PAUL DOUGLAS COMPANY LAUNCHES NEW VENTURE TO HELP BUSINESSES PREPARE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Minneapolis, MN: Twin Cities-based company, Praedictix (majority owned by veteran meteorologist Paul Douglas) is involved in a new venture that merges climate, weather, and corporate sustainability expertise to help businesses plan for and create resiliency against the risks associated with future climate change. Climatrends, based in Minnesota, conducts climate scenario analyses for their clients, which involves the development of different future climate scenarios used in the analysis and planning of the potential risks and opportunities associated with the different climate outcomes.

“Climate volatility is resulting in more weather extremes and disruption, increasing risk for business,” says Paul Douglas, co-founder and Chief Climate Analyst at Climatrends. “At Climatrends, we are leveraging leading experts, while focusing the latest science and models on specific businesses footprints and objectives. We are visualizing a wide range of future climate outcomes and assessing how future trends and shifts will impact operations and investment objectives to ensure long term health and resiliency of the organization.”

After 40 years of analyzing weather and climate as a meteorologist, Douglas became more concerned about climate change and its impact on society in the late 1990s. He paid closer attention to the changing patterns and dug deep into the climate data. “Despite there still being some skeptics out there regarding climate change, one group that is not skeptical are investors, (particularly institutional investors) that invest in large corporations. These investors are very aware of potential climate change impacts and are beginning to request that their portfolio companies understand, assess and report on their climate change risks.”

Susie Martin, General Manager at Climatrends, says, “Climatrends is eager to help inject relevant climate data into future business planning. With improving model resolution and downscaling methods, it is possible to conduct localized climate analyses which provides businesses the ability to focus their attention on areas that are most impacted by future climate change.”

To push the vision forward, the Praedictix team has partnered with longtime corporate sustainability expert and Minnesota native, Josh Prigge. Prigge works with corporations of all sizes to help them develop their sustainability strategies, produce corporate sustainability reports and calculate and manage their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. “Since the launch of the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) in 2017, we have seen an incredible uptick in the number of companies addressing and reporting on climate change risks and opportunities,” Prigge said. “Conducting a climate scenario analysis is a key component to reporting on the eleven TCFD disclosures and Climatrends is one of very few companies that specializes in providing this service.”

Climatrends has recently completed its first climate scenario analysis for Clearway Energy Group, a large renewable energy company that owns and operates utility-scale, community and distributed renewable energy projects throughout the country, including community solar projects in Northfield, Farmington, Wabasha and other cities across Minnesota.

About Climatrends LLC: Climatrends’ team of climate and sustainability experts conducts future climate scenario assessments, analyzing risks and opportunities for organizations and communities. Driven by the TCFD initiative, the climate scenario analysis service allows organizations to better understand future climate risks and opportunities for their business and assess, modify, and implement strategies for adaptation and resilience.

For more information, please visit our website https://climatrends.com/ or email us info@climatrends.com.