of the Oval Office to support nationwide resilience efforts and unlock adaptation finance. Now...2025-05-2749 min
Climate ProofersJo Kerr & Jonny Casey On Climate-Proofing ScotlandScotland is a beautiful, wild, and dynamic country. It’s also one of many facing a barrage of climate risks that, if left unchecked, threaten to harm its people and hobble its economy over time. Verture is working to prevent this. The Scottish charity — formerly known as Sniffer — leverages cross-sector, cross-community collaborations to build climate resilience up and down the country. They’ve got their work cut out for them. Scotland is dealing with higher winter rainfall, an increasing number of damaging wind storms, more heat extremes, worsening drought risks…. the list goes...2025-05-201h 01
Climate ProofersJosh Hacker On The Evolution Of Climate Risk ModelsWhat does it really take to model climate risk in a way that businesses and financial institutions can use? In this episode, Josh Hacker — Chief Science Officer at Jupiter Intelligence — joins to talk about how the climate risk modeling discipline has evolved in the eight-or-so years since the company’s founding, and the lessons learnt along the way on the importance of transparency and accountability. He dives into the challenges reconciling clients’ appetite for actionable data with the inherent uncertainty of climate risk model outputs, and discusses how and why competition in the climate risk analytic...2025-05-1343 min
Climate ProofersSarah Farrell On Financing The "Resilience Continuum"Time is not on our side. Climate risks are here, and are only getting worse. To protect and prepare vulnerable communities, we need finance to rush in at speed and in scale. Impatience Earth, as the name suggests, isn't waiting around to see this done. The UK-based nonprofit provides pro-bono advice to philanthropic funders looking to enhance their climate strategies — and get their money moving now. On today's episode, Sarah Farrell, Climate Philanthropy Advisory Director at Impatience Earth, explains why philanthropic investment in climate resilience represents “a leap of faith” that she and her team...2025-05-0653 min
Climate ProofersWashington Insurance Commissioner Kuderer On Her Climate Risk PrioritiesCommissioner Patty Kuderer has been in office for 104 days. She’s got a lot on her plate. As Washington’s top insurance official, Kuderer is responsible for overseeing the more than 800 insurers in the state and protecting policy holders from unfair practices. She’s also driving her office to address climate risks to the local insurance market and championing legislation that could harden homeowners and whole communities against floods and wildfires. In this episode, she shares how her office is tackling the mounting challenges of insurance affordability and availability in the face of climate-driven hazards. She ex...2025-04-2930 min
Climate ProofersJyotsna Puri On Rethinking Adaptation FinanceFew have insights into the global adaptation finance landscape like Jyotsna “Jo” Puri — economist, climate finance expert, and Director of Policy and Programs at the UN Environment Programme. With a career spanning the Green Climate Fund, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and Center for Strategic and International Studies, Jo offers a rare insider’s look at how multilateral institutions are grappling with climate adaptation — and why so many are falling short. In this episode of Climate Proofers, Jo explains how she led IFAD to adopt an adaptation-first agenda, shares what she learned from years as the inaugural...2025-04-2248 min
Climate ProofersSusan Crawford On How The US Government Is Failing AdaptationThe Trump White House is taking a hammer to the federal agencies, programs, and initiatives that promote climate adaptation and resilience. As part of its chaotic effort to shrink the size of government and eliminate any and all climate work by the US government, Trump's team is gutting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the country’s premier climate agency, abolishing grants that states and cities use to build resilience against extreme weather events, and even directing government lawyers to go after state-level laws that promote climate mitigation and adaptation. These policies all serve to...2025-04-1549 min
Climate ProofersSonam Velani On Why Cities Are The Frontlines Of Climate AdaptationCities are getting hammered by climate shocks. These concrete jungles are highly exposed to extreme weather events and slow-onset climatic changes — from wildfires (Los Angeles) to floods (Nashville, Lagos, Karachi) to heatwaves (Delhi, Houston, Madrid). This exposure is only going to increase. Roughly half the world’s population live in urban areas today, but their share is due to exceed 70% by 2050. Sonam Velani is on a mission to get cities ready for a hotter and wilder world. Sonam is the Co-Founder of Streetlife Ventures, a specialist VC fund that’s reimagining how an...2025-04-0844 min
