Tag: sea level rise

Australian Executives Recognize Climate Change Threat

After months of witnessing their country battling fierce wildfires, a majority of Australian business executives who participated in a Deloitte survey worry that climate change poses a threat to their companies. Eighty-one percent of the business leaders told Deloitte that they were concerned climate change could harm their businesses.

The Australian executives’ level of concern is much higher than the global average. Forty-eight percent of business leaders in 18 other countries surveyed said they were worried about climate change.

Robert Hillard, a Deloitte Australia executive, said, “Businesses need to demonstrate to investors that they are taking appropriate steps to mitigate their exposure.”

Top Australian government officials, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison, have sparked public anger by denying climate change is a problem. Morrison says the Australian economy will be damaged if it seeks to further reduce carbon emissions. Coal, a major greenhouse gas contributor, is the country’s number two export.

The business world was rocked last week when Larry Fink, the founder of BlackRock, Inc., the world’s largest investment management corporation with nearly $7 trillion in assets under management, sent a letter to chief executives that said his firm would consider a company’s climate change record when deciding where to invest. Fink said companies needed to consider the impact of climate change and sea level rise and act accordingly to protect their bottom lines.

Buyers, sellers, owners, and real estate agents — who are essentially acting as chief executives managing their own financial futures — need to follow the business leaders’ example and consider climate change and sea level rise when they’re deciding how to proceed in a real estate transaction.

Virginia Beach Needs Billions of Dollars to Fight Sea Level Rise Flooding

An engineering firm that spent five years studying Virginia Beach’s flooding problem recently presented a report to the city council that says the city will have to spend up to $3.8 billion to manage sea level rise flooding.

To draft its recommendations, Dewberry estimated that seas will rise about 1 1/2 feet between 2035 and 2055 and 3 feet between 2065 and 2085. Sections of the city already experience coastal flooding. More areas will be inundated as the seas rise.

Among the firm’s recommendations are the construction of high-tech flood gates along with more seawalls and levees. The engineers also said the city should consider buying out about 2,500 homes that are at risk of flooding and restricting development in vulnerable areas.

The city council and planning commission are going to consider all aspects of the report before approving its conclusions. Officials say they also need to consider funding sources. They say residents can’t afford to pay all of the billions of dollars needed to protect the city. They’ll have to seek federal assistance.

Communities all along the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coastlines grappling with sea level rise flooding and the need to protect valuable real estate and other assets are struggling with how to pay for hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars worth of needed construction projects. Buyers, sellers, owners and real estate agents need to consider the plans when they’re deciding how to respond to the challenge.

Report Predicts 15%-35% Drop in Florida Home Values Due to Climate Change and Sea Level Rise

A report released by McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, predicts that Florida homes exposed to sea level rise flooding and storm surge from stronger hurricanes — fueled by a warmer atmosphere and ocean water — could lose 15-to-35% of their value by 2050. That translates into $30 billion to $80 billion worth of devaluation.

The company, which studied past trends to arrive at the estimate, says if not effectively addressed, flooding could result in lenders no longer offering 30-year mortgages in affected areas. Furthermore real estate owners could get hit with higher insurance premiums and possibly lose access to insurance altogether if providers leave the market.

If the coastal real estate market faces a downturn due to sea level rise flooding, the report says there’s also a concern that property tax revenues will be reduced, leaving communities with less funding to address the problem.

The report’s authors warn that their estimates may be on the conservative side. Losses could be much higher if water, sewage and transportation systems are flooded or buyers become much more sensitive to climate risk when purchasing properties.

The researchers say Florida is going to have to make hard choices to address sea level rise flooding. The state will have to decide whether to protect the coasts with seawalls and other methods or abandon risk-prone areas.

To protect their financial futures, real estate owners everywhere need to pay close attention to how federal, state and local governments plan to protect their communities from the threat of sea level rise flooding.

New York City Debates Whether a $119 Billion Barrier is Enough to Hold Back Sea Level Rise

New York City and the Army Corps of Engineers are considering five options to protect the city from sea level rise. Among them is a six mile long set of retractable gates that would stretch from Queens, NY, to New Jersey.

Supporters see many benefits from the gates. They say the barriers would be far enough off shore to be out of sight for most land dwellers, they’d hold back storm surges, similar to the one from Hurricane Sandy that swamped lower Manhattan, and they’d be better at protecting everyone, not just the wealthy areas that are being shielded from flooding by land-bound solutions currently being built.

Opponents, however, worry that by the time the gate project is completed in 25 years it will be obsolete because of sea level rise. They’re also concerned that it will create even more problems for the city by preventing stormwater runoff from escaping back into the sea.

Residents, government officials, the Corps of Engineers and environmental groups will make the final decision. In the meantime, real estate owners along the city’s 520-mile coastline and adjacent areas need to keep informed about the debate and get involved if their property will be impacted.

You can read more about the great New York sea level rise debate in this New York Times article.

