Laurie Schoeman on climate risk, resilience, and finance

Laurie Schoeman is the Director of Climate for Enterprise Community Investment and has served as senior advisor at the Council on Environmental Quality in the Executive Office of the President. Her aim is to develop and implement innovative policies and solutions that enhance the climate adaptation and physical resilience of communities across the nation, especially those that are vulnerable and underserved. “When we talk about climate adaptation, I want people to point to built systems all over the country that are rooted in nature-based solutions,” she says. “It's time we move out of the textbooks and into our streets and communities and build these systems.” Reducing risk, she points out, is a whole slate of activities. “Insurance should not be our first line of defense,” she says. “It should be a complement to a property or a facility or an infrastructure project that has risk reduction baked in.” She adds that communications is critical, and we’re still lagging in that area. “We need to break all these topics down. We need to talk about how to communicate in way that everyone can understand.”