Today's interview is with Louie Woodall, Founder & Editor of Climate Proof.
What Is Climate Proof?
What Is Climate Proof, And Can You Share More About Your Mission?
Louie Woodall - Climate Proof is a provider of news, data, and insights on the climate adaptation economy. Through a twice-weekly newsletter and a weekly podcast, the publication aims to inform those working in adaptation and resilience of the latest goings-on in finance, tech, and policy.
Importance Of Collaboration
Why Is Fostering A Collaborative Community Like Climate Proof Essential For Advancing Adaptation And Resilience Efforts?
Louie Woodall - The idea of the publication is to promote the social and economic importance of adaptation and resilience, and showcase the people and businesses that are making waves in this space. Doing so can help spark new connections and new ideas – which is what we desperately need to prepare, protect, and recover from climate shocks. By surfacing important policy developments and providing market intelligence, the hope is that folks new to this area get skilled up quickly and are able to identify the leaders, companies, and investors that matter.
Breakthrough Innovations
What Breakthroughs Or Innovations In Climate Adaptation And Resilience Are Inspiring You Right Now?
Louie Woodall - Climate Proof teamed up with DSR & Partners to produce the Adaptation10 series, where each month we highlight 10 innovative companies in adaptation and resilience. There’s loads of cool tech- and data-led startups to explore there.
Personally, I’m excited by companies in ‘heat tech’ and ‘water tech’. We already have the materials and science needed to create more effective shade structures and cooler buildings to tackle heat – it’s now about commercializing them and finding product-market fit. On the ‘water tech’ front, of course there’s lots going on in flood mapping and risk management, but I’m more intrigued by solutions to tackle water shortages – like water reclamation – and to deal with water quality issues, like harmful algal blooms.
Insurance
How Is The Insurance Sector Contributing To Climate Adaptation Efforts?
Louie Woodall - There’s lots that re/insurers are doing to support natural catastrophe risk mapping, modelling, and monitoring – from supporting startups in this space to collaborating with NGOs and the like on early warning systems. The Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance is a good example of this kind of work in action. In the developed world, I do think more needs to be done to enable the flow of information from policyholders to carriers, so that the former know what they need to do to mitigate their climate risks and earn discounts on their insurance premiums.
Leading Sectors
In Your Opinion, Which Sectors Are Setting The Gold Standard In Climate Adaptation Practices Right Now?
Louie Woodall - From my vantage point in the US, power utilities are leading the way. The reason is clear – they’ve been hit with expensive lawsuits over their contributions to climate-related disasters, namely wildfires. They also suffer massive reputational damage every time their services fail in the midst of a hurricane or flood event. I track large utility companies’ earnings calls, and they’re the ones most often talking about “hardening” or “building resilience” against climate risks. They’re also actively investing in hazard mitigation and working with governments on reducing risk exposure and vulnerability. Sure, they’re still running into trouble, but I do think most big utilities are making a concerted effort to climate-proof their assets and operations.
Adaptation Obstacles
What Obstacles Are Slowing Investment In Climate Adaptation, And How Might They Be Overcome?
Louie Woodall - That’s the multi-trillion dollar question, right? Honestly, I think we’re finding that corporations and governments are already spending lots on adaptation, they just don’t call it that. Tailwind Climate’s recent playbook on investing makes that clear. For startups and innovations in the adaptation space, there’s still work to be done educating potential investors and clients on what adaptation means in dollars and cents terms. I also think there’s some credence to an argument I sometimes hear: that adaptation and resilience “are things that governments and nonprofits do”. Changing peoples’ minds on this is key. Funnily enough, a retrenchment in state spending, something we’re likely to see over the next few years, could lay bare for private institutions the importance of investing in adaptation.
US Leadership
How Do You Expect The Shift In US Leadership To Impact Private-Sector Involvement In Climate Adaptation?
Louie Woodall - As referenced above, a shrinking federal budget should make it clear to companies that the government isn’t going to save them from worsening climate shocks. On the flipside, if the Trump administration shuts down access to public climate risk data, then private companies may see getting into the climate intelligence space to be a profitable endeavour. More broadly, the geopolitical shifts Trump causes or exacerbates could spur demand for goods and services that address climate risks as they pertain to national security and defense, international supply chains, and migration flows.
Into The Future
Looking Ahead To 2025, What Critical Challenges Will The Adaptation Sector Need To Address?
Louie Woodall - Over here in the US, I think stopping adaptation and resilience being sucked into the same political black hole as renewables and ESG is going to be important. There may be a difficult dance that researchers, investors, and innovators have to perform here to avoid triggering the anti-climate right. More broadly, I’d say overcoming the perception that climate shocks are “too big to manage” and therefore not worth putting money into. Yes, the ferocity of the Los Angeles fires may have overwhelmed any feasible mitigation efforts – and there are, of course, limits to adaptation. But there are lots of painful climate-related impacts that can be ameliorated by judicious application of technology and infrastructure. We have to remind folks of that.
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