Catastrophic flooding in Australia is the collision of two things: record-breaking rains (a year’s worth of London’s typical rainfall arriving in 24 hours) hitting “many, many years of insufficient decisions about where and how we’ve placed ourselves on the landscape.” With people and assets in harm’s way, insurance firms are withdrawing, leaving cities “uninsurable.” The…

Globally, the crushing impacts of both drought and flood were felt across the world's economies and regions.

Asset managers are stepping up. Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), Britain’s largest with $1.7TN in assets, is dropping companies with inadequate engagement on climate change and its impacts. LGIM has dropped 13 to date and is looking hard at 130 others for not meeting “minimum standard expectations” for managing their carbon footprints.

40 million people, including some of the world's largest economic engines, depend on unstable water supplies in the US West. Intermittent rainy years (2010, 2017, 2019) punctuate the current drought. With strategic stormwater capture/groundwater replenishment, the west can build reserves and offset the shortages.

US governmental policies remain adversely designed for exposing homes and businesses to the recurring losses caused by flooding and wildfires. Market forces, normally powerful arbiters of risk, are often blunted by the assumption that these losses, if they happen, will be repaid by the government— a phenomenon known as the “FEMA put”. This cycle reinforces…

Get a handle on your firm’s vulnerability to physical climate risks; regulators (and investors) increasingly require it. Mandatory climate-related disclosures are gaining traction globally. Understanding future financial risks using the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TFCFD) reporting standard includes carbon footprinting and climate-risk management.“Regulators like it because it focuses on material risks rather than…

2020 heaped misery upon misery. But from beneath the weight of global pandemic, racial injustice, political animosity, and democratic instability, strong, heartening signals delivered an unequivocal message: Climate. Risks. Matter. Climate risks have mattered to many for forty years. In 2020, Big Finance joined its powerful voice.In January 2020, the World Economic Forum, alongside Marsh…

"At current rates of consumption, the demand for water worldwide will be 40% greater than its supply by 2030, according to the UN. Portfolio managers are realising that physical, reputational and regulatory water risk could hurt their investments, particularly in thirsty industries such as food, mining, textiles and utilities. One worry is that shocks to…

"Poor and vulnerable people in developing countries are hit hardest by climate change, whilst being least prepared to cope with its consequences. Climate risk financing and insurance is an effective and reliable way to reduce the vulnerabilities of individuals to climate shocks, enabling them to better absorb and recover from the financial burden of extreme…

“Companies [in the U.K.] and money managers face new environmental requirements that could bring write-downs but also clarity on risks. From next year, many U.K. companies and funds will have to report how their assets and organizations will affect and be affected by global warming. The new rules...are in line with 2017 recommendations from the…