Three Takeaways from SJF’s New York Climate Week Event

As climate risks increase, so does the need for adaptive solutions. 

During New York Climate Week, SJF Ventures helped convene a series of working sessions that explored how businesses and cities are responding to the realities of a changing climate — and where innovation is urgently needed. Entrepreneurs, investors, and operators building the next wave of climate adaptation solutions, from flood-resilient infrastructure to better grid solutions, shared their insights on how to turn the hard problems into opportunities. 

We co-hosted the climate week event alongside American Family Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, Buoyant Ventures, and City Light Capital. The afternoon began with a keynote address from Ryann Foelker, Director, Strategic Design and Innovation at American Family Insurance, before attendees broke out into four group discussions focused on key topics: Funding Adaptation Projects, Grid Resilience, Insurance Industry’s Role in Adaptation and Community-level Resilience. 

Here are three key takeaways from the breakout discussions:

Attracting private capital requires a strong ROI story

Enticing private capital to invest in adaptation for non-traditional uses continues to be challenging. 

Startups targeting GovTech know this first-hand. It’s also true for companies focused on heat: promoting actions like increased tree cover can help, but key stakeholders — individuals and healthcare systems — rarely have the influence needed to drive change. Public-private partnerships like the parametric flood pilot in NYC are a great test case, but customer education and other barriers have hindered its ability to scale. 

Better and more accessible data and analytics are important to bring together all of the necessary stakeholders. Tracking financial ROI will be important for most stakeholders, but climate efforts must also improve their tracking of non-financial metrics and build a strong narrative. 

Ideally, adaptation projects would train and use local workers, which keeps many of the benefits of the projects within the community. New building materials and processes are already working their way into our built environment, but these initiatives need to be pushed from all angles — from insurers and lenders to building codes to design and development.

Regulations stand in the way of progress on insurance

Regulation is one of the biggest hurdles in the insurance landscape. 

Insurance is regulated state-by-state, and state regulation teams have small staffs, which means changes — even urgently needed changes — take longer. Regulators also need more clarity to better understand climate risks and support necessary corrections. 

The central risk is that the insurance model could start breaking down unless we collectively act on adaptation now. As Insurance For Good writes, property insurance developed in a climate remarkable for its stability. But as rising climate risks across the globe contract the range of what is insurable, investments in climate adaptation and loss reduction can help push against this contraction. However, the authors point out that there are limits to insurability. 

No one can solve the systemic problem facing insurance overnight, but insurers are looking to provide more value to customers now to build trust with homeowners and embed their companies in the homeowner’s journey. Insurers are also looking to educate property owners on the importance of adaptation and move the needle on low-lift adaptation activities.

Communities of all kinds must come together to address risks

Community can mean more than just a defined geographic area. Community can also be a profession that’s facing the same challenges. A group of farmers working together in the same large watershed must collaborate in favor of shared interests.

Resilience is about thriving in the context of risk. Most of the incentive to act comes from risks that are already being felt. Our climate adaptation solutions can’t be abstract, because the tangible impacts of climate change are already taking place. Those impacts are often greater on vulnerable communities, many of whom are coming up with their own solutions. The climate tech industry needs to capitalize on this kind of community-level innovation, and incentivize more investment at the community level, as has been the case with home energy solutions. 

The working sessions at New York Climate Week were a valuable meeting of entrepreneurs, investors, and operators building the next wave of climate adaptation solutions. If you were also in attendance, we’d love to hear your takeaways!