Climate ProofersTheo Bachrach On Championing Corporate Climate ResilienceTheo Bachrach is a resilience professional par excellence. Over the last five years, he’s worked for not one, not two, but three organizations with ‘Resilience’ in the title, and helped coordinate a UN-backed campaign that has brought hundreds of companies, cities, and other non-state parties together to harden our world to climate shocks — the Race to Resilience. He joins Climate Proofers to share his professional journey in adaptation-and-resilience-land, discuss the legacy of the Race to Resilience campaign, and go deep on his current project: a new Model for Organizational Resilience. Sign up to clima...2025-04-0145 min
Climate ProofersOliver Wing On the Future of Flood Risk ModelingWhat if we could map every river, every coastline, and every floodplain on Earth — and use that knowledge to build a more climate-resilient future? It sounds ambitious, but this is exactly what UK-based Fathom has set out to do. The flood and climate risk intelligence company recently launched its Global Flood Cat model, capable of modeling all major flood perils — from burst riverbanks to coastal storm surges. Moreover, it can quantify the financial risk of these floods to all kinds of assets. This data is invaluable to insurers, banks, and other financial institutions nervous about how more freq...2025-03-2540 min
Climate ProofersCarolyn Kousky On Building Resilience Through InsuranceDr. Carolyn Kousky is a true believer in the power of insurance for building climate resilience. So much so that she recently founded Insurance for Good, a new nonprofit dedicated to harnessing insurance for social and environmental resilience. In this episode, Carolyn — who also serves as Associate Vice President for Economics and Policy at the Environmental Defense Fund — talks about this new initiative and shares her insights into the evolving role of insurance in climate resilience, disaster recovery, and financial protection. She and Louie also get into the weeds of recent climate disasters, like the Los...2025-03-1845 min
Climate ProofersAvinash Persaud On Unlocking Development Banks' Potential For AdaptationAvinash Persaud isn’t afraid to tell the hard truths on adaptation finance. At a conference in Brasilia last month, the Special Advisor on Climate Risks to the President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) told delegates that trillions of dollars of private money for adaptation were unlikely to materialize, and that attention should be turned instead to maximizing the finance provided by multilateral development banks (MDBs). In today’s episode, Avinash lays out his thinking on scaling adaptation finance using extra-long-term MDB loans, complete with flexible conditions — like climate-resilient debt clauses — that make it easier fo...2025-03-1152 min
Climate ProofersSadie Frank On Supply Chain Risks In A Climate-Adjusted WorldSupply chains are the "veins of the economy", says Sadie Frank, Co-Founder of N4EA, a startup working to make these more resilient to escalating climate risks. Like veins in the human body, they are essential — but also fragile. In today's episode, Sadie talks about the growing vulnerabilities in global supply chains, and shares how N4EA uses data, predictive analytics, and geospatial intelligence to help businesses anticipate and manage these risks before they spiral out of control. Louie and Sadie then discuss the need for greater collaboration between companies on supply chain resilience, the impo...2025-03-0445 min
This Week in ImpactSeeing East African agri-food tech in action, plus the EU walks back sustainability disclosureHost Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor Jessica Pothering. Up this week: Jessica digs in on food and agriculture in East Africa. Emerging fund managers in the ownership economy deliver returns to investors by sharing the wealth with workers, families and communities. And, what the EU Commission’s revamped rules mean for climate and sustainability disclosure.Links: "GPs deliver ownership investing strategies for LPs of all sizes," by Jessica Pothering “The European Union is poised to scale back its ambitious climate finance regulations, too,” by Louie Wo...2025-02-2821 min
ImpactAlpha PodcastsSeeing East African agri-food tech in action, plus the EU walks back sustainability disclosureHost Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor Jessica Pothering. Up this week: Jessica digs in on food and agriculture in East Africa. Emerging fund managers in the ownership economy deliver returns to investors by sharing the wealth with workers, families and communities. And, what the EU Commission’s revamped rules mean for climate and sustainability disclosure.Timecodes: 00:00 Impact Investing Insights from East Africa 11:04 Emerging Trends in the Ownership Economy 17:39 EU Climate Regulations: A Shift in Strategy Links: "GPs deliver ownership investing strategies for LPs of all sizes," by Jessica...2025-02-2821 min
