Climate Proofers

There 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, to describe Lightsmith's investment thesis, and explain why investing in climate adaptation is a far surer bet than wagering on interest rates, inflation – and even Taylor Swift's next boyfriend! Sign up to climateproof.news for a twice-weekly dose of climate adaptation & resilience news and insights. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie.woodall@loremedia.info

Technology 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 hottest CAT subcategories, and dive into the market initiatives, public policies, and regulatory efforts that could spur greater engagement by VCs in climate-proofing activities. Learn more about Mazarine Ventures at www.mazarineventures.com Sign up to climateproof.news for a twice-weekly dose of climate adaptation & resilience news and insights. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie.woodall@loremedia.info

Africa 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, and what startups are making waves throughout the African continent. They also get into the landscape for blended finance and what needs to be done to crowd more private capital into climate adaptation companies. Learn more about The Catalyst Fund at www.thecatalystfund.com. Sign up to climateproof.news for a twice-weekly dose of climate adaptation & resilience news and insights. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie.woodall@loremedia.info

US 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 take to ease the emerging affordability and availability crisis. We also examine the role of catastrophe (or 'cat') models in the insurance industry, and their importance in a climate-transformed world. Sign up to climateproof.news for a twice-weekly dose of climate adaptation & resilience news and insights. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie.woodall@loremedia.info

In 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 Summits, this week's podcast features a recording of that panel, so you can hear direct from these big hitters on what's behind the adaptation finance gap and how to close it. An edited transcript of the panel is also available here for those who prefer to read. Sign up to climateproof.news for a twice-weekly dose of climate adaptation & resilience news and insights. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie.woodall@loremedia.info

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 his experiences and share his thoughts on the type of coordination and collaboration needed to create joined-up adaptation plans at the local level and beyond. Sign up to climateproof.news for a twice-weekly dose of climate adaptation & resilience news and insights. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie.woodall@loremedia.info

"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 implementation timelines of 10 years or less. Is this evidence that too few companies are taking climate risks seriously? A sign that adaptation and resilience are still emerging concepts in the private sector? Or a reflection of the difficulties involved with putting together climate risk assessments and articulating effective responses? In this episode, Paul and Louie discuss the findings of the report and unpack additional research by S&P on sovereign and municipal climate risks. Sign up to climateproof.news for a twice-weekly does of climate adaptation & resilience news and insights. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie.woodall@loremedia.info

It'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 entrant, poised to make its official debut later this year, is the Climate Bonds Initiative's Resilience Taxonomy — which has been designed to help companies structure debt instruments that clearly support adaptation and resilience goals. In this episode, Ujala Qadir of the Climate Bonds Initiative joins to discuss the Taxonomy, why it's needed, and how it could reshape the adaptation and resilience investment landscape. Sign up to climateproof.news for a twice-weekly does of climate adaptation & resilience news and insights. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louie.woodall@loremedia.info

Climate 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. In this episode, Seb Tranæus of Rally Cap VC, a venture fund focused on climate adaptation, discusses these challenges, riffs on some of his favorite startups in the space, and reflects on how the startup and policy ecosystems differ on either side of the Atlantic. Sign up to climateproof.news for a twice-weekly dose of climate adaptation & resilience news and insights. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louiewoodall@loremedia.info

Financial 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 could help unlock the capital necessary to power the fledgling adaptation economy. Sign up to climateproof.news for a twice-weekly dose of climate adaptation & resilience news and insights. Questions? Comments? Email Louie at louiewoodall@loremedia.info