That's a Wrap!!
Recapping the 2025 New Orleans Forum on Climate Linked Economics
At the 2025 Forum on Climate Linked Economics, held January 13–16 in New Orleans, over 75 speakers and panelists convened to examine how financial systems are adapting to physical climate risk. Across four days, we explored how weather, water, and climate data are being translated into decisions across insurance, energy, real estate, water infrastructure, supply chains, and beyond.
Here’s a look at some of the key themes and standout sessions from New Orleans:
Day 1: Systemic Risk, Real Estate, and the Energy Transition
We opened with Susan Crawford (Carnegie Endowment, Harvard Law), who delivered a keynote titled Moving Day—a sweeping look at how climate is beginning to reprice real estate in the U.S., and the legal, social, and financial challenges in managing that shift.
Linda Baynham, Director of Sustainability at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, gave a behind-the-scenes look at the business case for greening large event spaces—underscoring that resilience and profitability are increasingly aligned.
Sean Miller (Vaisala) introduced ClimateDesk, a platform integrating short-term weather forecasts with century-scale climate models, offering business-ready insights at 1km resolution. Meanwhile, Gan Zhang (UIUC) warned of seasonal wind stilling and its implications for energy security during peak demand.
A keynote by Robert Brammer explored how extreme weather and decarbonization are transforming the U.S. power grid—with $2T–$7T in modernization costs looming. The afternoon shifted toward real estate, as Josh Hacker (Jupiter Intelligence) led a panel on banking risk, and Brock Burghardt moderated a deep dive on property values, underwriting challenges, SCS losses, and the regulatory environment affecting insurers and developers.
Day 2: Housing Market Stress, Migration, and Insurance Disruption
Tuesday spotlighted economic shocks already rippling through housing markets. Neha Schollmeyer (PwC) addressed climate-induced migration, highlighting regions likely to gain or lose population. Wahib Ghazni (Jupiter) quantified a $2 trillion mispricing in housing markets driven by underrecognized climate risk. Kieran Fitzmaurce (UNC) showed how uninsured flood damage drives mortgage defaults and erodes household equity.
Sessions by Shan Ge (NYU), Kristie Kaminski (Guy Carpenter), and Eleanor Middlemans (PwC) connected the dots between insurance premiums, risk perception, and tipping points in catastrophe models. A standout: Mahmoud Khater’s presentation on CoreLogic’s Climate-Coupled Catastrophe Models™, which project 138% increases in storm surge losses along the Gulf and East Coasts by 2050.
In the afternoon, I shared insights on Severe Convective Storms (SCS) and the growing role of reinsurance in responding to secondary perils. The day concluded with a spirited discussion on economic weather risk transfer, moderated by Matt Coleman (Demex), featuring experts from Guy Carpenter and Everstream.
Day 3: Supply Chains, Forecasting, and the Role of Meteorology
Wednesday focused on climate's impact on logistics and commodity markets. In a morning panel moderated by Jon Davis(Everstream Analytics), meteorologists from Amazon, Hartree, and Demex discussed how operational forecasting is evolving in the face of disruption.
Other highlights included:
Mark Russo’s study on ENSO and Panama Canal reliability.
Karl Critz (Salient) on AI-driven forecasts for wind and solar markets.
Tom Gowan (Spire) on high-res weather models and ensemble prediction tools for traders.
We also examined agriculture with Logan Bundy’s assessment of Hurricane Beryl’s crop impacts and Francesco Preti(PwC) on wind perils threatening air freight.
Day 4: Water Risk, Financial Resilience, and the Value of Climate Information
On Thursday, we pivoted to water management and adaptation strategies:
Cary Talbot (USACE) presented on Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO), a successful example of anticipatory water management.
Greg Characklis, Dan Li, and Yash Amonkar (UNC) introduced new financial tools to hedge against drought, water price volatility, and hydrometeorological risk.
Thyme Brown (NWS) outlined a community vulnerability atlas being built for Eastern North Carolina—bridging physical science with on-the-ground planning.
The day closed with sessions from Columbia, PwC, and UAlbany, including a provocative talk from Frances Moore on the value of climate information using the Lorenz model and stylized loss functions.
Looking Forward
The Forum reaffirmed a central idea: climate risk is economic risk. Across sectors, institutions are moving from awareness to action—seeking better models, more relevant forecasts, and strategies that balance resilience with return on investment.
Our thanks to all who participated, and especially to those building the tools, data, and partnerships needed to navigate the economic frontier of climate change.
Also, a heartfelt shout-out to the organizers who pulled everything together and created such a thoughtful, high-impact event!! We’re looking ahead to 2026 in Houston!
Co-Chaired by, Stephen Bennett, Mercury Insurance
Co-Chaired by, Josh Hacker, Jupiter Intelligence
Manda Adams, National Science Foundation
Yash Amonkar, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Jason (Jay) Cordeira, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego
Josh Darr, Guy Carpenter
Jon Davis, Everstream Analytics
Michael Ferrari, Alpha Geo
Alex Haberlie, Northern Illinois University
Sarah Kapnick, JP Morgan
Jeff Massey, Amazon
Eleanor Middlemas, PwC
Emily Pauline, S&P Global
M. Cameron Rencurrel, PwC
Brock Burghardt, Synoptic Data PBC
Gan Zhang, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Exofficio: Mark Papier, AT&T and The Weather Channel
Student Observer: Malcolm Douglas, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
