Climate resilience is not getting the policy or tech attention it demands

The Biden Administration came into office with ambitious plans to lower emissions and quickly populated its ranks with experts in designing emissions-related policy solutions. However, it has been relatively slower to focus on climate resilience, even as we approach an increasingly severe wildfire and hurricane season.

California is experiencing a major drought (again) and Arizona declared the start of fire season earlier than ever with two fires currently burning in the eastern part of the state. Last summer was a record-breaking hurricane season and experts predict another severe season with as many as 20 named storms.

States and cities are responding unevenly to the climate threat. California is investing billions to manage wildfires, while Oregon has major wildfire legislation in the works. Nevada requires utilities to file Natural Disaster Protection Plans, but other states vulnerable to wildfires have no such requirements. States and cities also need to reform land use policy so we're not building housing in the wildfire urban interface or in flood zones, and have to ensure that we’re investing in ways that support our most vulnerable.

Post-9/11, there was a lot of effort to better coordinate technologically across jurisdictions to fight terrorism. To battle the climate, we also need new technologies that help predict, detect, and manage extreme weather-related threats across jurisdictions. And yet, climate tech investors have largely focused on mitigation.

Below are a few changes that we need to see: 

1. The Biden Administration needs to get bolder and appoint a resiliency czar.

• President Biden called for $50 billion for infrastructure resilience in his American Jobs Plan infrastructure proposal, issued an Executive Order to plan for climate migration, took action to reinstate standards on construction in flood zones and to double a FEMA budget intended for resiliency. This is quick progress.
• But critics say that the White House still doesn’t have a clear strategy in place. A former Obama climate official lamented to me that there has been so much focus on staffing up experts in climate mitigation that, “Some at the White House don’t even know how to spell resilience.”
• Creating a White House Resiliency Czar with a mandate to coordinate across agencies (FEMA, Forest Service, NOAA) could accelerate support to localities who need it most.

2. States and cities need to accelerate resiliency planning to protect the most vulnerable.

• Cities and states are playing disaster catch-up. California has required utilities to file Wildfire Management Plans since 2019. The only other state we’ve found that requires utilities to file plans to manage disasters, including wildfires, is Nevada. Expect more states to follow suit, with Oregon, Washington and Illinois launching proceedings on wildfire or extreme weather preparedness.
• Speaking of catch-up, Texas sought to address its lack of preparedness through this week’s signing of Senate Bills 2 and 3. The bills don’t go far enough and only 17% of Texas voters are confident that the new laws would prevent future outages.
• Climate change has also introduced major equity challenges in cities. Since 2019, at least 30 U.S. cities have hired specialists or taken other action to address extreme weather impacts. However, recently CDP found that although 93% of cities face significant climate risks, only half have developed adaptation plans.

3. Climate tech investors should up their resilience game.

• Fred Wilson from Union Square Ventures (USV) has said that “adaptation to the climate crisis” will be “a huge investable trend for many years to come.” However, resilience is absent from PWC’s State of Climate Tech Report, and a scan of climate VC portfolios shows little focus on resilience.
• Abe Yokell from Congruent Ventures told me that while some climate investors “intentionally stay away from adaptation” and focus on mitigation, he thinks it’s sometimes a false choice, “Many of our companies are actually supporting both sides, particularly around grid transformation.” He also noted his own increased interest in climate data for the insurance sector.
• Indeed, there are a growing number of resilience oriented startups from satellites/sensing companies (Planet, Descartes Labs, Overstory, LiveEO) to climate risk platforms (risQ, Cervest, Jupiter Intel) to predictive analytics and situational awareness (Cape Analytics, Technosylva, Pano). And hopefully, more to come.