Zillow removed climate risk scores. This climate expert is restoring them.
In this way, today’s climate risk models are better suited to characterize “the broad risk environment,” said Chris Field, director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. “The more detailed you are in space or time, the less precise your projections are. »
Matouka’s California Climate Risks plugin is designed to communicate what it calls “existing potential risks in the region,” not specific real estate risks.
Although the results of climate risk models often differ, achieving greater accuracy will depend on transparency, said Jesse Gourevitch, an economist at the Environmental Defense Fund. California is unique because much of the available public data is open to the public. Replicating Matouka’s plugin for other states will likely be more difficult.
Private data companies present a specific challenge. They make money from their models and are reluctant to share their methods. “A lot of these private sector models tend not to be very transparent and it can be difficult to understand what types of data or methodologies they use,” Gourevitch said.
Matouka’s plugin includes publicly available data from California state and federal agencies, detailed methods for which are readily available online. Overall, experts tend to agree on the usefulness of private and public data sources for climate risk data, although improvements are needed.
“People who make decisions involving risk benefit from exposure to as many credible estimates as possible, and exposure to independent, credible estimates adds a lot of additional value,” Field said.
As for Matouka, its plugin is still in beta testing. He said he appreciates the feedback as he develops the tool and assesses its readiness for widespread use. The beta version is available here.
Claire Barber is a member of Inside Climate News and a master’s student in journalism at Stanford University. She is an environmental and outdoor journalist, primarily covering the Southwest and Western United States. His writing has appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, Outside, Powder Magazine, Field & Stream, Trails Magazine, and more. She loves getting lost in the woods looking for a hot spring, hiking to remote campsites, and banana slugs.
This story was originally published on Inside Climate News.
