Finance
Satellites Are Helping the Municipal-Bond Market Assess Climate Risk
Investment firms are using spatial data mining to visualize dangers.
An image of the Camp Fire in California captured by Landsat 8 satellite on Nov. 8, 2018.
Source: NASAThis article is for subscribers only.
The $3.8 trillion municipal-bond market has found a new tool in its effort to understand the impact of climate change: the array of satellites orbiting high above Earth.
Assessing climate risks is a particularly vexing problem given that U.S. state and local governments tend to give investors information that’s often too little or just too late. But the use of geospatial data and information from sources like Google Earth could help municipal-bond investors evaluate and price the risks posed from a warming climate, rising sea levels and natural disasters.