Climate ProofersStephen Hammer On The New York Climate ExchangeNew York is a truly world-leading city. Finance, tech, education — the Big Apple has it all, and attracts talent from across the globe because of its well-earned status as the place where You Can Make It. It now aspires to become the global epicenter for climate solutions, too. In this episode Stephen Hammer, CEO of the New York Climate Exchange, talks to Louie about this new cross-sector, multi-stakeholder center— intended to become the preeminent hub for climate mitigation and adaptation R&D in the world, not only when it comes to tech, but as it relates to publ...2025-02-2540 min
Climate ProofersClare Ballantine & Isona Shibata On Philanthropy’s Role In Adaptation FinanceHow can philanthropy bridge the massive funding gap in climate adaptation? In this episode, Clare Ballantine, Head of the Howden Foundation, and Isona Shibata, Head of International Programs at Ashden, unpack the role of philanthropic capital in building resilience for climate-vulnerable communities in the Global South. They discuss the urgency of funding locally-led adaptation solutions, the power of anticipatory action, and how smart financial innovations — like micro parametric insurance — are protecting lives and livelihoods. Plus, a candid look at the challenges of attracting investment to adaptation and why philanthropy must embrace a venture capital mindset to mak...2025-02-1834 min
Climate ProofersDavid Carlin On Why Climate Disclosures Aren’t EnoughEveryone who’s anyone in climate knows David Carlin. David has been at the forefront of climate risk management and disclosure since the first rush of industry- and UN-led initiatives swept across the financial sector in the run-up to COP26. Over many years working with the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), he had a front row seat to how banks and institutional investors wrestled with the implications of climate change on their businesses and the wider economy. Now, he’s leading his own global consultancy focused on sustainability challenges: D. A. Carl...2025-02-1147 min
Climate ProofersChris Goolgasian On Adaptation Stocks & StrategyWhat makes a company an “adaptation play?” It’s a question Chris Goolgasian, Director of Climate Research and portfolio manager at the $1.2trn investment company Wellington Management, has devoted himself to in recent years. Chris oversees an investment strategy focused on stocks that should thrive as the world works to become more climate resilient — particularly those from companies that are addressing key climate risks: heat, drought, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, water scarcity, and sea level rise. In this episode, he describes Wellington’s approach to adaptation investment, talks about the challenges distinguishing signal from noise when...2025-02-0445 min
Climate ProofersJorge Gastelumendi On Climate Games, Chief Heat Officers, And Reshaping ResilienceHow can video games drive climate resilience? Could Minecraft and Fortnite teach kids (and adults) about adapting to extreme temperatures and other punishing climate risks? Jorge Gastelumendi, Senior Director at the Atlantic Council’s Climate Resilience Center, certainly thinks so. He joins Climate Proofers to talk about the newly renamed center, which has an exciting mission to reach one billion people with resilience solutions. Sounds hard, right? Jorge breaks down the three strategic pillars of the center, and its work so far engaging with the video games industry and promoting Chief Heat Officers around the wo...2025-01-2846 min
Climate ProofersFrank Frievalt On America's Wildfire NightmareWhile the Los Angeles fires continue to rage, the debate on what should be done — and indeed what can be done — to prepare and protect communities from these kinds of infernos is heating up. The multiple blazes are also highlighting the frightening potential for fire risk to rip through the financial system, wrecking homeowners, insurers, and government budgets in the process. In today's episode, Frank Frievalt, Director of the Wildland-Urban Interface FIRE Institute at Cal Poly, discusses the changing nature of wildfires and urban conflagrations under climate change, and the challenges mitigating their physical and financia...2025-01-2152 minThis Week in ImpactInsurance risk after the LA fires + de-extinction tech gets a raiseHost Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: How the devastating LA wildfires are putting a spotlight on wildfire prevention tech and what the disaster means for California's fragile insurance market; examples of outcomes-based financing driving systemic change in education; and Colossal Biosciences’ $200 million raise to revive the wooly mammoth among other lost species.
