Our seas and sky act together to warm the Earth’s surface to habitable temperatures and level out the perpetual imbalance in solar radiation received at the Equator and the poles. But because both systems convey such a massive amount of energy, they are also the wellspring of many of the most important perils that endanger life and property. And now that we humans have altered substantially the makeup of both the atmosphere and the ocean, we should not expect them to act the same in the future as they have in the past.
The Weather & Climate Hub continues to help chart the course for research on the Earth’s climate system at WTW and connect our colleagues and clients with top-tier experts in meteorology, climatology, and natural hazards. Our research portfolio is also expanding to understand and anticipate the social and economic effects of both sudden weather-related disasters, and chronic environmental problems caused, or made worse, by climate change. On top of all that, our team is looking beyond physical hazards to diagnose potential pitfalls along the road to carbon neutrality and Net Zero emissions and to survey the emerging landscapes of climate law and liability.
Owing to WTW’s origins in the insurance and reinsurance industries, our Hub sponsors an impressive roster of projects directed at severe storms. Together with our academic and government partners, we are building better physical models for tropical cyclones, creating new methods to gauge the risks of tornado outbreaks and extreme windstorms, and mapping the prospect of severe hailstorms over the entire globe. We are also working to identify novel threats to human health such as dangerously high heat, and to leverage expertise in weather prediction to produce advance warnings of impending food insecurity, particularly those affecting children.