Annapolis, Maryland, Committee Delivers Plan to Address Sea Level Rise Flooding

For decades, the Annapolis, Maryland, waterfront has been struggling with nuisance flooding that has forced some businesses to temporarily close in the quaint historic district. This week, a 100 member committee presented a report to the city council that proposes measures to address today’s flooding problem and even higher sea level rise-driven tides in the years to come.

The plan, which calls for temporary and permanent resiliency barriers, the rebuilding of Hillman Garage, and the redevelopment and elevation of parts of of City Dock, comes with a $25-50 million price tag. The committee suggested that a portion of the project funded through an increase in the county and city hotel tax and a bond issue. The remainder could be funded by private investment, grants and federal and state funding sources.

So-called “sunny day” flooding has become a problem for communities all along the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico. Buyers, sellers, owners and real estate agents need to be aware of how governments are addressing the problem. Some, like Annapolis, are taking a pro-active approach. Too many others are ignoring the problem that will one day reach a point where the floodwaters themselves will insist on being addressed as they inundate properties.

Buyers, sellers, owners and real estate agents need to be aware of what’s being done in their community or town of interest and not only in terms of where the floodwaters are going. They also need to know if their taxes will be hiked to pay for flood mitigation projects and if any structures, such as sea walls or pumps, will be built nearby that could impact their property value. In the worst case scenario, they need to know if the government is in total denial stage, which could lead them to get flooded out.

Information about this critical issue is included in “7 Sea Level Real Estate Questions.”

BlackRock’s Stand on Climate Change And Sea Level Rise Is A Coastal Real Estate Game Changer

BlackRock founder Larry Fink released his annual letter to chief executives this week, and his aggressive stand on climate change and sea level rise rocked the financial world.

BlackRock, the world’s largest and most powerful investor with over $6.84 trillion of assets under management, recently came under criticism that it wasn’t doing enough to fight climate change. Fink’s letter told the executives that climate change has to be considered when a company’s long-term prospects are being evaluated for investment purposes. He said the company is already undertaking initiatives that will promote climate sustainability while selling investments in some thermal coal producers. Burning coal and other fossil fuels is a major contributor to the greenhouse gases that are driving global warming and sea level rise.

Fink went on to say: “We don’t yet know which predictions about the climate will be most accurate, nor what effects we have failed to consider. But there is no denying the direction we are heading. Every government, company and shareholder must confront climate change.“

Fink also posed a question regarding sea level rise flooding. “What will happen to the 30-year mortgage – a key building block of finance – if lenders can’t estimate the impact of climate risk over a such a long timeline, and if there is no viable market for flood or fire insurance in impacted areas?” The answer is obvious: The coastal real estate market will crater.

The message to buyers, sellers, owners and real estate agents in coastal areas is now is the time to consider climate change and sea level rise flooding – on many levels – to make informed decisions regarding real estate purchases and investments. The days of climate change denialism are over. It’s time to follow Fink’s lead and do due diligence to protect your own financial future.

“7 Sea Level Rise Real Estate Questions” can help you get started.

Bad News For Coastal Real Estate: The Oceans Hit Another Heat Record

Researchers released a report this week that concluded that the ocean temperature hit a new record last year. This is a problem for all of us. The world’s oceans store 90 percent of the heat generated from global warming.

The 2019 record isn’t a one-off either. It’s part of a disturbing trend. The researchers reported that the oceans were the warmest ever over the last 10 years.

Hotter oceans contribute to the warming of the atmosphere and land on a global scale. As a result, we will continue to see more extreme weather, including wildfires, droughts and stronger tropical storms and hurricanes. Sea life is also being harmed.

Hotter oceans are also intensifying and accelerating the two major drivers of sea level rise flooding. Land-based ice sheets will continue to melt faster, sending more runoff into the oceans. And the oceans themselves will continue to expand as they heat up.

Scientists have been calling for anywhere from three-to-six feet of sea level rise by 2100. A foot or two of that total could be on our doorsteps by 2050.

Coastal communities are already struggling to protect lives and real estate with the foot or so of sea level rise that has accumulated since 1900. Many already need hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars to defend roads and other critical infrastructure. With funding in short supply, many communities are putting off these critical projects, which puts lives and property at risk.

When you combine the ocean heating analysis, published in the journal Advances In Atmospheric Sciences, with reports that have found accelerating atmospheric temperatures — 2019 was the second hottest on record for the globe — it’s clear that buyers, sellers, owners, and real estate agents need to start taking sea level rise flooding seriously when they’re dealing with coastal real estate.

Sea Level Rise Reality: No Roads, No Real Estate

Communities from Hawaii to the Florida Keys are already confronting a harsh reality of sea level rise flooding. When flood waters inundate or undermine roads, they have a choice: spend millions or even billions of dollars to save the roads, or abandon them and the real estate that relies on them.

According to a recent report by Mahealani Richardson for HawaiiNewsNow, sea level rise-driven erosion recently caused 1,500 feet of highway to collapse in Haaula, a town on O’ahu. The state is spending $600,000 on emergency repairs, but a permanent solution to save the coastal highway from rising seas could cost up to $1.5 billion for a dozen miles.