“
,” by David Bank and Roodgally Senatus.
“
,” by Louie Woodall
“
,” by Jenny Berg and Inês Charro of Education Finance Network
,” by Amy Cortese
In the age of fire, tech sol...2025-01-1723 min
ImpactAlpha PodcastsInsurance risk after the LA fires + de-extinction tech gets a raiseHost Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: How the devastating LA wildfires are putting a spotlight on wildfire prevention tech and what the disaster means for California's fragile insurance market; examples of outcomes-based financing driving systemic change in education; and Colossal Biosciences’ $200 million raise to revive the wooly mammoth among other lost species.
“In the age of fire, tech solutions can help but not heal,” by David Bank and Roodgally Senatus.
“LA wildfires push California’s insurance market to the brink,” by Louie Woodall
“How outcomes-based financing can drive systemic change...2025-01-1723 min
Climate ProofersJulia Kumari Drapkin On Crowdsourcing Climate DataThere’s one thing all adaptation professionals agree on — we need more climate data. And better climate data. And climate data people can trust. But needing is one thing. Getting is another. Julia Kumari Drapkin is pioneering a new way of collecting and analyzing climate risk data with her company ISeeChange. The startup gathers crowdsourced images and data from residents directly impacted by floods, storms, heat waves and the like, and transforms the pixels and bits into actionable information with its AI-powered software. In this episode, she explains how this fusion of human- and...2025-01-1452 min
Climate ProofersEmilie Mazzacurati On Tailwind Climate's Adaptation PlaybookClimate adaptation technology isn’t getting a lot of love from markets right now. Extreme weather shocks may be on track to inflict some US$560bn or so of losses on listed companies every year by 2035, but so far very little early investor money is going into adaptation and resilience (A&R) solutions. That’s according to new analysis by Tailwind Climate, an adaptation-focused advisory and investment firm, which last week released a 112-page playbook on A&R tech and financing. In this episode of Climate Proofers, Emilie Mazzacurati — Tailwind’s Co-Founder — joins to discuss...2024-12-1745 min
Climate ProofersThe Future of US Climate Adaptation & Resilience Under Trump 2.0"Climate change" is likely to become taboo under the second Trump administration. The incoming president believes global warming to be a “hoax”, and Project 2025 – the right-wing blueprint for his second term – calls for erasing climate change references from absolutely everywhere. However, climate-related disasters will not go away just because the federal government refuses to accept their root causes. There is, and will continue to be, a need for policies, finance, and innovation to address climate impacts to communities and businesses, and to adapt to higher temperatures and more frequent weather extremes. How will climate adaptation and resilience...2024-12-1057 min
Climate ProofersJonathan Bowers On Building a Firetech StartupWildfires are on the rampage across North America. Canada and the US are battling blazes more often and for longer periods. This fall, wildfires have burnt on East and West Coasts alike. Even New York City, that vaunted concrete jungle, has succumbed. The increase in frequency and ferocity of these disasters is one of climate change’s most harrowing consequences, and is spurring governments and businesses to do more to fight back. Today’s Climate Proofer is part of this effort. Jonathan Bowers is the founder of Path & Focus, a Canada-based firetech company comm...2024-12-0237 min
Climate ProofersAna Mulio Alvarez On COP29How did COP29 advance (or obstruct) the climate adaptation agenda? While the conference produced a controversial new climate finance goal, this had little to offer developing countries working to climate-proof their populations. On the other hand, agreement on a way forward for the Global Goal on Adaptation, a central plank of the Paris Agreement, offers hope that countries will be better able to measure adaptation progress – and demand the finance, expertise, and technologies they need to round out their national adaptation plans. In this episode, Louie is joined by Ana Mulio Alvarez, a researcher focused on...2024-11-2634 min
Climate ProofersJulie Gorte On Investor Engagement With AdaptationInvestment professionals can't bury their heads in the sand when it comes to climate risks. Extreme weather shocks are inflicting billions in losses to physical assets and businesses — losses that flow through to financial instruments like bonds, loans, and equities. By the same token, they shouldn't sleep on adaptation. Investors who bet on climate-proofed companies can lower the overall exposure of their portfolios to worsening storms, floods, and wildfires. They can also capture underpriced opportunities by investing in those businesses providing adaptation goods and services to global markets. Impax Asset Management is an investment company th...2024-11-1942 min
