Climate Center

Idea #29 Addressing Climate Change at the Edge of the Grid by Charles Howland That buzz you’re hearing from your utility’s nearby pole transformer is coming from something more than its high use in the late summer heat.  In the Northeast, the Midwest, and increasingly across the country, climate change…Read More

Idea #27 Business Must Get Political – For Climate Sustainability by Eric W. Orts Most business firms don’t like to “get political” unless they are threatened with an adverse law or regulation.  As Richard Epstein noted when predicting that the Supreme Court’s holding in Citizens United would not spawn unprecedented…Read More

Idea #26 Consider Not Only Global Risks, but Also Project Risks When Designing Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Projects by Matthijs Bouw At a recent conversation between Dutch and U.S. resilience practitioners, Eddy Moors, rector of IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, memorialized that the healthcare sector has developed the…Read More

Idea #24 Design and Planning for Multi-Use Renewable Energy Infrastructures by Nicholas Pevzner A major challenge of the renewable energy transition is renewable energy’s much larger spatial footprint on the landscape compared to fossil fuel energy sources. Renewable energy has less energy density compared to coal, oil, and gas, raising…Read More

Idea #25 Mandating Disclosure of Material Climate Risks and Mitigation Strategies by Witold Henisz According to the most recent National Climate Assessment of the United States government, the material impact on the US economy alone of inaction on climate change is over $500 billion, but this could be reduced to…Read More

Idea #28 Design and the Spatial Politics of Climate Change by Billy Fleming We are living through a period of once-unfathomable hope on climate change. It can be hard to notice at times, as we watch the Amazon burn and we careen from disaster-to-disaster in the United States—including Hurricanes Maria,…Read More

Idea #23 Climate Change as a Political Problem by Michael Jones-Correa The science of climate change points  overwhelmingly in a single direction: the data show that the Earth is gradually, inexorably warming, with unpredictable consequences for humans (see here).  Though we might expect some disagreement about possible responses, that there should…Read More

Idea #21 Incentivizing Local Governments to Manage Disaster Risk More Effectively by Brett Lingle  Given the decades-long trend in rising disaster costs and the increasing number of high-cost events, policymakers are increasingly looking for ways to reduce the financial impact on taxpayers. This is especially critical as climate change alters…Read More

Idea #22 Rewarding Communities that Build for the Future: A Resilience Policy Score by Carolyn Kousky The costs of weather-related disasters have been growing in recent years.  Over the past decade, the United States has spent over $200 billion in off-budget supplemental legislation to fund recovery from disasters such as…Read More

Idea #20 As We Adapt to Climate Change, Legal Doctrine Must Also Adapt by Mark Nevitt As climate change destabilizes the physical environment, longstanding legal doctrines are also ripe for destabilization. Today, federal, state, and local climate adaptation measures must be careful to not run afoul of the Regulatory Takings…Read More