The Number Everyone Can See
Mount Pleasant, South Carolina just sold $56 million in municipal bonds with a flood risk score of 4.8 out of 5. Zero means you're fine, five means you're underwater. The bonds are for thirty-year infrastructure in a town where 99% of buildings face flood risk over that same thirty years. The score is public, standardized, impossible to miss.
The bonds sold anyway. At rates that don't reflect what everyone can see. We've built a system that quantifies the risk and makes it visible. Investors can see it, officials can see it, rating agencies can see it. They're all choosing to act like the number isn't there. For now.
The Number Everyone Can See
Mount Pleasant, South Carolina just sold $56 million in municipal bonds with a flood risk score of 4.8 out of 5. Zero means you're fine, five means you're underwater. The bonds are for thirty-year infrastructure in a town where 99% of buildings face flood risk over that same thirty years. The score is public, standardized, impossible to miss.
The bonds sold anyway. At rates that don't reflect what everyone can see. We've built a system that quantifies the risk and makes it visible. Investors can see it, officials can see it, rating agencies can see it. They're all choosing to act like the number isn't there. For now.
Fifteen Years of Climate Litigation and One Very Lucrative Job Offer
CONTINUE READINGThis Week's System Shock
The solar installer tells you eighteen months for grid connection approval. Your heat pump sits in the garage because the utility says your neighborhood transformer can't handle the load. Across town, a wind farm that could power 50,000 homes waits in a connection queue with no clear timeline.
Global grids need $811 billion yearly by 2030 to handle the renewable energy already being built. They're getting maybe half that. At least 3,000 gigawatts of wind and solar projects sit waiting worldwide for infrastructure that was designed for a different energy system and a climate that no longer exists. The bottleneck isn't the technology anymore. It's the wires.
What Mainstream Coverage Misses
Research Reshaping Risk Calculations
Ice Sheet Uncertainty Doubles Coastal Planning Risk
Flood maps and insurance risk models reflect less uncertainty than the science actually contains.
Nature Communications Earth & Environment analysis of climate system interactions at warming levels we're experiencing today.
Research Reshaping Risk Calculations
Insurers Replace Cancellations With Escalating Premiums
You'll likely keep coverage but face affordability erosion rather than outright cancellation—calculate total ownership costs accordingly.
Regulatory pressure pushed "recalibration over retreat," but premium trajectory suggests sharp increases will continue regardless of strategy language.
Research Reshaping Risk Calculations
Half the US Needs Double Flood Protection
Current flood zone maps and insurance requirements likely underestimate actual risk—existing protection is demonstrably inadequate for today's weather.
Research shows shift from structural modifications to community-centered solutions, though implementation costs for comprehensive strategies remain substantial.
Research Reshaping Risk Calculations
Heat Surprises Break Supply Chain Relationships
Heat at supplier locations reduces operating income for both parties, with terminations spiking when exposure exceeds historical expectations.
Evaluate supplier climate exposure relative to their historical experience and build redundancy before disruptions force reactive scrambling.