Climate ProofersNakita Devlin On The Promise Of Parametric InsuranceParametric insurance is all the rage in climate resilience circles. This is a financial product that pays out to policyholders upon a triggering event – like after a certain amount of rainfall hits an area, or if temperatures exceed a certain threshold for a number of consecutive days. Nakita Devlin is the CEO and Co-Founder of Ric, a parametric insurance startup that caters to individuals caught in rainfall-induced flooding events. She talks with Louie about the current vogue for this type of insurance, why established carriers and startups alike are excited by its potential, and the tech and po...2024-11-1237 min
Climate ProofersValkyrie Holmes On Climate InsurTechThe insurance industry is on the front lines of climate risk. In order to write profitable policies in high-risk zones, carriers need data and insights that give them an edge – and customers who know how to build climate resiliency. Enter Faura, an InsurTech startup co-founded by today’s guest, Valkyrie Holmes. Her team have pioneered a new way to produce “survivability” assessments – a measure of a property’s resilience to natural disasters – that has caught the attention of both insurers and real estate professionals looking to navigate an increasingly hazardous market. Valkyrie unpacks the concept of “survivabil...2024-11-0545 min
Climate ProofersEmma Howard Boyd On The London Climate Resilience ReviewLondon has sustained a barrage of climate shocks in recent years – from devastating heat waves to flash flooding and a string of “rain bombs”. The metropolis has to defend itself against these shocks. As the engine of the UK economy, anything that happens to the capital reverberates throughout the country. Hence the London Climate Resilience Review, a first-of-its-kind analysis commissioned by Mayor Sadiq Khan and chaired by today’s guest, Emma Howard Boyd CBE. The Review, published earlier this year, assesses the UK capital’s climate resilience and makes over 50 recommendations on preparing the city for worsen...2024-10-2947 min
Climate ProofersAdam Freed On Climate-Proofing CitiesCity leaders are up to their necks in climate risks. They need help to harden their people and places against floods, storms, and heat waves. Why not call Adam Freed? Today’s Climate Proofers guest is a Principal at Bloomberg Associates, an organization which provides adaptation and resilience consulting to Mayors and their staff – pro bono. Adam breaks down the reasons why cities are susceptible to climate shocks – from outdated infrastructure to rapid urban growth – and the changes in governance and governing that could help scale resilience solutions. He also shares some success stories, l...2024-10-2243 min
Climate ProofersMichael Jacobs On Accelerating Climate TechCities are magnets for climate risks. We’ve designed metropolises that intensify hazards like floods and extreme heat, and have to nurture and scale solutions to address their impacts – fast. Hence the importance of accelerators: programs that support the rapid growth of new technologies for addressing climate change. Michael Jacobs oversees the IBM Sustainability Accelerator, which works to scale climate solutions from nonprofits and governmental agencies using IBM technology and AI know-how. To date, the IBM Sustainability Accelerator has supported 15 global projects across three active cohorts focused on sustainable agriculture, clean energy, and water management. The f...2024-10-1530 min
Climate ProofersAlan Leung On Climate Risks To Geopolitics And SecurityClimate change is injecting volatility into geopolitics, with worrying implications for international relations and the (already fraying) rules-based order. Physical climate risks also have the potential to catalyze future geopolitical shocks – which could in turn lead to armed conflicts between nations. Alan Leung works at the global financial institution Macquarie Group as head of the threat intelligence team, and writes the informative newsletter Securing Our Climate, which focuses on the intersection of climate change, security, geopolitics, and finance. He joins Climate Proofers to discuss the climate impacts he believes could upend global security, highlight the new geopolitical fa...2024-10-0840 min
Climate ProofersThomas Mortlock On Cat Model MisunderstandingsCatastrophe (or ‘cat’) models are essential tools for estimating losses from natural disasters. With the rise of climate risk management as a discipline in its own right, efforts are underway to harness these tools to guess the effects of human-induced warming on hurricanes, floods, storms, and other catastrophes. However, in the rush to develop effective climate risk analytics, we may be trying to force cat models to do things they weren’t designed to – and promoting a flawed way of thinking about the link between climate change and financial loss in the bargain. Thomas Mortlock, from rei...2024-10-0148 min
