Newsletter: Financing Resilience - The Next Challenge

News and analysis on climate change adaptation.

From the Desk of Emilie Mazzacurati

As a long-time climate change professional, I am both elated by Friday’s announcement that the U.S. and China have officially joined the Paris Agreement, and a little sad that it was done so quietly. Where are the hurrahs? Where is the champagne? Taking stock of our collective accomplishments helps lay the foundation for future efforts, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who wishes this was a time to recognize more visibly how far we’ve come on the climate policy front in the past year. Such are our political times…

But the most important is not the form. The U.S. and China are ready to roll up their sleeves and make good on their respective commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and that is critically important. Our blog post discusses why a quick entry into force of the Paris Agreement is our collective best shot at reducing emissions, preventing the worst climate impacts, and investing into resilience.

Concrete action to prevent and prepare for climate impacts is very much the focus of this week’s newsletter. Our new Policy Brief provides a detailed analysis of California’s budget on climate adaptation and resilience, delving into the details of how the state is trying to make good on its policy commitments by providing enough funding and guidance to build resilience.

Money is indeed the nerve of war, and we also provide food for thoughts on resilience finance with the videos from the excellent White House Roundtable and recent C2ES webinar on this topic. Also, Kendall Starkman, who recently joined the Four Twenty Seven team, will be speaking on this topic at the Carolinas’ Climate Resilience Conference and at the Great Lakes Adaptation Forum. Her research focuses on lessons learned from successful energy efficiency financing mechanisms like PACE, and how these could be applied to resilient and green infrastructure. When it comes to climate adaptation and resilience, there is much to build on, if one knows where to look.

Emilie Mazzacurati, Founder and CEO

Blog Post: “Tipping the Balance: US and China Ratify Paris Agreement”

Late Friday night, China and the U.S. announced their ratification of the Paris Agreement. This momentous announcement tips the balance towards a quick entry into force of the Agreement, which is critical to begin to curb emissions. An early entry into force makes it more likely, but not certain by any means, that we can contain global warming below 2 Celsius degrees.

Read Four Twenty Seven’s analysis on the Paris Agreement

Report: How to Budget for Resilience

California is a leader on climate resilience and adaptation efforts in the U.S. Yet translating adaptation policy into clear budget priorities can be a challenge. Our latest Policy Brief provides a detailed analysis of California’s FY 2016-2017 budget with regard to adaptation and resilience spending, with an eye to lessons learned for other states and opportunities for improvement and clarification for future budgets.

Read more

Videos: Forums on Resilience Finance

Watch: C2ES Solutions Forum webinar

Watch: White House Forum panel discussion

Resilience finance has received notable attention in the civic space recently. On July 25, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) held a webinar in their Solutions Forum series, on the topic of Financing Climate Resilience, featuring a discussion on the challenges for government financing of resilience efforts, as well as strategies for engaging businesses to build resilience.

Four Twenty Seven also tuned into the White House Forum on Smart Finance for Disaster Resilience, held on August 3, which highlighted the opportunity to look outside government-centric solutions toward monetizing future risk.

California Adaptation Forum:
The Economic Impacts of Climate Change

The impacts of climate change on the economy are a growing concern for local decision-makers and businesses alike. In the session Assessing the Economic Impacts of Climate Change: Perspectives from City and State Government and the Private Sector, organized by Four Twenty Seven at the California Adaptation Forum, participants will learn more about projected impacts on the California economy, how businesses are preparing (or not) for climate impacts, and how the City of San Diego is approaching economic resilience.

Featuring Four Twenty Seven CEO Emilie Mazzacurati, Jamesine Rogers from the Union of Concerned Scientists and Cody Hoven from the City of San Diego, the panel will discuss the challenges and opportunities involved in assessing the economic impacts of climate change and the need to communicate these risks to diverse stakeholders to catalyze adaptation action. Four Twenty Seven Director of Community Adaptation Aleka Seville will moderate the panel and engage participants into an interactive discussion on how to build climate and economic resilience. (Sept. 7, 3-5pm)

The Four Twenty Seven team will also be available at the conference booth and during networking events.

A strong workforce is critical for resilience: as a sponsor of the Forum, Four Twenty Seven issued a statement in support of the right to unionize and committed to selecting hotels with fair labor practices for business travel. Read the full statement on the CAF hotel labor dispute.

From Energy Efficiency to Resilience Finance

Financing resilience requires innovation and thinking outside the box, but should also leverage existing knowledge and programs. At the Carolinas Climate Resilience Conference, held in Charlotte, NC, on September 12-14, Four Twenty Seven Senior Climate Adaptation Analyst Kendall Starkman will present the findings from her research on how successful energy efficiency financing mechanisms can be used for green storm water infrastructure and other distributed, resilient infrastructure.

Kendall’s presentation will identify key factors that influence the success of three energy efficiency financing programs in the United States (on-bill repayment, performance assessed clean energy (PACE) and performance contracting with energy services companies (ESCOs)), and present the decision-making framework she created for municipalities looking to incentivize private investment in GSI on existing commercial property. (Illustrated Presentations session: Sept.14 at 10:15am).

Four Twenty Seven is proud to be sponsor of the 2016 Carolinas Climate Resilience Conference.

Meet the Team: Kendall Starkman

Alejandra Calzada Kendall Starkman is a Senior Analyst in Four Twenty Seven’s Advisory Team, where she focuses on local government climate vulnerability assessments and adaptation planning.

Kendall specializes in translating technical information and data into compelling and actionable research and reports.

Her knowledge of regional and local government issues, planning processes, and her deep expertise in the water and emergency management sectors drive targeted policy recommendations for Four Twenty Seven clients, partners, and tools.

Learn more about Kendall’s expertise

Upcoming Events

Join the Four Twenty Seven team in the field at these upcoming events:

September 7-8: California Adaptation Forum (CAF), Long Beach, CA – Find CEO Emilie Mazzacurati, Director of Advisory Yoon Kim, Director of Community Adaptation Aleka Seville, and Sr Analyst Kendall Starkman at the Four Twenty Seven booth. Emilie and Aleka will present on the economic impacts of climate change (Sept 7, 3-5pm).
September 12-14: Carolinas Climate Resilience Conference, Charlotte, NC – Kendall Starkman will present on innovative mechanisms for resilience finance (Sept 14, 10:15am).
September 13-16: SOCAP16, San Francisco, CA – Meet with Chief Strategy Officer Camille LeBlanc.
September 20: Sustainable Investment Forum, New York City, NY – Meet with CEO Emilie Mazzacurati and CSO Camille LeBlanc.
September 20-22: Climate Knowledge Brokers Workshop, Golden, CO – Director of Analytics Nik Steinberg will lead a workshop on climate health modeling.
October 5-7: Great Lakes Adaptation Forum, Ann Arbor, MI – Yoon Kim will present on climate health and Kendall Starkman on resilience finance.

Our mailing address is:

Four Twenty Seven

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Berkeley, CA 94709

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