Adaptation Index Outperforms Global Stocks, Trump Admin to Scrap Ocean Monitoring Network, Technosylva's Grid Resilience Play, and More

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Extreme weather spending has transferred more than US$20trn of wealth across the global economy this century, with adaptation-focused companies capturing a growing share. 

Bloomberg Intelligence’s 275-company Adaptation and Mitigation group of public companies — spanning disaster repair, Arctic security, grid efficiency, and infrastructure resilience — beat the S&P Global 1200 by 31.8 percentage points in the year through April 19, and between five and 31.8 percentage points in each of the past five years. This transfer accelerated in 2025, when extreme weather costs reached US$1.4trn — or around 1.2% of global GDP.

Spending related to extreme weather has roughly doubled each decade since 2000, from US$2.4trn in 1996-2005 to US$12.2trn in 2016-2025, and Bloomberg Intelligence projects the next decade could reach US$24trn if that trajectory holds. 

On the flip side, rising extreme weather impacts are eroding the finances of state and local governments. Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that a storm on a par with 2024’s Hurricane Milton would be severe enough to drain the rainy day funds of 26 US states entirely. Homeowners are also taking a beating via higher insurance premiums, which have risen 7 percentage points faster than inflation since 2017, and in high-risk counties across Florida and Colorado, home-insurance burdens now reach 7-9% of household income — eroding tax bases and homebuilder margins.

“Climate costs now rival a major financial crisis and represent a significant wealth transfer within the broader economy, advantaging companies focused on preparing for the next storm and repairing the last and putting others at risk due to fading federal support (muni bondholders), wildfire smoke costs (hospitals) and escalating home premiums (homebuilders),” Andrew Stevenson, Senior Climate Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence told Climate Proof via email. He added that US climate-related spending alone exceed US$880bn in 2025, diverting a huge among of capital away from more productive economic activity. 

The adaptation trade cuts across geographies and asset classes. Grid efficiency companies could capture US$220bn in cost savings over the next decade as China and the EU commit hundreds of billions to upgrading their power infrastructure. Meanwhile, Arctic security contractors — including Saab and BWX Technologies — are benefiting from accelerating military spending as melting sea ice opens new strategic corridors.

Global ocean economy finance has nearly doubled in the past decade to US$9.2bn in 2023, but remains concentrated outside the sectors most directly tied to climate resilience and decarbonization — leaving a shortfall for coastal adaptation, blue-carbon ecosystems, and fisheries. Public finance from government aid organizations accounted for 55% of flows over the last decade, but is slowing to a trickle following cuts from Germany, the US, the UK, Japan, and France, which drove a 23% decline in overall official development assistance (ODA) between 2024 and 2025. Disaster preparedness and offshore energy — sectors most aligned with climate action — received just 8% and 2% of sustainable ocean ODA respectively. (Zero Carbon Analytics)

Wetland loss across the US has added more than US$10bn to residential flood insurance claim payments since 1985, according to a Nature Water study by Environmental Defense Fund researchers, with total costs potentially exceeding US$33bn when uninsured losses are included. The analysis links upstream wetland changes to National Flood Insurance Program claims at the sub-watershed level, finding that each hectare lost raises claim payments by 0.01% to 0.03%. Houston, southeastern Louisiana and coastal Florida bore the heaviest costs. The findings carry immediate policy weight: wetlands threatened under the Trump administration’s proposed regulatory rollback provide an estimated US$177bn in residential flood mitigation value. (Environmental Defense Fund)

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has floated replacing detailed climate disclosures for retail investment products with simpler, more targeted reporting, which the regulator estimates could save asset managers some £20mn (US$26.7mn) each year. Under the proposal, the mandate that reports align with the framework set out by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) would be scrapped in favor of streamlined information on how material climate risks — including floods and extreme weather — could affect investment performance, while institutional clients could request emissions data on demand rather than receiving full published reports. The FCA argues the current rules improved climate risk awareness but produced reports too complex for investors to use. The consultation on the proposal closes July 13, with final rules expected in autumn 2026. (Financial Conduct Authority)

SpaceX has amended its IPO prospectus to flag water availability as a constraint on its AI data center expansion, citing this as a risk factor alongside power supply and processing capacity. The company’s filing warns that “water scarcity, drought conditions, competition for local water resources, or regulatory restrictions on water use” could curtail its capacity to cool its centers and delay infrastructure buildout – or force adoption of costlier alternatives. The prospectus does not mention climate change as a risk factor. On the revenue side, the company highlights several adaptation-related businesses, including providing “high-speed, resilient connectivity for public services, social impact, humanitarian efforts, and disaster response in even the most remote and challenging environments.” (SpaceX)