Climate ProofersKathryn Brown On Adapting Wildlife Habitats & The UK Climate Change CommitteeKathryn Brown is a true climate adaptation veteran. For the last three years, she's been tackling climate change impacts with The Wildlife Trusts, a federation of UK charities focused on making a positive difference to wildlife and future generations. Prior to this role, she served nine years with the UK Climate Change Committee (CCC), an independent body that advises the UK government on its climate actions and researches the country's preparedness for climate shocks. Kathryn talks about the role of climate adaptation in wildlife habitat conservation, the difficult trade-offs involved when it comes to preserving e...2024-09-2441 min
Climate ProofersBill Green On Investing In Climate Adaptive InfrastructureBill Green is a veteran infrastructure investor, one who understands that we need to change our approach to building (and financing) the basic facilities and systems that undergird our daily lives in response to rising climate impacts. As Managing Partner at Climate Adaptive Infrastructure, a fund dedicated to climate resilient, low-carbon projects, Bill and his team have pioneered a unique methodology for assessing potential investments based on their ability to withstand the 'triple threat' posed by climate change. In this episode of Climate Proofers, Bill takes us through the fund’s process, talks about some of...2024-09-1736 min
Climate ProofersKathy Baughman McLeod On Building Climate Resilience For AllExtreme heat wrecks lives and livelihoods throughout the Global South. Women are especially vulnerable to high temperatures because of an array of physiological, cultural, and economic factors – but also find it harder to access the resources needed to increase their resilience to this peril. Climate Resilience For All is a non-profit dedicated to the protection of women and vulnerable communities from extreme heat and all its impacts. Their tagline is: “When women are climate resilient, we will all be climate resilient,” reflecting a belief that by supporting women against heat impacts we can strengthen communities as a whole.2024-09-1035 min
America Adapts the Climate Change PodcastClimate Podcasters: Adaptation Tech and Finance/Art and Activism (and bonus Extreme Heat Research!)In episode 213 of America Adapts, we are joined by two fellow climate podcasters and an expert in extreme heat. First is Louie Woodall, who hosts Climate Proof, a podcast focusing on adaptation finance, investment, and technology. Then, returning to the pod, is Peterson Toscano - the host of the Citizens Climate Radio podcast - where he interviews people from all walks of life to discuss the effects of the climate crisis and the importance of taking climate action. Also joining is Dr. Larissa Larsen, a professor of urban planning at the University of Michigan, who shares some important research...2024-09-0748 min
Climate ProofersMichael Berkowitz On Capturing the Resilience DividendMichael Berkowitz is spreading the gospel of climate resilience across academic disciplines, communities, and industries. As Executive Director of the Climate Resilience Academy at the University of Miami, he’s responsible for driving problem-driven research and education on climate adaptation and resilience and training the next generation of climate proofers. In this episode, he talks about the idea of “resilience dividends” — the spillover benefits that come from investing in resilience — and the ways in which they can be captured and monetized by private and public actors. He also explores why Miami has emerged as a hub f...2024-09-0347 min
Climate ProofersJay Koh On The ‘Unavoidable Opportunity’ Of AdaptationThere are few champions of the adaptation economy with a resume like Jay Koh. The storied investor racked up years in the financial industry before serving as Chief Investment Strategist at what is now the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Koh now leads The Lightsmith Group, a global investment platform laser-focused on opportunities in the emerging adaptation economy. The private equity firm boasts a range of investments in climate-proofing technologies covering agriculture, wildfire, water, and more. He sits down with Louie to talk about how the adaptation investment landscape has transformed in recent years...2024-08-2748 min
