Fresh on the success of modelling extreme heat and wind events for Qatar 2022 and supporting the development of
climate-proofed design for Expo 2020 in Dubai, the team at CLIMsystems has assisted one the United States' most at-risk
communities to understand its climate risk better.
Broward County on Florida’s Atlantic coast and just north of Miami-Dade County required a thorough assessment of future
rainfall patterns to drive regulatory changes and planning. With a population of nearly 2 million and exposure to
hurricanes and other extreme rainfall events, the matter of considering climate change in flood modelling was high on
their list of priorities. The Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact and strong grass-roots community
recognised the issues. The spotlight then fell on Dr Carolina Maran, the then Water Resource Manager for the County, to
pull together a respected team to conduct a climate change assessment to support decision making. That is when Geosyntec
Consultants who were contracted to do the flood modelling for the County contacted CLIMsystems for assistance. Needless
to say, there is intense international interest in Southern Florida and its exposure to climate risks.
Over two months, CLIMsystems interacted closely with staff from Geosyntec Consultants, Dr Maran and more than 20
scientific and government stakeholders. The company's brief was to review all the statistical and dynamically downscaled
trends available for the County and assess their applicability for use in modelling future rainfall patterns to drive
flood modelling. With considerable diligence and excellent communication between stakeholders, the client and
CLIMsystems the company submitted two reports in December 2019. One clearly explained the known biases in all the
downscaled models against raw global climate model data. In the second report CLIMsystems devised and defended what is
known as a super ensemble approach to output generation representing best industry practice. In the final on-line
meeting with the County, Geosyntec Consulting, other stakeholders including representatives of Florida’s climate
scientific community, CLIMsystems led the group to the acceptance of a series of actionable outputs for flood modeling
that respected future climate risk.
In early January Dr Maran presented the results generated by CLIMsystems to the Broward County Technical Advisory Board.
Dr Maran summarised the Board's review with the statement that "its members were very impressed by the results and the
recommended steps to incorporate the projections into new standards. I am very confident we have robust science-based
results, which constitute significant progress to advance discussions in the South Florida region, and particularly in
Broward.”
With over 200 projects delivered around the world and in New Zealand, CLIMsystems is a world leader with vast experience
working in the space between complex climate data and critical decision making. The company’s next client meeting is
with key Ministers in Botswana. CLIMsystems recently completed a ground-breaking assessment of sectoral tipping points
in Botswana with either a 1.5, 2.0- or 3.0-degree Celsius change in their local mean temperature. Following that will be
discussions held in France with one of the world’s largest insurance providers on supply chains and climate risks.
CLIMsystems is actively pursuing projects in New Zealand that will apply our extensive international experience.
CLIMsystems has fostered a strong relationship with Special Counsel Mark Baker-Jones of Simpson and Grierson and his
climate team, and Climate Planning headed by governance expert Donovan Burton. Collectively, and with support from
Waikato Regional Council, Toitū Envirocare, Watercare Services Ltd, Prof Catherine Iorns of Victoria University, among others, the trio coordinated and ran the
first of a series of workshops In Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch on climate policy, governance and the transition
to a zero-carbon economy.
#climaterisk #climateadaptation #floridaclimate #floridaflooding