The New Climate Risk Landscape: A Conversation with GRESB’s Chris Pyke

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Listen to the live recording of Chris Pyke, Chief Innovation Officer at GRESB, and ClimateFirst’s Mike Williams, as they explore the growing importance of managing physical climate risks in real estate. As a leader in providing ESG data, GRESB helps investors assess the sustainability of real estate portfolios.

In this candid discussion, Mike and Chris explore:

• How a lack of transparent, standardized information about physical climate risks has traditionally made it difficult for CRE investors and managers to make climate-informed decisions about mitigation and capital allocation.
• Why there is a growing financial risk of inaction. With rising insurance premiums and limited or no coverage for high-risk markets, CRE owners need to assess whether their properties will remain insurable and at what cost.
• Why there is a need for a portfolio-wide resilience strategy that moves beyond “one-off trophy projects” and instead applies data-driven risk assessments to prioritize investments that will have the most impact.
• How technology (AI, machine learning and big data analytics) is making it easier to evaluate physical climate risks at scale and enabling smarter, more cost-effective risk mitigation.
• How 2025 will be the year where climate risks become more material to investors and regulators. Increased scrutiny of climate risk across CRE portfolios means owners who take proactive steps now will be better positioned to attract capital and avoid financial shocks.