Adapting to inevitable global warming and the associated disruptions

Description of need

Problem severity (1-10)

Who has this need

Total addressable market (TAM)

Solutions today, and their shortcomings

Potentially relevant capabilities

References

• Mercy Corps invests in adaptation & resilience startups: https://www.mercycorps.org/blog/venture-capital-climate-resilience
• Y Combinator has a call for adaptation startups: https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/rfs-climatetech/#climate-adaptation. Some of the specific ideas that speak to me personally:
  • Methane monitoring
  • Mesh sensor networks
  • Better data, models & risk mitigation for insurance
  • Home protection & hardening
  • Faster, more ubiquitous detection
  • Better ways to reduce or eliminate powerline ignitions
  • Groundwater monitoring, management, and remediation
  • Better approaches to applying floodwater to groundwater recharge
• Alex Laplaza listed the following customer segments for adaptation startups:
  • Insurance companies (they need help quantifying risk)
  • Other financial players (also need to adjust for risk when making investments). That includes ‘transition risk’ (e.g. if you’re investing in a new LNG terminal) but also physical risk.
  • Landholders and real estate owners, both to protect them from physical damage (e.g. fireproof your home), to reduce the risk of physical damage (for example, Lowercarbon invested in Burnbot, which does controlled wildfires), and to warn them about possible physical damage.
  • Companies that need reliable access to water and electricity
• Kerri Cahoy is working on:
  • More accurate flood risk maps and sea level rise maps (e.g. for insurance companies and real estate developers, reinsurance companies, municipal governments)
  • (Note: there is apparently an industry need for Low-cost, timely, high-resolution satellite imagery.)
  • Preventing wildfires from power lines