Radical New Tool to Measure Climate Risk

As climate change pummels communities across the globe, a revolutionary database offers companies, cities, and nations a means to measure risk and assess the return on retrofit and mitigation investments. 

Across the globe, nations are being brutalized by climate change. As the toll of destructive floods, wildfires, superstorms, drought, and other cataclysmic natural events escalates, lives are torn apart, businesses are shattered, and costs skyrocket. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that in 2021 in the U.S. alone, the cost of extreme weather events topped $104 billion, with 135 million Americans impacted. Moody’s Analytics predicts that the damage inflicted by climate change on the global economy will explode to a crippling $69 trillion by the end of this century.

Partnership to Combat Climate Change

With the ever-growing frequency and intensity of climate events, the development of tools and technologies that allow us to predict risk and analyze impact has become paramount. Green Builder Media is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with Risk Thinking that will deliver unparalleled insights to the building sector.

Risk Thinking is a pioneering technology company that has developed a comprehensive database that assesses the financial risk associated with climate change for buildings and infrastructure across the globe. The database uses artificial intelligence to examine over 33 billion data points (including 58 leading climate models, 385 environmental variables, transition scenarios, storm track data, satellite imagery, and physical asset data), constructing a multidimensional view into climate-related impacts on the financial system. 

Risk Thinking has also developed a science-based climate risk classification standard that codifies climate drivers based on geography, social impact, and economic consequences over time.

Risk Thinking means business. Not only did the company receive a major investment from Bloomberg, its largest client is Bank of New York Mellon, which owns 40% of all the world’s listed custodial assets.  

Bringing Climate Risk Data to the Building Industry

As surging consumer interest, mounting investor pressures, and emerging regulations push businesses to monitor and disclose climate risk, corporations are turning towards advanced technologies to conduct scenario planning, stress-test operational strategies, and evaluate investment resiliency.

To assist companies in their efforts to accurately project climate risk and develop effective long-term strategies accordingly, Green Builder Media and Risk Thinking will bring consistent, science-based, methodologically rigorous information to the building industry, offered through Green Builder Media’s COGNITION Smart Data market intelligence services.

By providing insight into climate risks for the built environment based on geography and asset type, we can help homeowners, building professionals, and businesses alike understand the relative value of investing in retrofit and mitigation projects to reduce the risk of losses before disasters occur. 

This intelligence, in conjunction with our COGNITION market insights, enables us to assist companies identify the potential risks of flooding, wildfire, superstorms, or other natural events on their offices and manufacturing facilities, and to help builders and developers understand the risks associated with potential developments and craft resiliency strategies accordingly.

Interested in learning more about how you can access this pioneering climate intelligence through COGNITION Smart Data?  Write to me at sara.gutterman@greenbuildermedia.com.  

Want to learn more about Risk Thinking’s innovative approach to climate risk assessment?  Check out the recent interview I conducted with the company’s CEO, Ron Demo.