Jessica Mederson and Monika Serrano close the first season speaking with Dr. Anne Cope, Chief Engineer at IBHS, the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, a nonprofit supported by property insurers, reinsurers, and affiliated companies. Anne leads the engineering team, researching the performance of homes and businesses in hurricanes, wildfires, severe thunderstorms, and hailstorms. We talk about her role at the National Institute of BUilding Sciences, building codes, affordability, return on investment from resilience, the role of insurers in adaptation and more.

Resources:

IBHS - https://ibhs.org/

IBHS Understanding Building Codes - https://ibhs.org/building-codes/

NIBS Mitigation Saves study - https://www.nibs.org/projects/natural-hazard-mitigation-saves-2019-report

NIBS Multi-Hazard Mitigation Council - https://www.nibs.org/mmc

Mónika and Jessica interview Professor Michael Gerrard, founder and director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School. We discuss issues such as building codes and FEMA flood maps, government regulations that could be used to improve resiliency in the built environment but only if communities use the latest versions of these regulations, which are beginning to incorporate future climate modeling--not just historical climate date. We also discuss potential liability for parties to a construction project, particularly design professionals. And we come back to one of our favorite topics--extreme heat.

Resources and stories discussed include:

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law: Sabin Center for Climate Change Law (columbia.edu)

Legal pathways for deep decarbonization: https://lpdd.org/

FEMA's BRIC program: https://www.fema.gov/grants/mitigation/building-resilient-infrastructure-communities

Renewable energy legal defense initiative: https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/renewable-energy-legal-defense-initiative

Skanska's Hurricane Sally lawsuit: https://www.enr.com/articles/53351-skanska-found-negligent-for-damages-from-breakaway-barges

Texas's efforts to ban protecting workers from extreme heat: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/23/greg-abbott-texas-governor-bill-water-breaks-heatwave

Arizona renter's right to air conditioning: https://landlordtenantresource.com/arizona-renters-rights-air-conditioning/#google_vignette

Jessica and Monika speak with Dr. Cassandra Smith and David Keller, from the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, US Department of State. Their Climate Security and Resilience program works to understand and generate awareness of outposts' vulnerability to natural hazards and to enhance their resilience in preparation for potential natural hazards. We learn how they analyze and act on climate hazards that may affect diplomats outposts, how these assets have been affected, what the future outlook looks like, and more.

US Department of State Magazine: Climate Security and Resilience Program

Check out the ADAPT: Climate Change and the Built Environment podcast website here.