Adaptation10: New York Climate Week Special Edition

💡 Each month Climate Proof and DSR & Partners spotlight ten adaptation companies organized around a specific theme. Browse through previous editions HERE.

New York is a busy city. That’s a given. But at the end of September, it becomes a little too busy, even for those who spend their whole lives here. That’s thanks to a confluence of two major events in the city, on the same week: the UN General Assembly and Climate Week NYC.

For climate obsessives, it’s a good week. Connections are made, friendships renewed, and — if things go really well — lifechanging deals are struck. But the city itself is more than just a setting for the panels and plenaries that define the seven days. It’s one of the most vulnerable urban regions to climate risk, and a laboratory for innovative adaptation.

The Cornell Tech-backed Adaptbase — a repository of city-level climate and adaptation data — ranks New York as one of the most vulnerable cities to coastal flooding and sea-level rise. It’s also flagged as highly exposed to heavy rainfall and high temperatures, hazards that are already costing lives and causing millions of dollars in losses.

This year, these vulnerabilities came to the fore. This summer was the city’s wettest for five years, with Central Park recording 16.92 inches of rain between June and August. The National Weather Service issued 13 flash flood warnings for the borough of Queens alone. Extreme heat, too, imposed crushing costs on city residents. An early July heatwave saw temperatures in Central Park touch 100°F, tied with a daily record first set in 1966. A city report states around 500 New Yorkers die from heat-related causes each year, making this one of the city’s deadliest weather hazards.

The concrete geography of the city exacerbates the impacts of these risks. Why does New York flood so often? Because intense rains regularly overwhelm an aging drainage and sewer system serving a city built on sealed, nonpermeable surfaces.

Those New Yorkers with the least often end up suffering the most. In the wake of Hurricane Ida, a 2021 storm that brought heavy rain to the city, 14 residents died — 11 from drowning in flooded basement apartments. Water finds the lowest point in a building. In New York, it finds the lowest point in the housing market too.

But it is the ocean next door that poses the greatest risk to the Big Apple. New York City has roughly 520 miles of coastline, and the sea level around Battery Park, on Manhattan’s southern tip, has risen by nearly nine inches since 1950. Battery Park already logs around 10 high-tide flooding days a year. By the 2040s, that could reach 60 to 85 days, meaning tidal flooding occurring more than once a week.

The city is taking action. Adaptbase logs over 20 adaptation planning documents issued by city agencies in recent years. This includes the Southern Manhattan Resilience Plan, now being enacted in multiple stages as the Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency Project, a US$2.7bn program to harden the shores of the island against the encroaching sea. Its network of seawalls, flood barriers, and raised infrastructure are currently under construction, a fitting backdrop to this week’s adaptation events.

But even this gargantuan project pales in comparison to the city’s true adaptation needs. Back in 2022, the Army Corps of Engineers calculated it would cost some US$52bn to shield New York Harbor from worsening floods.

Still, massive infrastructure projects are only part of the city’s adaptation story. Others fixes are smaller, simpler, and less glamorous. For example, expanding tree canopy coverage could go a long way to reducing outdoor heat risks and flash flooding. The Urban Forest Plan is targeting 30% tree canopy coverage by 2040, up from 23% in 2021. The city is also retrofitting its drainage with rain gardens, bluebelts, and underground storage facilities that can retain rainwater before it overwhelms the sewers.

The private market has a major role to play in this story, too. At a recent climate adaptation conference in Manhattan, someone told us (not without pride) that “When disaster hits New York, we have a new opportunity.” He meant it as a compliment: every flooded basement is a problem statement crying out for a solution, every heatwave another signal to an expanding cooling market.

It is easy to bristle at that. Admitting that capital and innovation too often follow tragedy rather than precede it is an uncomfortable thing. But it is not necessarily wrong. It also underlines the often contradictory nature of New York. One of the richest cities in the world, still scrambling for the capital to fortify itself. A city all too familiar with loss and devastation, yet no less risk-aggressive and expansionary for it. Home to poor, climate-vulnerable neighborhoods and to the wealthy businesses and entrepreneurs who could transform them into adapted havens.

