California’s coastal communities face growing, climate-driven threats, including rising seas and frequent flooding, which impact both coastal ecosystems and the people who depend on them. The multi-trillion dollar insurance industry, which increasingly views these same coastal-climate impacts as unchecked risks, can also be a tool for mitigating these risks if activated through climate adaptation efforts.

Ocean Science Trust signed a memorandum of agreement with California Department of Insurance to provide our science services and support on advancing climate resilient coasts and oceans. Together with other academic and nonprofit partners, OST is deploying science-based dialogues to bring the power and financial weight of the insurance industry to bear on building climate resilience for California. In a sequence of convenings, ranging from international dialogues, to statewide symposia, to place-based local workshops, we are bringing together decision-makers, coastal and ocean experts, and insurance industry leaders to design demonstration projects that will equip California with ready-to-go climate insurance programs including nature-based solutions.

We will bring resources and public commitment to demonstration projects and associated research, and create a roadmap for state adoption. California has a unique opportunity to test new policies and programs, to center equity in considering the beneficiaries of this work, and to amplify results and learning nationally and internationally.