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) approved $232.5mn in new climate-related projects across 22 countries, including US$67.7mn directed specifically to climate adaptation via two UN-backed funds supporting the world's most vulnerable nations. These resources will help Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and other poor countries strengthen food security and guard against flood and coastal risks, among other priorities. Separately, the council governing GEF — the world’s largest multilateral fund for the environment — also endorsed a US$3.9bn replenishment that will support its activities through June 2030. (GEF)

The Trump administration is scrapping a US$368mn deep-sea monitoring network critical to understanding how climate change is affecting key ocean currents — including the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, disruption of which could accelerate sea-level rise along the US East Coast, trigger prolonged cold snaps across Europe, and extend droughts across sub-Saharan Africa.

The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), set up in 2016, encompasses 900 instruments throughout the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans designed to gather real-time data on coastal and marine environments. While initially slated to operate for 30 years, in late May the National Science Foundation — which funds the initiative – said it was “descoping” the project. This follows attempts by the Trump administration to cut its funding in 2025 and 2026, efforts that were blocked by Congress.

Over the next 15 months, specialist OOI infrastructure, including in-water arrays off Alaska, Washington, Oregon, North Carolina, and southeast Greenland, will be removed. Previously collected OOI data will remain accessible through the OOI Data Center.

The system created data essential for flood forecasting, marine heat monitoring, and long-range physical hazard modelling — functions for which no direct replacement infrastructure exists. Speaking to CNN, Chris Robbins, Associate Director of Scientific Initiatives at Ocean Conservancy, warned the dismantling will create an “irreparable blind spot” in long-term ocean records.

UN climate negotiators gather in Bonn, Germany this week for the 64th session of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB64), the first formal gathering since an unruly COP30 exposed deepening rifts between countries over procedure and substance. The adaptation to-do list is unusually long – parties must test and refine the Belém indicators under the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience, launch the first Baku Adaptation Roadmap workshop, and advance the tripling of adaptation finance committed under the New Collective Quantified Goal. Moreover, national adaptation plans remain critically underfunded with a UNEP report finding many countries have not updated theirs in over a decade. (Climate Proof)

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the National Science Foundation from breaking apart the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) — America’s top climate and extreme weather institution — in response to a lawsuit from the group of academic institutions that currently manage it. Judge R. Brooke Jackson found that the suit, which alleges the federal government targeted NCAR as political retribution against Colorado— – where it is based — rather than for programmatic reasons, would likely succeed on its merits, thereby meeting the bar for a preliminary injunction. The injunction specifically bars the Trump administration from transferring the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC) outside of the consortium’s ownership. In the order, Jackson found that the public has a “compelling interest” in the NWSC’s continued operation. Though the relief is temporary, it halts the immediate disruption to the center's weather and climate functions. (Court Listener)

New York’s state Assembly passed legislation last Friday imposing a one-year moratorium on data center permits — the first such measure in the US — as surging AI-driven demand for computing infrastructure strains power grids and water supplies. The bill requires the Department of Environmental Conservation to produce an environmental impact assessment and directs the Public Service Commission to create a separate rate classification for data centers, shielding other ratepayers from cost increases. Facilities would also face rising renewable energy sourcing requirements and mandatory community benefit provisions, including residential energy technologies and local infrastructure investment. Governor Kathy Hochul has yet to indicate whether she would sign the bill into law. (New York State Assembly)

Governor Mikie Sherrill has agreed to delay by 12 months the implementation of New Jersey’s Resilient Environments and Landscapes (REAL) regulations, which were set to take effect this July. The rules impose stricter construction standards, improved stormwater management, and enhanced wetland protections calibrated against a projected five-foot sea level rise by 2100, and are seen as essential to the Garden State’s future climate resilience. They now face an additional 60-day public comment period before taking effect in July 2027. (Inside Climate News)

Ahead of the 2026 wildfire season, the European Commission is deploying a record 777 firefighters from 14 member states, alongside 22 fixed-wing aircraft and five helicopters — the largest pre-positioning operation since the Civil Protection Mechanism’s programme launch in 2022. These resources are being strategically distributed across Cyprus, Greece, Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, the EU nations most at risk from devastating conflagrations. A new regional firefighting station in Cyprus, launching this year, will accommodate six permanently pre-positioned aircraft and serve as a training hub for Mediterranean-region civil protection practitioners. (European Commission)

