“Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Such shifts can be natural, but since the 1880s human activities have been the main driver of climate change.”
United Nations
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change, recently released their latest AR6 Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2023. This report further reinforced the obvious truths that many people are aware of, “…climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. This has led to widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages.”
As the IPCC outlines, climate change is the most significant external impact and threat to our communities at large. Long term, the havoc that climate-related risks can wreak will adversely impact property and infrastructure assets, investment portfolios, lending, and insurance markets to a mammoth degree. So, with these climate change related implications looming, what can be done to diminish the risk to property?
Climate Change: an escalating risk
Given the spate of climate-related disasters within Australia in recent years, the outlook is bleak. Groundsure analysis suggests there is an increased risk to properties, with results for New South Wales showing:
- 1.3 million properties in NSW at moderate risk or higher of flooding,
- 927k of properties in NSW at risk of bushfire,
- 13.4k properties in NSW at risk of coastal erosion.
N.B figures show the number of properties at moderate risk or higher by 2050.
Groundsure: driven by positive change
Groundsure in partnership with InfoTrack, has recently launched the Groundsure ClimateIndex™ report in Australia, available initially in New South Wales. The country is in the front line of climate change, with some of the most expensive insurance events ever following the Black Summer Bushfires of 2019-2020 and the East Coast River flooding of 2022. Given the scale of property assets, communities and infrastructure at risk, it is vital that conveyancers and property lawyers are able to better advise their clients on current and future climate risks.
Groundsure has a wealth of over twenty years’ experience and an established reputation as a leading environmental and climate data authority. Dan Montagnani, Chief Executive Officer describes Groundsure as, “a specialist geo-spatial intelligence business, with a particular focus on delivering products to the legal sector that address a range of environmental risks as they present themselves.” To put it simply – they take large and complex environmental and climate data and turn it into clear and simple insights, enabling you and your clients to make better informed land and property decisions.
What is featured within the Groundsure ClimateIndex™ report?
So that you can fully understand what is included in the report, InfoTrack offers a sample report available for download.
However, key features of the report are outlined below:
- Identifies 3 key physical risks: flooding, bushfires, and coastal erosion.
- Current and 30-year forward risk predictions.
- 3-tier traffic light risk assessment for easy understanding.
- Hyperlinks to the relevant data pages.
- Full colour mapping.
- Next steps guidance specific to each identified risk.
Where is the data sourced?
“Groundsure takes data from respected and validated sources, that are typically government agencies and specialist private sector companies. Often these are the same data sources that are used by lenders and insurers. Naturally, we review many data sets that may be available and critically assess which data is the most appropriate and take that into our analysis and refinement process,” states Dan Montagnani. “We always endeavour to present and describe risk in an intelligible and understandable format in plain language. Throughout everything we do, we have a very rigorous data governance and quality assurance before any data or analysis algorithm can be used or put into a product.”
As a lawyer or conveyancer operating within the property space, there is a precedent to advise clients on obvious practical implications when it comes to climate change. Risks do change over time, but key risk analysis tools like the Groundsure ClimateIndex™ report can provide you with the essential understanding your clients need when it comes to land and property risk.
Dan recently joined John Ahern, InfoTrack's Global Head of Property, in a webinar, Climate change impact on property: are you prepared for your duty of care? Available on demand, this forty-five minute presentation offers you a comprehensive summary of the report, the data it uses and methodology, and how you can utilise the ‘next steps’ from the report in your practice.
