• Climate Proof
  • Posts
  • Hurricanes Dominate Q4 Earnings Calls as $500 Billion Storm Season Rattles Corporate America

Hurricanes Dominate Q4 Earnings Calls as $500 Billion Storm Season Rattles Corporate America

Impacts (and opportunities) from Hurricanes Helene, Milton, Debby, and Beryl were laid out by many of America's top firms last quarter

Author

Louie Woodall
January 09, 2025

AI-generated via DALL-E

Hi there, free subscribers to Climate Proof!

This is a premium article, available to paying subscribers only. You can check out the TL;DR below, and if you like what you read, be sure to upgrade your subscription.

Remember, paid subscribers also get full access to the S&P 500 Climate Physical Risk Signals Dashboard on which this article is based👇

TL;DR

  • Climate Proof analyzed S&P 500 earnings calls from the last four months of 2024 to find out what climate risks, and responses, America’s top executives talked about

  • Hurricane and storm impacts garnered a lot of air time. Executives at 180 companies referred to hurricanes, many in relation to Hurricanes Helene and Milton

  • Most came from the Utilities (16), Industrials (36), and Consumer Discretionary (25) sectors

  • Some companies indicated the hurricanes would be a boon to business — one is a provider of home standby generators, while another is an owner of timberland

  • In the wake of the storms, a number of companies touted the success of their resilience investments, including one hotel owner and a clutch of utilities

Can you guess what climate hazard was on the lips of nearly 200 of America’s top executives last quarter?

That’s right. Hurricanes.

While right now the US is stunned by the rash of wildfires devastating Los Angeles and Southern California, in the latter part of 2024 four monstrous storms dominated headlines and rattled businesses: Hurricane Beryl, Hurricane Debby, Hurricane Helene, and Hurricane Milton.

Together, last year’s hurricane season caused US$500bn in damages, according to an AccuWeather estimate. Risk management firm Aon ballparked the insured losses of Hurricanes Milton and Helene alone at US$60bn and US$55bn, respectively.

Many of America’s top companies reported losses and disruptions from this string of disasters, demonstrating the growing salience of climate shocks to big business — and the imperative to adapt. However, there was also the odd glimmer of opportunity discernible in the comments of some executives, reflecting how certain companies are positioned to benefit royally when climate disasters strike.

Subscribe to Premium to read the rest.

Become a paying subscriber of Premium to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content.

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.

A subscription gets you:

  • • TWO articles a week
  • • Access to every single article in the archives
  • • Access to S&P 500 Climate Physical Risk Signals
  • • Early access to special events and new products