Bangkok faces major flood risk between 2030 and 2034, with AI-assisted analysis identifying 2031 as the peak danger year, experts told a Thai Senate seminar. The Chao Phraya River basin could see flood volumes rise 20–25% by 2030 without intervention, compounded by a 21.47% increase in six-month accumulated rainfall and sea-level rise of 1.3–2.3cm annually. The city is accelerating drainage infrastructure — four giant tunnels operational, a fifth under testing, and embankment heights reaching 3.5m — but officials warned pumping systems alone cannot handle extreme volumes. (The Star)

Wildfire start-up Technosylva has expanded its Multi-Hazard Operations platform to put predictive power outage analytics into the hands of electric utilities up to five days before extreme weather events hit.

The platform, built on the company’s wildfire modeling science, forecasts expected customer outages, likely causes of extreme weather-related damage, and the resources necessary to restore services within specific time horizons. It is powered by Technosylva’s storm-impact models, which are trained on thousands of historical events and are currently averaging 82% prediction accuracy across storm types, with large-scale wind events hitting 99%.

CenterPoint Energy, the Houston-based utility, has deployed the system as part of a broader grid-resilience initiative. Several additional utilities have signed on since the platform opened to broader customers in April.

“Preparing for extreme weather today requires earlier insight and better coordination than ever before,” said Jason Wells, Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer of CenterPoint Energy. “Our goal is to build the most resilient coastal grid in the nation to benefit our customers and communities. Technosylva’s product gives us much clearer visibility into where impacts are most likely and allows us to mobilize crews more efficiently, support neighboring utilities when possible, and restore service faster for our customers.”

Watch Duty, the non-profit whose wildfire alerts reached more than 16 million users last year, launched US-wide flood coverage Monday — its first expansion beyond fire. The app pulls together official warnings, rainfall data, and river gauges into a single plain-language map for at-risk populations. The expansion addresses a documented gap in real-time public risk communication, underscored by the catastrophic Texas Hill Country flash floods in July 2025, among the deadliest inland flood events in decades. Coverage includes dam and levee failures and is delivered free of charge, using the same verified reporter network built on current and former first responders. (Watch Duty)

Tech company Climative has launched a digital engagement platform for US retail mortgage lenders, connecting homeowners seeking energy and resilience upgrades with financing. The platform combines property-level climate risk data with upgrade recommendations and directs qualified borrowers into lenders’ existing workflows. The company targets what it calls a US$1trn untapped lending market, backed by an estimated US$35trn in US home equity. (Climative)

Agtech firm OneSoil has added hyperlocal precipitation forecasting to its farming platform through a partnership with Polish startup Rainbow Weather, targeting the €28bn (US$32bn) in annual weather-related losses EU farmers absorb. The feature uses machine learning models trained on radar, satellite, and atmospheric data that are able to predict rainfall probability and intensity within a four-hour window at exact field coordinates. Rainbow Weather, which has raised US$5.5mn in seed funding, says the tool is already used by more than 15,000 farmers monthly. (OneSoil)

Dutch start-up SolarDew has raised €800,000 (US$923,000) from water-sector investor Connect the Drops and regional development agency Oost NL to scale solar-powered desalination units for remote, coastal, and arid communities. The technology uses membrane-based evaporation and condensation driven by solar thermal energy and gravity, producing around 100 liters of drinking water daily per 32-unit station. SolarDew began industrial production last year, manufacturing 150 units, and has completed pilot projects in Chile and Greece. (Tech.eu)

Satellite radar measurements of coastal land subsidence used to gauge sea-level risk risks may be less reliable than assumed, according to new research published in Earth Observation. A pixel-by-pixel comparison of two major InSAR studies of the US Gulf Coast found that one-third of measurements diverged by more than three millimeters per year, roughly equal to the subsidence signal itself, with each study flagging entirely different areas as sinking. The researchers say noise from vegetation is the key problem, as short-wavelength radar cannot penetrate plant cover. (Science)

Shifting hail hazard under global warming and effects on crop hail risk (Nature Climate Change)

Compound effects of extreme heat and wildfire-PM2.5 air pollution on child hospitalizations in multiple countries (Nature Health)

Grassland restoration increases crop yields through local climate regulation (Nature Climate Change)

Environmental costs of AI’s energy use: Carbon, water and land footprints (United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health)

Resilience-Adjusted Credit Risk: Operationalising climate adaptation in financial decision-making (Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership)

Thanks for reading!

Louie Woodall
Editor