Climate Proofers

The 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 undermine US climate readiness, and run counter to another Trump administration goal — making disaster preparedness and response a state, local, and individual responsibility, instead of something led from Washington, DC. In today's episode, climate adaptation scholar Susan Crawford reflects on Trump's anti-climate policies to date and what they mean for the country. Susan is an emeritus professor at Harvard Law School and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She writes regularly about the intersection of climate change and finance over on the Substack Moving Day. In 2009, she served as special assistant to President Obama for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy. Beyond policy, Susan talks about the financial architecture that underpins US climate resilience: municipal bonds and insurance markets. She warns of mounting risks in the muni bond market because of the current tariff chaos, potential tax policy changes, and investors' failure to figure climate hazards into their pricing. She also flags the slow-motion collapse of affordable insurance in high climate risk areas — and explains how local governments, desperate to protect their tax bases, are often incentivized to downplay or ignore escalating threats. Whether you're a climate finance pro, work in local government, policy development, or climate risk analysis, this episode is essential listening. Sign up to climateproof.news for more news and insights on climate adaptation finance, tech, and policy. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie@climateproof.news. 🗞️ Sign up to Susan's newsletter Moving Day HERE.

Cities 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 and where we invest to build climate resilience into the bones of our cities, systems, and societies. In this episode, she brings a sharp, systems-thinking lens to the climate challenge facing cities, drawing on her career on Wall Street, at the World Bank, and in New York's City Hall to explain what's needed to make urban environments survive and thrive in a climate-adjusted future. She also lays out her thesis for what makes a VC-ready adaptation startup, and offers a glimpse into Streetlife's diverse portfolio of exciting early-stage companies. Whether you're a founder, investor, or simply adaptation-curious — this episode is a must-listen. Sign up to climateproof.news for more news and insights on climate adaptation finance, tech, and policy. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie@climateproof.news. 🗞️ Sign up to Sonam's Climate Tech Cities newsletter HERE

Theo 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 climateproof.news for more news and insights on climate adaptation finance, tech, and policy. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie@climateproof.news. 👉 Read Resilience First's Model for Organizational Resilience HERE

What 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 frequent and severe floods could affect their portfolios. In today's episode, Louie sits down with Dr. Oliver Wing, Chief Scientist at Fathom, to explore how cutting-edge flood modeling is transforming how we understand — and prepare for — climate risk. The conversation digs into where flooding happens and who gets hurt, unpacking the myriad variables that shape how floods impact real assets and financial institutions alike. Ollie also offers his frank perspective on the flood risk modeling community as a whole, explaining why transparency is the not-so-secret sauce to Fathom's success to date. If you're curious about the intersection of climate science, risk modeling, and the pursuit of adaptation at scale, this conversation is for you. Sign up to climateproof.news for more news and insights on climate adaptation finance, tech, and policy. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie@climateproof.news.

Dr. 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 Angeles wildfires, and dive into the challenges incentivizing local governments and individuals alike to invest in climate-proofing measures. They then discuss the pressures on state-convened insurers-of-last-resort and the promise of alternative models of insurance — like parametric approaches — for addressing the growing climate protection gap. Sign up to climateproof.news for more news and insights on climate adaptation finance, tech, and policy. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie@climateproof.news. Are you in London on Wednesday March 19? Want to hang with Climate Adaptation Tech professionals over drinks? Then come to our networking event, co-hosted with Mazarine Climate! Sign up here👇 https://lu.ma/tt34xqh6

Avinash 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 for developing countries to take on debt for climate-proofing purposes. He also details innovative donor-backed financing models that reward countries for successfully completing resilience projects, a new spin on the blended finance transactions that are taking adaptation-world by storm. Whether you're an investor, policymaker, or climate advocate, this episode has something for you. Sign up to climateproof.news for more news and insights on climate adaptation finance, tech, and policy. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie@climateproof.news.

Supply 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 importance of a systems-thinking approach to climatic and extreme weather challenges, and how shifts in trade relationships and political instability are intertwined with climate-related risks. Sign up to climateproof.news for a twice-weekly dose of climate adaptation & resilience news and insights. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie@climateproof.news.

New 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 public policy, education, and environmental justice, too. Just last week, the Exchange unveiled new renderings of the US$700mn, 400,000-square foot campus on Governors Island in New York Harbor that will be its home from 2029. Stephen shares the Exchange's vision for transforming Governors Island and pushing the boundaries of climate innovation. He also touches on how the Exchange could contribute to New York's economic engine and act as another generator of jobs, expertise, and high-tech startups. There's also a discussion on harnessing the "shiny new object" of AI for climate solutions, and as a way to attract talent into the climate space. Sign up to climateproof.news for a twice-weekly dose of climate adaptation & resilience news and insights. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie@climateproof.news.

How 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 make a difference. Sign up to climateproof.news for a twice-weekly dose of climate adaptation & resilience news and insights. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie@climateproof.news.

Everyone 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. Carlin & Company. Together with his team, David is helping central banks, financial institutions, and entire governments get to grips with climate risk management and disclosure. In this episode of Climate Proofers, David sits down with Louie to offer his candid assessment of the state of climate-related financial disclosures, and explain why he thinks mandated reporting alone isn't enough to drive essential action on adaptation and resilience. He then digs into the evolving climate-financial regulatory landscape in light of the Trump administration's harsh attitude towards environmental programs and Europe's wide-ranging effort to streamline its own sustainability rules. Beyond regulation, David shares his thoughts on market-driven shifts in the climate risk landscape, and his experiences working with climate risk startups including Climate X and Climate Aligned, offering his perspective on what makes for a successful company in this rapidly growing space. Check out David's Sustainability Digest HERE. Sign up to climateproof.news for a twice-weekly dose of climate adaptation & resilience news and insights. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie@climateproof.news