Communities across the country are already feeling the financial impacts of climate change. Recognizing the costs of climate-related damages, municipal bond investors are beginning to assess physical climate risk in portfolio management. These changes are shifting the conventional wisdom of municipal credit, where strong economies and balance sheets are now also being weighed against vulnerability to acute and chronic climate risks.

While local governments can take measures to adapt to potential climate-related pressures, little guidance exists for financial officers responsible for long-term financial planning and interacting with municipal markets. Moreover, the limits of adaptation and credit evaluation are unclear as the new paradigm for climate risk evaluation emerges. Building on the novel work of C2ES and the diligence of the Vermont Bond Bank, this webinar will explore how municipalities are feeling the financial impacts of climate change, as well as how these analyses can create positive feedback loops to help communities adapt for the future.

Speakers will outline the physical climate risk analysis landscape, how local governments can integrate climate risks and opportunities into financial decision-making, and how investors are beginning to evaluate climate risk. The speakers will then discuss what steps can be taken to position communities and bond issuers for success in this changing time.

The post The Resilience Factor: How investors assess climate-ready governments appeared first on Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.

This webinar will explore the various technologies and strategies that can be used to modernize the grid and improve climate resilience, those technologies at scale, and policy mechanisms and steps that can accelerate their adoption.

The post Climate-Proofing the Grid: Strategies for Grid Modernization and Climate Resilience appeared first on Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.

This brief, An Emerging Blueprint for Companies: Strategies to Advance Local Climate Resilience, outlines how corporate resources, funding, and expertise can make a difference.

It identifies seven leadership strategies that companies are already using to help communities across the country assess climate risks, build local capacity, and accelerate resilience projects.

Corporate Strategies to Advance Community Climate Resilience

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During this webinar hosted by the Alliance for a Sustainable Future, a joint effort of the US Conference of Mayors and the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, Mayor Brad Cavanagh of Dubuque, Iowa, and his team will share lessons and strategies to successfully fund a comprehensive flood mitigation effort. Chief among these strategies is “stacking” various federal funding sources with state and local resources to implement a multi-faceted plan that integrates green and grey infrastructure solutions for maximum benefit. This strategy is featured in the Alliance for a Sustainable Future publication, “Cities Advancing Climate Action: Federal Funds for Local Impact,” in which a variety of other funding strategies for maximizing impact is explored.

Drawing on Dubuque’s approach as inspiration, this webinar will also feature representatives from key federal agencies and engineering firm AECOM to highlight the new and existing resources that local governments can leverage in accelerating climate-smart investments in their own communities.

The post Tackling Flood Mitigation with Federal Resources: Best Practices for Community Resilience appeared first on Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.

This report seeks to address this gap by identifying areas where economic development and climate resilience can achieve common goals and by exploring on-the-ground projects where innovative actions at this nexus are already being taken. Common goals that advance both climate resilience and economic development include: creating climate resilient development and infrastructure projects, maximizing economic benefits in climate resilience initiatives, developing the climate-ready workforce, recruiting and developing a business community that offers climate resilience solutions, and focusing climate resilience and economic development efforts on low-income and marginalized communities, among others. A number of tools commonly used in both economic development and climate resilience, such as infrastructure investments, local policies, and public-private partnerships, can be used to work toward these outcomes. We explore these goals and strategies through case studies of seven cities around the United States that are advancing this collaborative approach, serving as models for other communities experiencing similar climate impacts and risks. We spotlight two of these projects that are centering equity in broader resilience and economic development efforts. Finally, we provide recommendations to governments and the private sector to better support this type of action.

Project Overview

Read the C2ES Story Map

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