Theme: 1. Adaptation

Topic Area: 1b. Climate Risk Assessment for Government, Commercial, Civilian Resilience

Background/Objectives:

This session aims to explore how intersecting traditionally siloed data can help to more holistically evaluate the impact of climate threats across the country, driving improved climate resilience planning for businesses, utilities, insurers, and communities. Taking into account the massive impact that climate events have on sectors like real estate, transportation, and energy infrastructure, it is critical to look at the intersection of climate and environmental, urban, socioeconomic, and loss function data to support effective resilience planning that ensures effective risk mitigation. As such, this session will assess how intersecting robust climate models with parcel-level data can provide granular and focused insights on communities and properties that face the greatest climate risk.

The session will further assess gaps in prominent existing datasets, such as FEMA’s flood-mapping (currently, 40% of land in the contiguous U.S. lacks flood risk data from FEMA). Acknowledging the lack of comprehensive data as a major roadblock to effective nationwide resiliency planning — especially for insurers who are increasingly having to decide whether or not to remain in high-risk areas — attendees will be engaged in a discussion around how applications of advanced geospatial intelligence can fill in these gaps and better prepare communities across the country to face growing climate threats.

To plan adequately against major climate threats now and in the years to come, one-dimensional datasets and basic insights will not suffice; robust, granular, and intersectional geospatial intelligence is necessary and offers the strongest pathway toward effective and equitable resilience planning.

Approach/Activities:

The primary technologies to be studied throughout this session are highly-tailored geospatial tools — primarily parcel-level geospatial intelligence that combines previously siloed climate, urban, socioeconomic, and loss function data in one pre-populated software platform. Diving further into the value of this technology, the session will explore powerful applications of geospatial intelligence to drive more informed decision-making, including its integration into modeling and machine learning technology.

Results/Lessons Learned:

Attendees will walk away better understanding what separates advanced geospatial intelligence from basic data and insights, as well as its broad application to drive more effective and equitable resilience planning globally.

Through the use of advanced geospatial intelligence, organizations can better answer critical questions: How is climate change likely to impact my business? How can we prepare and build resilience?

It also helps governments, city planners, utilities, and insurers answer the resiliency questions critical to their work: What climate risks are greatest in my jurisdiction and service territory? Where are these risks concentrated, and to whom do they pose the biggest threat? Where should we allocate community funding and resources to drive the greatest impact?

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Dhruvi Kothari