The Private Sector Starts To Invest In Climate Adaptation
Overlooked no more- Companies and investors hope to avert losses to climate catastrophes
There is reason to think that investing in climate adaptation can pay off handsomely, if only because not making such investments can cost companies. A study in 2019 by BlackRock, an asset manager, argued that property will be especially badly hit by the impacts of climate change. Beyond the immediate damage from storms and floods, it pointed to costlier or reduced insurance coverage, pricier energy, costs of installing backup generators and other emergency systems, and falling property prices in vulnerable areas.
In hurricane-prone Florida a study of insurance data found that new buildings adhering to a stricter building code suffered far less damage, yielding $3.50 in benefits for every dollar in extra compliance costs. A recent report by the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA), an NGO of worthies that include Bill Gates, identified $1.8trn in investments that could deliver net benefits of $7.1trn by 2030.
Source (Registration required): https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2021/07/24/the-private-sector-starts-to-invest-in-climate-adaptation