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From wildfires and flooding to hurricanes and intense heat, we are seeing firsthand the growing impact of weather patterns that have become more erratic and extreme. Equally concerning, we are learning that as a society, we are often not well prepared to deal with these growing challenges.
Because we are all interdependent, efforts to adapt to extreme weather can’t solely be left up to the public and scientific sectors to address on their own. Nor can individual businesses plan their resiliency strategies in a vacuum. We must all work collectively to help our communities prepare.
This starts with better data.
Civic planners, engineers, and public agencies have long relied on historic risk data and 10-day weather forecasts to build disaster response strategies and base location decisions for new hospitals, schools, housing developments, and other community assets.
However, events like the summer’s severe heat waves, storms, and wildfires make clear that we need more robust, future-looking data. By fully deploying the power of forward-looking data, we can drive positive impact at the scale needed to meet today’s challenges–but we must collaborate.
The private sector is witnessing tremendous technology advancements, driven by innovation and investments in artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge data solutions. Nonprofit organizations like the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions and the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center are also coming to the table with data-driven solutions that help arm our communities with the insights they need to be resilient in the face of today’s changing environment.
Several years ago, AT&T embarked on a forward-looking study of the changing climate-related hazards facing our network footprint. Working with researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, models were built for projecting locations at risk of flooding, drought, and wildfires 30 years into the future. These maps now help identify areas to safely place cell towers and harden existing infrastructure for potential hazards.
We soon realized communities and other businesses could also benefit from the data insights informed by these forward-looking models, so we worked with Argonne and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to make them freely available via the Climate Risk & Resilience Portal (ClimRR).
Today, this portal gives communities nationwide access to interactive maps with more than 100 climate overlays, providing at least 30-year climate projections down to the ZIP code for communities across the U.S.
This means civic leaders can leverage this to help reduce the chance of putting schools, senior centers, new housing, and other developments in future flood and wildfire zones. First responders can develop climate-informed evacuation routes and better plan for the staffing and resources required to mobilize in the event of a natural disaster. Urban planners and engineers can spot the areas that may be more vulnerable in the future and start making zoning and infrastructure improvements now. The state of Idaho recently used this tool to build a new hazard mitigation plan that better protects its citizens and could help qualify for certain non-disaster FEMA grants.
Such forward-looking data solutions can be a game-changer for so many of our communities relying on historical data. But without public-private partnerships, this type of scalable impact wouldn’t be possible.
Against the threat of extreme and unpredictable weather, we need everyone to bring unique expertise, capabilities, and perspective to the table. For business leaders, this must start by assessing our own climate resilience plans and community-level dependencies, and then asking ourselves:
- What are the physical climate risks to our business and stakeholders?
- What will our communities need from us to maximize resilience?
- Which organizations share our resiliency goals and how can we bring complementary skills to them to produce impact at scale?
- How can our data be of value to others?
Understanding these dynamics can provide a starting point for connections with public and private partners. If every link in our community chains is more resilient, we’ll be better able to mitigate the effects of today’s severe weather events as we also work together to turn the tide on future impacts.
Charlene Lake is SVP, corporate social responsibility, and chief sustainability officer for AT&T.
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