Climate ProofersJohn Robinson On Investing In Adaptation TechTechnology is crucial in the effort to prepare for, and protect from, climate risks. However, we’re still in the early stages of figuring out how to think about climate adaptation technology (or ‘CAT’) as an investment category – and how to direct early-stage capital into this vital space. John Robinson, a technology investor with Mazarine Ventures, joins this week’s Climate Proofers to talk about his research into CAT, and go over the findings of Mazarine’s surveys of early-stage investors on this crucial theme. Louie and John also discuss water-related climate adaptation tech, one of the hotte...2024-08-2044 min
Climate ProofersMaëlis Carraro On Building A Climate Adaptation Venture FundAfrica is a magnet for climate risks – from floods to droughts to storms like Tropical Cyclone Freddy, which displaced half a million people in Malawi last year. However, the continent’s vulnerability has also made it a hotbed of climate adaptation. Thousands are joining (or starting) businesses to climate-proof the continent – and investors are taking note. In this week’s episode, Louie is joined by Maëlis Carraro, managing partner at The Catalyst Fund, a pre-seed VC fund and accelerator that supports African climate adaptation startups. They discuss how Catalyst started, the importance of adaptation-focused funds, an...2024-08-1340 min
Climate ProofersNancy Watkins On Climate Risk And The US Insurance IndustryUS home insurers suffered their worst underwriting loss this century in 2023, as claims came pouring in for storms, floods, wildfires, and more. Inflation and the crowding of high-risk areas contributed to the red ink, but extreme weather events were also a factor. These are due to become more frequent and severe because of climate change. Nancy Watkins specializes in climate resilience, insurtech and catastrophic property risk at Milliman, the actuarial consultancy. She joins Climate Proofers to discuss the headwinds facing the US insurance market and the resilience measures that individuals, communities, and public authorities could t...2024-07-3049 min
Climate ProofersClosing the Adaptation Capital Gap: Adapt Unbound 2024In May, climate proofers from across the world gathered in New York for Adapt Unbound USA, a pioneering conference on the emerging adaptation economy. Experts from tech, finance, and policy held forth on topics ranging from how to prepare cities for climate change to building industry-wide collaborations. Louie was tapped to moderate the last panel of the day on closing the adaptation capital gap, with adaptation veterans Emilie Mazzacurati (Tailwind Climate), Maëlis Carraro (Catalyst Fund), Anish Patel (Yamaha Motor Ventures), and Sonam Velani (Streetlife Ventures). Thanks to the good folk at Unbound Sum...2024-07-2345 min
Climate ProofersKit England on Adaptation at the Local Government Level (and Beyond)Adaptation planning is taking place at every level of the public realm. While national governments beaver away on country-wide adaptation plans, subnational and local governments are getting to grips with their own distinctive risks, opportunities, and adaptation needs. Kit England is no stranger to local adaptation planning. Currently the senior climate resilience and adaptation specialist at Paul Watkiss Associates, Kit has over ten years’ experience in adaptation planning and implementation, most recently through the Pathways2Resilience program set up under the EU's Climate Change Adaptation Mission. He joins Louie on the podcast to talk about hi...2024-07-1641 min
Climate ProofersPaul Munday on Corporate Adaptation Planning“Proper planning prevents poor performance.” It’s a cheesy axiom, but one that happens to be correct. With extreme weather events on the rise, and slow onset climate risks on the march, it makes sense that organizations of all shapes and sizes are making plans in response. S& Global Rating’s Dr Paul Munday has been at the forefront of research into company-level climate adaptation plans, and recently co-authored an in-depth report on the current state of play. This found that just 21% of companies have adaptation plans, and that less than half of these have implemen...2024-07-1133 min
Climate ProofersUjala Qadir on the Climate Bonds Initiative's Resilience TaxonomyIt’s a mantra all climate proofers are probably tired of repeating: adaptation needs are enormous, we need much more capital to flow into climate-proofing solutions, but investors are leery of jumping into a space they don’t understand. This problem explains the current mania for adaptation and resilience taxonomies. These are systems for classifying activities and investments that support climate-proofing efforts. Nation-states have produced taxonomies that touch on adaptation in the past, but this year has seen a rush of tailor-made taxonomies from nonprofits and private entities alike enter the public domain. One new entr...2024-06-1852 min
