Woodwell Climate partners with Wellington Management to amplify the impact of pivotal environmental research and climate risk assessments in the private sector. 

 

Woodwell Climate Research Center = leader in actionable climate risk analyses
Wellington Management = recognized leader, over $1 trillion under management

Together, we’re setting a new standard for climate risk-aware investing.

A major obstacle to physical science being used in the asset management industry is the lack of a common vocabulary between experts in the different fields. We are breaking through this barrier and bringing climate science to the work of one of the world’s largest privately held asset managers, collaborating and sharing case studies that show the application of climate risk analysis.

 

Our Work

Woodwell Climate and Wellington Management’s partnership began in 2018 with the objective of integrating climate science and asset management. With our research, we are supporting Wellington in identifying environmental issues where the investment community can contribute to innovative solutions. There are critical adaptation needs society will face in a warmer world, and leading-edge companies that are already working on addressing those needs.

Our scientists and policy experts are also translating key climate data, models, and analyses into insights in ways that make it easier to consider the impacts of climate change in asset management and financial markets. Wellington Management incorporates these insights into portfolio management decisions across the company.

Impact

We are enhancing asset managers’ understanding of climate change from an investment perspective, and engaging them with real climate risk data in an applied, accessible way.

  1. Wellington and Woodwell collaboratively developed a mapping tool which allows Wellington to evaluate all perils of climate risk at an asset or portfolio level.
  2. In collaboration with the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), the partnership notably produced the first-ever guidelines for corporate disclosure of physical climate risk in 2019.
  3. Woodwell and Wellington also jointly launched a set of updated guidelines for corporate climate risk disclosure after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requested public input on the topic.
  4. Inspired by our partnership, Wellington also became a founding member of the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, committing to carbon neutral operations by 2022 and carbon neutral investments by 2050.
  5. As a result of our collaboration, Wellington has started a new fund aimed at investing into climate solutions—the Climate Innovation Fund. This fund invests in new companies that are making contributions to climate mitigation or adaptation, or that are adding critical data to the field.

National and international efforts to combat climate change are not yet close to meeting the severity of the problem; however, states and municipalities are rising to the challenge, working locally to identify solutions that can slow, offset, or facilitate adaptation to climate change.

Martha’s Vineyard, an 87-square-mile island off the southern coast of Massachusetts, is one such example. The Martha’s Vineyard Commission Climate Action Task Force (CATF) has embarked on developing an Island-wide climate action plan that includes a range of scientific and engineering studies designed to support climate-smart land management and risk reduction strategies.

Our Work

In collaboration with the CATF and Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, a local Vineyard land trust, Woodwell scientists are launching a comprehensive study with goals to:

  1. Understand the potential of natural climate solutions—cost-effective approaches to mitigating climate change through improved land stewardship—to increase the carbon sequestration potential of the Vineyard’s forests, soils, and wetlands. Key questions include: How much additional carbon can the Vineyard’s natural and working lands sequester?  Where can improved land management practices lead to emissions reductions?
  2. Evaluate the risks to Vineyard communities from climate-driven natural hazards. Key questions include: What hazards pose the greatest risk? What parts of the Island are most threatened? Can these risks be mitigated and what will potential interventions cost?

Impact

The results of this study will be incorporated into a series of guidance documents on best practices for realizing natural climate solutions across the Vineyard’s forested, agricultural, coastal, and managed lands as well as in a set of risk assessments to address the threats from climate-driven natural hazards facing the six Vineyard towns. These findings will be used to inform local action around sound and sustainable decision making across a range of industries including construction, agriculture, and landscaping.

Beyond Martha’s Vineyard, this initiative can serve as a model for communities motivated to do more in their own backyards to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Arctic T-SLIP is supported by a 2-yr planning grant by the Office of Polar Programs at the National Science Foundation, awards #2338010, 2338012, & 2338011 and Woodwell Climate Research Center’s Fund for Climate Solutions

 

Landslides are a massive disturbance in terrestrial ecosystems—but along coastlines, the movement of tons of rock and soil into the water can generate tsunamis, posing life-threatening risks to nearby communities. Unfortunately, thawing permafrost and glacial melt have increased the potential for these types of dangerous events.

 

Our work

Arctic T-SLIP brings together experts from academia, government agencies, and local communities to increase our understanding and preparedness of landslide-generated tsunamis in regions affected by thawing permafrost and/or melting glaciers. It is our mission to:

The partnership evolved from a group of scientists discovering the large unstable slope in Barry Arm, Prince William Sound, Alaska in the spring of 2020. The discovery spurred the federal government to fund investigations into the hazard by increasing the USGS’ national landslide program funds. The State of Alaska also established a monitoring program and a website to inform and update the public.

 

Planning Project Goal

By the end of 2026, Arctic T-SLIP will coordinate a nested group of individual research proposals to the NSF Office of Polar Programs (via their Large Project Support) on landslides and landslide-generated tsunami hazards. This will include:

 

Arctic T-SLIP welcomes new collaborators. Please submit your interest here to join. Activities in 2025 and 2026 will include monthly webinar series, community visits, and workshops.

 

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Award Nos. 2338010, 2338012, and 2338011. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

In addition to pioneering new technologies and leading breakthrough research on Arctic warming and weather patterns, Dr. Jennifer Francis is also an award-winning science communicator. Ever since her 2012 paper first introduced the concept that Arctic warming could alter the jet stream and yield more extreme weather events, Dr. Francis has been writing, speaking, and testifying to different audiences and organizations to underscore the gravity of Arctic warming and the societal risks of the climate crisis.

With articles published in Scientific American, The Old Farmers’ Almanac, Elridge’s Tide and Pilot Book, The Conversation, The Hill, and numerous other outlets, Dr. Francis’ conversations about climate and extreme weather have engaged a broad public audience. She has presented to various types of groups, from teachers associations to White House staffers, and contributed to videos and docuseries like Eli Kintisch’s After the Ice and Rainn Wilson’s An Idiot’s Guide to Climate Change. She was tapped to contribute to Greta Thunberg’s new book, The Climate Book, and appeared in various documentaries, including Earth Emergency. Dr. Francis’ focus on science communication extends to policymakers as well. She testified to the U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Security in 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, & Technology in 2019, and the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works in 2013.

Dr. Francis’ excellence in climate communications was recognized by the American Geophysical Union when she received the union’s Climate Science Communication Prize in 2020. She is frequently asked by major media outlets to provide expertise on various topics related to climate and extreme weather, and she takes every opportunity to apply her knowledge of weather and Arctic expertise in combination with her communications skills to stress the dire urgency of climate action.