In this edition of Adaptation10, we spotlight ten companies native to New York State (and most of them to New York City) working on adaptation solutions — not only for their own urban home, but for communities and businesses around the world.

We hope you find the selection interesting. And to all those attending this year’s Climate Week NYC, we salute you (and apologize for the traffic).

Adaptation10 company profiles are compiled by DSR & Partners and reviewed by Climate Proof. Company funding and FTE data are extracted from public sources.

💡 Want to explore the profiles of 430+ adaptation companies in one handy database? Then check out the Adaptation & Resilience Innovation Search Engine, now available in public beta to Climate Proof members. Feedback? Let us know HERE

ECOncrete is a science-based company that develops nature-inclusive solutions for marine construction. Their patented technology enhances biodiversity and improves water quality by modifying the chemical composition and surface texture of concrete. This promotes the growth of marine organisms, which strengthens marine structures and increases their durability. ECOncrete’s solutions are used in various marine infrastructure projects worldwide, providing ecological and structural benefits while complying with industry standards.

| HQ: New York, NY | Theme: Ecosystems / Industry & Commerce / Social Systems / | Sector: Construction / Disaster Risk Reduction / Marine Ecosystems | Hazards: 🌊 Flood / ⛈️ Storm | Last Raise: $11mn (Venture Round — May 2026) | FTE: 2-10 | Contact: [email protected]

Demex provides hyper-local risk management solutions for insurers and companies exposed to non-catastrophic extreme weather. Their offerings include Operational Climate Risk Coverage and Retained Climate Risk Reinsurance, which help minimize underwriting losses and achieve budget stability by calibrating customer financials to localized extreme weather. Demex leverages technology and expertise in insurance, finance, and climate science to create innovative solutions for climate risk management.

| HQ: New York, NY | Theme: Industry & Commerce | Sector: Insurance | Hazards: 🌧️ Precipitation / ⛈️ Storm | Last Raise: $10.3mn (Series A — Sept 2024)| FTE: 11-50 | Contact: www.thedemexgroup.com/contact

Heat Inverse develops passive radiative cooling films for surfaces exposed to heat. Its thin, lightweight film reflects sunlight and releases heat directly to the sky, lowering surface temperatures without electricity, moving parts, or waste heat. By reducing the heat load on vehicles, equipment, and infrastructure, Heat Inverse helps operators improve efficiency, extend asset lifetimes, and cut cooling costs as temperatures rise.

| HQ: New York, NY | Theme: Industry & Commerce / Infrastructure | Sector: Electricity Systems / Ground Transportation / Information Technologies / Manufacturing | Hazards: 🌡️ Heat | Last Raise: $250,000 (Grant — Jun 2019) | FTE: 1-10 | Contact: [email protected]

Near Space Labs provides high-resolution Earth imagery captured from the stratosphere. Its autonomous, wind-powered Swifty robots fly on weather balloons well above commercial aircraft, collecting detailed imagery of cities, infrastructure, and disaster zones quickly and without generating emissions. By delivering timely, affordable aerial data, Near Space Labs supports insurers, government agencies, utilities, and urban planners in assessing weather risks and making faster decisions after disasters.

| HQ: New York, NY | Theme: Cities & Settlements / Industry & Commerce / Infrastructure / Social Systems | Sector: ICT Infrastructure / Insurance / Government Operations / Urban & Community Planning | Hazards: 🌊 Flood / ⛈️ Storm / 🫗 Water Scarcity / 🔥 Wildfire | Last Raise: $20mn (Series B — Apr 2025) | FTE: 11-50 | Contact: [email protected]

Windmill Air designs smart, energy-efficient cooling and air care products for homes without central air conditioning. Its window air conditioners, fans, and air filtration products are easy to install, app- and voice-controlled, and use lower-impact refrigerants than conventional units. By making efficient cooling and cleaner indoor air accessible at apartment scale, Windmill helps renters and urban households stay safe and comfortable during increasingly frequent and intense heat waves.

| HQ: New York, NY | Theme: Cities & Settlements | Sector: Buildings | Hazards: 💨 Air Quality | Last Raise: $5mn (Series A — Oct 2024) | FTE: 1-10| Contact: [email protected]