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- Feature: Three Takeaways from Climate Week NYC. - From the archive: The Second Best Time to Invest in Resilience Is Right After a Disaster Hits. - In the news: The Science of Disaster Prediction.
Two years ago at Climate Week NYC, it took effort to find the panels and people talking about resilience. This year, it seemed like the topic was everywhere. Insurers, banks, investors, and philanthropists have stood up dedicated resilience programs, launched initiatives, commissioned research, and allocated capital.
Members of the Resiliency Company team, who showed up in full force at Climate Week NYC, weren't the only ones who noticed the shift; Convective Capital reflected that resilience was one of the major topics that dominated the conversation throughout the week’s proceedings.
Editors of The Epicenter distilled notes from The Resiliency Company team down to three takeaways.
There is a difference between climate finance and resilience finance: Climate Week NYC spoke to how the rigor of discussion around resilience finance has evolved and become more mature. Michael Berkowitz, the Executive Director of the Climate Resilience Institute at the University of Miami, described how the growing separation of climate finance from resilience finance is helping the market understand the distinction between transition risk (the risk of shifting to a lower-carbon economy) and physical risk. (From Abby Ross, Founder & CEO of The Resiliency Company)
Resilience is the throughline between housing, risk, and affordability: Climate Week this year included a housing track with several sessions on resilience in the built environment. The Natural Resources Defense Council hosted one session on how innovations in insurance can help drive resilient investments in retrofits. Marsh, a global professional services firm focused on managing risk, hosted another on the importance of place-based resilience. (From Alexis Pelosi, strategic advisor to The Resiliency Company)
The resilience industry needs a better value proposition to make the case for resilience to governments. In roundtable discussions at Climate Week, there was talk of unique nature-based solutions for municipalities, funded through a complex system of diverse revenue streams. It was a novel approach, but too complex to reach meaningful scale. To get state and local governments to fund resilience projects, "the resilience industry" needs stronger value propositions and simpler models that tap into public budgets. (From Matt Posner, the Head of Public Finance for The Resiliency Company)
Climate Week NYC is expanding beyond emissions and energy-transition technology and into the physical world of construction and risk, where the opportunity is to build and rebuild with resilience.
The Science of Disaster Prediction | Convective Field Notes | Climate scientist Daniel Swain argues that forecasting increasingly dangerous hazards is only half the resilience equation. His case study of the Los Angeles fires shows that better forecasting is only effective if homes and neighborhoods are built to survive fire once it arrives.
Beaches Are Disappearing in Southern California as El Niño Bears Down | The New York Times | Powerful swells are stripping sand from Southern California beaches, damaging homes and cutting off a key rail line as a potentially severe El Niño approaches. The immediate response is often to armor the coast or replace lost sand, but experts and regulators are increasingly grappling with when protecting development becomes harder than moving it.
Load Growth is Straining Already Worn-Out Electrical Equipment | Latitude Media | The surge in electricity demand from data centers is putting pressure on aging equipment. Years of underinvestment are colliding with equipment shortages, making life-extension and predictive maintenance increasingly important. Data center growth may be exposing the problem, but extreme heat will put many of those same aging systems under even more strain.
Read more about resilient public infrastructure and government solutions on The Epicenter here.
Real Estate & Construction
Some Colorado Houses Won’t Burn — If Planned and Built Right | The Colorado Sun | A wildfire demonstration in Jefferson County put two miniature “homes” to the test, showing how fire-resistant materials, landscaping, and defensible space can determine whether a structure survives. The unprotected home burned to a crisp, while the fire-resilient structure next to it stayed whole.
Insurers Say They’re Starting to Write New California Homeowner Policies, But How Many? | CalMatters | California insurers are beginning to write more homeowners policies after years of retreat, but the scale of the comeback remains unclear. Consumer Watchdog estimates just 12,189 new policy commitments since January 2025, while the insurance department says the estimate is premature.
‘We Wanted to Prove We Didn’t Need Air Conditioning’: The Airport Cooled by Natural Ventilation | The Guardian | A new airport terminal on Réunion Island uses roof geometry, vents, and giant ceiling fans to turn breezes into a cooling system, cutting energy costs by 60% compared with an air-conditioned building. The project offers a case study in designing for heat without relying on mechanical cooling.
‘The Ocean is Catching Up’: Why Coastal Homeowners are Spending Big on Small Moves | Climate Central | As erosion eats away at the Outer Banks, homeowners are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to move or raise homes out of the ocean’s reach. Climate Central estimates that 1.4 million homes on U.S. coastlines will be at risk from severe flooding by 2050.
Read more about resilient real estate on The Epicenter here.
The Statistic of the Week
8/160
Only 8 out of the 160 utility companies operating in fire-prone areas in Texas have filed wildfire response plans this year. The companies are legally required to file plans by the end of the year.
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The Epicenter helps decision-makers understand climate risks and discover viable resilience solutions. The Epicenter is an affiliated publication of The Resiliency Company, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to inspiring and empowering humanity to adapt to the accelerating challenges of the next 100+ years.
