ON June 30, 2020, the U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis brought needed attention to the importance of resilient construction and stronger building as part of their “Solving the Climate Crisis: Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America” report.
Since the global insurance industry is at huge risk of catastrophic financial failure as a result of rapidly-increasing climate-related disasters, the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) applauded the Committee for highlighting the critical role of community resilience as a pillar of climate adaptation.
“Crucial to the long-term need to adapt, the Committee’s report demands a focus now on serving minority and low-income communities to strengthen homes and better prepare for climate change. We are not powerless against severe weather,” said Roy Wright, president and CEO of IBHS.
“Adaptation is a sound fiscal strategy, public health objective and humanitarian obligation to prepare today for tomorrow’s disasters,” he added.
Investing in resilience through pre-disaster mitigation will better position communities for future disasters from coast to coast, from hurricanes to wildfires. Establishing resilience programs can reduce the number of damaged homes and businesses and minimize adverse impacts on lives and families.
“The Congressional Action Plan lays the foundation for resilience to become an integral part of community planning. IBHS will continue to deliver top-tier science to deepen our understanding of the built environment and its performance in the face of natural disasters,” Wright continued.
Two standards for resilient construction, IBHS’s FORTIFIED Home™ and FORTIFIED Commercial™ programs, embody how research can be translated into meaningful actions that can drive down preventable loss. FORTIFIED Home has been shown to save $5 for every $1 invested, according to the National Institutes for Building Sciences.
“We will continue to work with partners to educate, inform and help communities adapt to the challenges and risks they face through stronger, more resilient building. The success of affordable resilience programs like Habitat for Humanity’s Habitat Strong program have paved the way and demonstrated what is possible. Recognizing the importance of protecting the homes and financial security of low to moderate income Americans, other national nonprofits, including Team Rubicon and SBP, are incorporating FORTIFIED into their building designs,” Wright concluded.
In October 2019, Wright presented invited testimony to the Committee during the hearing on “Solving the Climate Crisis: Cleaner, Stronger Buildings.” Wright addressed the need for action today to reduce losses from future natural disasters and called for cost-effective solutions to strengthen buildings, to educate home and business owners on the importance of their roofs and to strengthen and enforce building codes to narrow the path of damage resulting from future disasters by creating a more resilient nation.
Photo of tornado damage in Oklahoma by David Mark from Pixabay.