Climate Change

Climate Resilience – Sector Watch 20 September 2019

Holly Stower
Posted on by Holly Stower
AttractivenessThe 2019 World Economic Forum Global Risks Report lists extreme weather, climate-change mitigation/adaption failure, and natural disasters as the three most likely and impactful global risks. In 2017, overall losses from world-wide natural catastrophes totaled $350 billion, with $24 billion in losses due to the California wildfires alone in 2018.Although there are significant risks, this new environment also represents an opportunity, with estimates putting the climate resilience economy at around $316 trillion. Recent reports highlight increasing demand for climate-related opportunities,... Read More »

Welcome to the Chaos of the 2020s: Urgent Actions, Unusual Strategies, Unexpected Allies

Richard Youngman
Posted on by Richard Youngman
Our 2020 Cleantech Forum San Francisco theme Welcome to the Chaos of the 2020s: Urgent Actions, Unusual Strategies, Unexpected Allies is inspired by what we expect to prepare for in the 2020s.        We do not foresee business as usual, we foresee an abnormal and chaotic next decade ahead.   Meager Progress What is unique about this decade, what makes it unprecedented in history, is the inconvenient challenge that, if we are to  respond responsibly to global climate scientists’ warnings and... Read More »

Optimization is now a Problem: Reflection 2 from Cleantech Forum Europe

Richard Youngman
Posted on by Richard Youngman
The second takeaway I had from our recent 15th annual Cleantech Forum Europe in Stockholm concerned incumbency – but from a different angle than usual. Typically, we think about incumbency from the point of view of incumbent products, incumbent firms or incumbent technologies. Less do we think about an incumbent mentality. But it is the incumbent business mentality of optimization which is at the heart of this realization: we are geared up for optimization, and optimization in turn looks set to... Read More »

Predicting Climate Change: Resilience, Risk and… Revenue?

Josh Gilbert
Posted on by Josh Gilbert
Extreme weather events have caused significant economic damage over the past 24 months, with total economic losses from natural disasters in 2017 reaching $337 billion (source: Swiss Re). Wildfires in California, drought in Australia and storms across the U.S. and Asia have devastated communities, infrastructure and assets which are ill-equipped to deal with a changing environment. [caption id="attachment_22713" align="aligncenter" width="650"] An elevation map of post-Katrina flooding. Source: Orbital Insight[/caption] In response to these challenges, innovative solutions are addressing climate-related weather... Read More »