Ed Sniffen, a highways administrator, told NewsNow, “It’s a huge but complex situation that we have to consider. Not only are we affecting who can drive through that area in the future, but access to that area in the future.”

Monroe County officials in the Florida Keys are facing the same challenge. According to an article by Theresa Java posted on KeysNews.com, county commissioners there are considering whether to elevate a road in Stillwright Point that flooded 91 days between September and December or abandon it altogether. The road’s fate — and the property owners who rely on it to get around — will depend on how much it will cost to save the road and, considering that seas continue to rise, how much time the repair will buy.

The county’s resiliency officer said a billion dollars probably isn’t enough to save all of the county’s 314 miles of roads. Mayor Heather Carruthers said, “This is the very beginning of very difficult decisions that governments around the world will be forced to make.”

If you search “sea level rise road” on Google, you’ll find dozens of cities and town are confronting the same sea level rise problem. Finding a solution isn’t just a cost-benefit question. Officials also have to consider the decision’s impact on local residents. In some cases, residents have threatened to sue if the government abandons their lifeline roads.

Buyers taking a look at real estate in coastal areas need to consider not only whether or not a property of interest is experiencing sea level rise flooding, they also have to consider how sea level rise flooding is impacting critical infrastructure, such as roads and water and sewer service. The floodwaters could not only prevent them from getting around and receiving critical services, they could also result in a huge tax hike if a community has to initiate projects to save the infrastructure. In a worst case scenario, flooding could force them to move.

Infrastructure issues are discussed in detail in “7 Sea Level Rise Real Estate Questions.”

Orange County, California, Grappling with Sea Level Rise

This weekend, the alignment of the sun and moon are creating higher-than normal-king tides along the U.S. coastline. Activists and organizations in Orange County, California, are hosting events at several locations (listed in this article) to not only show the public what a king tide does to their shoreline but to make them aware that sea level rise is going to make what’s now considered a higher-than-normal tide the norm in the coming decades.

Sea level rise flooding is already threatening beaches, bluffs, railroad tracks, roadways, and real estate in California. The state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates in a December report that statewide up to $10 billion worth will be inundated by 2050.

The California Coastal Commission is considering a few options to hold back or divert the rising seas, including building seawalls (which can actually cause more rapid beach erosion), enhancing natural buffers, such as dunes and wetlands, and moving or demolishing structures on beaches so the ocean and beaches can follow their natural flow without flooding real estate and infrastructure. All of the solutions under consideration have costs and benefits. In some cases, residents are fighting the changes, claiming that their private property rights overrule the public interest.

The U.S. Geologic Survey predicts that sea level rise could devour up 67 percent of California’s beaches by 2100. The loss threatens to damage the state’s tourist economy and put even more bluff-top homes at risk of toppling into the sea.

Sean Bothwell, executive director of the California Coastkeeper Alliance told the Orange County Register, “Sea level projections have increased at an alarming rate — due to increased ocean temperature and faster rates of Antarctic sea melt — leaving California’s communities, roads and other infrastructure vulnerable to severe flooding and other risks without immediate action.”

Hopefully, public education projects, like the special king tide events being held in Orange County, will convince people that now’s the time to act.

Real Estate Buyers Need to Be Aware of Sea Level Rise’s Impact on Infrastructure

Buyers of real estate in coastal areas don’t just need to know if the property of interest experiences sea level rise flooding. They also need to know how salty floodwaters are impacting critical infrastructure.

Case in point: Fort Lauderdale, Florida. For decades, officials there have raided the city’s sewer and water budget to fund other projects. Without critical maintenance, the system is collapsing. Last month alone, breaks in a pipe caused 126 million gallons of sewage to course down a neighborhood street and into a river.

In 2017, an engineering firm gave the city an 800 page report that said $1.4 billion worth of work that needed to be completed on the leaky wastewater treatment system to stop the sewage spills. Experts said part of the problem is that the system has aged beyond its useful life. Another problem is that sea level rise is immersing metal pipes in salty water which is causing them to corrode and fail.

Fort Lauderdale isn’t alone in confronting this costly challenge. Miami, too, has a failing wastewater treatment system that has led to spills and huge fines. Many other cities all along the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coastlines are bound to get hit with similar problems as their infrastructure is invaded by rising seas.

One thing Fort Lauderdale and Miami have in common is the struggle to find money to make the needed repairs. The only options are higher taxes or bond issues. Either way, property owners are bound to get soaked.

The timing of these costs couldn’t be worse. In addition to the need to upgrade their wastewater treatment systems, both cities need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to raise roads and pipes and build barriers and pumps to hold back the ocean.

In the end, buyers need to take future tax hikes into account when they’re considering whether or not to purchase real estate in areas impacted by sea level rise flooding. This issue is discussed in detail in “7 sea Level Rise Real Estate Questions.”