Join the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center, Woodwell Climate Research Center, and the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General for a three-part virtual event series that will provide essential information and tools to help regulators and advocates understand the latest available public and private data about physical, financial, and transition climate risks, how regulators might address key data gaps, and how to harness climate risk data for government decision-making.
Part I — Beyond the IPCC
Understanding and Harnessing the Latest Climate Physical Risk Data and Tools
FEBRUARY 1, 2022 • 1-2 PM ET
In order to chart an equitable transition to a resilient, zero-carbon future, we must first understand who is producing climate risk data and how to get it, what the data is telling us about our communities, and how to incorporate that knowledge into effective policy and advocacy to advance climate change mitigation, adaptation, and justice.
Leading expert panelists will explore topics critical to understanding and harnessing climate physical risk data, including:
- cutting-edge data on climate physical risks and the sensitivity of those risks to policy changes;
- who is generating physical risk information that might be useful to governments and advocates, and how to access it;
- new tools that allow for visualization and analysis of physical risks at the state, local, or even neighborhood level; and
- how a deeper understanding of physical risk data can better equip us to prepare for and mitigate climate risks.
INTRODUCTION
Bethany Davis Noll, Executive Director, State Energy and Environmental Impact Center
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Maura Healey, Attorney General of Massachusetts
PANEL DISCUSSION
Matthew Eby, Founder & Executive Director, First Street Foundation
Juliette Finzi Hart, Program Manager, Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resilience Program, California Office of Planning and Research
Mekala Krishnan, Partner, McKinsey Global Institute
Christopher R. Schwalm, Risk Program Director, Woodwell Climate Research Center
Eric Roston (moderator), Sustainability Editor, Bloomberg
Part II — Risky Business
An Essential Introduction to Climate Financial Risks and the Role of Regulators
FEBRUARY 15, 2022 • 1-2 PM ET
Climate change affects all areas of our economy. Regulators and advocates need to understand the financial risks of climate change—economic impacts that may arise from the physical impacts of climate change and climate change mitigation efforts—and how those risks will affect our communities and the economy. As the world’s central banks have increasingly identified, these risks present systemic threats to the world’s financial markets. Regulators have a role to play in ensuring that the market has an adequate understanding of these risks. The private sector also has an essential role to play in producing and disclosing data on climate financial risks and companies’ approaches to addressing those risks.
Experts in this panel will explore topics critical to understanding and harnessing climate financial risk data, including:
- a primer on climate financial risk and its relationship to physical risk;
- the role of investors and other corporate actors in producing climate risk data and addressing risks;
- the relationship between climate financial risks and environmental and climate justice; and
- key data gaps and opportunities for regulators to advance disclosure standards and industry safeguards.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Robert Jackson, Professor of Law, New York University
PANEL DISCUSSION
Yue (Nina) Chen, Executive Deputy Superintendent, Climate Division, New York State Department of Financial Services
Wendy Cromwell, Vice Chair, Wellington Management
Dave McGlinchey, Chief of External Affairs, Woodwell Climate Research Center
Marilyn Waite, Managing Director, Climate Finance Fund
Madison Condon (moderator), Associate Professor, Boston University School of Law
Part III — Toward Equity and Resilience
Harnessing Climate Risk Information for Better Decisionmaking
MARCH 1, 2022 • 1-2 PM ET
With intensifying climate harms, billions of dollars of new federal funding on the way for climate adaptation, and an array of new state and federal policies seeking corporate disclosure of climate risk information, it has never been more critical for regulators, communities, and advocates to understand risk data and how to incorporate that knowledge into effective policy and advocacy.
Assessing risk and vulnerability is an important step in the climate adaptation planning process for state and local governments. At what stages of that process should physical and financial risk information be incorporated? What should communication between decision-makers, advocates, and communities look like? And how can we wield risk-informed adaptation planning to foster resilience, equity, and justice in our communities?
Join the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center, Woodwell Climate Research Center, and the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General on Tuesday, March 1 from 1-2:30 pm ET at the third and final event in our three-part virtual series on climate risks. Experts in this panel will explore topics critical to helping policymakers harness climate physical and financial risk information for better decision-making, including:
- key types of physical and social climate vulnerabilities facing governments;
- what a vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning process looks like, and the role of physical and financial risk information in that process;
- best practices in climate adaptation planning to promote resilience and environmental justice;
- new opportunities for state and local governments to utilize physical and financial climate risk data in policy and decisionmaking; and
- potential strategies to address outstanding data and tools gaps.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Joe Kennedy III, Former Congressman
PANEL INTRODUCTION
Heather McTeer Toney, Vice President of Community Engagement,
Environmental Defense Fund
PANEL DISCUSSION
Robin Bronen, Executive Director, Alaska Institute for Justice
Joyce Coffee, Founder and President, Climate Resilience Consulting
Jennifer Jurado, Chief Resilience Officer, Broward County, FL
Effie Turnbull-Sanders, Environmental Justice Commissioner, California Coastal Commission
Heather Goldstone (moderator), Chief Communications Officer, Woodwell Climate Research Center