Last post from Climate Week NYC! The theme of the day was innovation in adaptation. I spoke at a Milken Institute workshop on climate finance, we hosted our event on heat & health innovation, and I joined conversations with partners at Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), Climate Policy Initiative, Global Adaptation & Resilience Investment Working Group (GARI) and Systemiq Ltd. that all focused, one way or another, on how we can accelerate private sector investments in adaptation.
Here’s what I see.
?? Adaptation investment opportunities are a much wider universe than many realize. The Tailwind taxonomy (below) defines eight broad themes, 35 sectors, and provides hundreds of examples of investable innovative solutions in data analytics, physical solutions, insurance and financial instruments. GARI, Bezos Earth Fund and MSCI Sustainability Institute made a compelling argument that you can even invest in adaptation in public equity (the “unavoidable opportunity”) by picking companies who are smart about new market opportunities like 3M or Xylem, with a good ROI and positive externalities. You just need to look in the right place.
?? We need to stop using 19th century technology to address 21st century risks. Sandbags and generators and trees can do a great deal, but not enough. We need is to apply human ingenuity to this immense challenge that is climate adaptation. We need to leverage advances in materials science, we need to make water out thin air, to utilize chemical engineering and biochemistry to build differently, to grow food differently, to take care of our health differently. No reason we can’t do cheaper, faster, better for climate resilience.
?? Saying that mitigation is investable but adaptation is not is a fallacy, and demonstrate short memory. Adaptation finance is 10-15 years behind mitigation finance. Renewable energy and clean tech received massive amounts of subsidies, blended capital, de-risking mechanisms and guarantees, policy enablers that helped bend the curve of technology costs to reach cost parity or profitability against fossil fuels, to establish the right business models. We can do the same for many adaptation opportunities!
?? The problem is: we don’t have time. We don’t have 10-15 years. We need adaptation now.?We need public and private funders to rally and deploy capital to protect lives and economics assets. That’s exactly why we founded Tailwind.
We’re going to keep advocating, educating, and putting out money where our mouth is. How about you?
Katie MacDonald David Babikian Brooke Zhang Verena Radulovic Jay Koh Lori Collins Linda-Eling Lee Paul Bodnar Ricardo (Rick) Nogueira Dan Carol Vikram Widge Barbara Buchner Morgan Richmond Katherine Stodulka Kathy Baughman McLeod Reece Pacheco Stacy A. Swann Pallavi Sherikar Josh Sawislak Robert Kay Jeff Levine Amy Bailey Molly Wood Nicholas (Nick) A. Shufro
