White House pushes for better finance strategies for disaster mitigation and resilience

The Obama Administration is trying to foster more projects to support disaster mitigation and community resilience.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality recently held a forum on innovative insurance, mortgage, tax, and finance-based strategies to further that goal. The National Institute of Building Sciences made a presentation based on its white paper, Developing Pre-Disaster Resilience Based on Public and Private Incentivization.

The document covers many approaches including tax credits, insurance premium reductions, resilience bonds, mortgage rate incentives, and layered incentive approaches. In addition, the paper recommends the development and adoption of appraisal and bond underwriting standards that recognize the value and benefits of building resilience.

One proposal calls for contractor-based financing, whereby a general contractor develops turnkey resilience programs for small buildings. Also recommended are building code programs that encourage local governments to adopt and enforce higher standards for resilience incentivized by federal and state investment with post-disaster recovery funding.

nZero, developer of a real-time carbon accounting and management platform, is offering free carbon emissions assessments for buildings in New York City. The offer is intended to help building owners prepare for the city’s upcoming Local Law 97 reporting requirements and compliance. This law will soon assess monetary fines for buildings with emissions that are in non-compliance.

Resiliency | Aug 7, 2023

Creative ways cities are seeking to beat urban heat gain

As temperatures in many areas hit record highs this summer, cities around the world are turning to creative solutions to cope with the heat. Here are several creative ways cities are seeking to beat urban heat gain.

Products and Materials | Jul 31, 2023

Top building products for July 2023

BD+C Editors break down 15 of the top building products this month, from cleanroom doors to window storm protection systems.

Sustainability | Jul 27, 2023

USGBC warns against building energy code preemptions, rollbacks

In a recent editorial, the USGBC cited a growing number of U.S. state legislators who are “aiming to roll back building energy code standards and/or preempt local governments from advancing energy-efficient building codes.”

Resiliency | Jul 27, 2023

'Underground climate change' can damage building foundations, civil infrastructure

A phenomenon known as “underground climate change” can lead to damage of building foundations and civil infrastructure, according to a researcher at Northwestern University. When the ground gets hotter, it can expand and contract, causing foundations to move and sometimes crack.