RMS a Key Partner in New Resilient Coasts Initiative

Newark, CA – May 22, 2008 – Risk Management Solutions (RMS) today announced its role as a key project partner in the Resilient Coasts Initiative, a collaboration led by Ceres and the Heinz Center. RMS will contribute technical expertise on climate-driven catastrophe risk and adaptation modeling.

The Resilient Coasts Initiative is a unique collaboration between private and public sector groups to address the need for climate adaptation in the coastal regions of the United States. The goal of the initiative is to develop public policy and private market solutions to help protect coastal communities from rising sea levels and other potentially damaging consequences of climate change. 

"It is vital that coastal communities continue to be protected in the face of rising hazard. The Resilient Coasts Initiative will focus key players in government, insurance, finance, and the building industry on creating a blueprint for action supported at the highest level within
these sectors," commented Dr. Celine Herweijer, director of the RMS Climate Change Practice.

She added: “Coastal communities and habitats face critical risks from climate change, including more extreme storms, sea-level rise, erosion, and flooding. Compounded by rapid population growth, trillions of dollars in coastal real estate assets from Texas to Maine, and more than half of the U.S. population living along the coastline, the scale of these risks demands forward-thinking strategies and policies from the private and public sectors to reduce climate change impacts along the coasts.”

Over the next 12 months, the Resilient Coasts Initiative will work to identify policy and market-based solutions that may include initiatives to: limit new development in the most vulnerable areas; strengthen and upgrade existing buildings to prevent further losses; and promote infrastructure investments that will help communities adapt to sea level rise.

"RMS will be integral to informing where and how these efforts should be directed,” said Thomas E. Lovejoy, president of the Heinz Center.  “Its models represent a powerful tool to not only assess existing and future risks, but the costs and benefits of specific climate change adaptation strategies."  

“Coastal protection needs to be part of our national conversation on climate change,” commented Ceres president Mindy S. Lubber.  “This is an historic moment in which public and private sector leaders recognize the rising threat of climate change in coastal communities and the need for strong policies and market-based solutions to reduce that exposure.”