Climate ProofersSeb Tranæus on the climate adaptation technology landscapeClimate adaptation technology is the hot investment theme that has in-the-know investors salivating. After all, we know the world is going to get hotter and witness ever-increasing extreme weather events even if we succeed in dramatically cutting fossil fuel emissions. This means products and services that protect against climate impacts will be in high demand. However, being new, the climate adaptation technology space faces challenges. For one, plenty in the venture market are yet to get their arms around the concept of adaptation. For another, working out what business models are viable remains a work in progress.2024-06-1129 min
Climate ProofersCraig Davies on the adaptation-financial regulation nexusFinancial regulators are no strangers to climate change. Over the last decade, a large number of them have taken steps to enforce mandatory climate disclosures for companies and financial institutions. Some have also imposed rules on how so-called "green funds" should be labelled, and what investments they should be allowed to hold. However, adaptation and resilience have arguably been underrepresented in the blizzard of paper coming out of regulators' offices. Craig Davies, CEO at the climate consultancy Cadlas, joins Climate Proofers to talk about the state of financial regulation vis-a-vis adaptation, and what regulatory developments...2024-06-0434 min
Climate ProofersMorgan Richmond on tracking adaptation finance flowsA trillion here, a billion there... climate finance is a study in big numbers, but it's important to look beyond the top-line figures to really understand where the money's all going – and whether it's being put to good use. Morgan Richmond at the Climate Policy Initiative, an independent nonprofit, is a seasoned pro when it comes to tracking climate finance flows. She heads up the Initiative's adaptation finance agenda, and recently put together its State and Trends in Climate Adaptation Finance report. Louie and Morgan discuss the report's findings and the hard work of properly ac...2024-05-2837 min
Climate ProofersDr Nicola Ranger on nature, adaptation, and the financial sectorIn climate adaptation finance land, there are few experts as productive and well-connected as Dr Nicola Ranger, a director at the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute, the Resilient Planet Finance Lab, and Greening Finance for Nature Initiative. We get into the nitty-gritty of the projects she's working on right now and go over the data, education, and technical needs of financial institutions when it comes to embedding climate resilience in their lending and investing activities. Sign up to climateproof.news for a twice-weekly dose of climate adaptation & resilience news and insights. Questions...2024-05-2150 min
Climate ProofersEugene Montoya on building coastal resiliencyClimate risks are coming for our coastal cities. It's a threat that demands a full bore response, marshalling technical, financial, and community resources from across disciplines. Eugene Montoya, a Miami native and climate finance expert, talks about how his career led to coastal resilience advocacy. He describes his work with the Waterfront Alliance, a non-profit engaging stakeholders on the use and protection of coastal regions, how waterfront resilience projects are and can be funded, and unpacks the burgeonining topic of blue finance. Sign up to climateproof.news for a twice-weekly dose of climate adaptation & resilience...2024-05-1438 min
Climate ProofersSabrina Nagel on changing attitudes toward adaptation financeClimate adaptation & resilience investments have a public perception problem. Investors struggle to see the opportunities associated with climate-proofing projects, or simply don't know where to start looking for appropriate places to allocate their capital. Sabrina Nagel, Adaptation & Resilience Finance Lead with the UN High-Level Climate Champions and Global Policy & Finance Advisor at the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, talks about shifting the financial industry's perceptions of adaptation investing and describes what policy and regulatory levers can be pulled to get more private capital into climate-proofing activities. Sign up to climateproof.news for a twice-weekly dose...2024-05-0739 min
The Business of Content with Simon OwensHe sold his newsletter to a climate tech companyVisit https://signup.whosponsorsstuff.com/sales-pro/?source=simonowenspodcast Louie Woodall knows his way around a financial disclosure document. Since graduating college, he’s worked for several media outlets that report on the intricacies of financial risk. In 2020, he decided to combine this expertise with his interest in climate change and launched Climate Risk Review, a Substack newsletter that analyzed climate disclosure documents published by major corporations around the world. The newsletter was a side hustle, but it eventually amassed an influential readership of bankers and other finance professionals, many of whom conv...2022-09-2840 min