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20 States With the Biggest Risk of Flooding

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Source: Michael B. Thomas / Getty Images

Among the major natural disasters, floods are the deadliest, and are the most common of all weather-related natural disasters in the United States. They kill more people each year than hurricanes, tornadoes, or lightning. Though they can happen almost anywhere, floods most often happen along rivers and coasts – and the likelihood of both types is rising in some parts of the country, apparently because of climate change.

NASA predicts that, due to global warming, hurricanes will increase in intensity. The more intense rainfall and stronger winds, combined with higher storm surge caused by rising seas, will likely increase flood risk for communities along the coast, NASA notes. Other common causes of flood such as heavy rain, snow melts, and storm surges are also greatly impacted by climate change. (Also see, the 18 separate billion dollar weather and climate disasters in 2022.)

Along rivers and streams, too, floods have generally become larger and more frequent in some parts of the country and decreased in others, coinciding with changing weather patterns. Floods have become larger across the Northeast and the Midwest and have increased in frequency in the Northeast, Pacific Northwest, and northern Great Plains, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. 

To find the states Americans should leave because of high flood risks, 24/7 Wall St. used the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network to calculate the area of each state designated EPA Flood Hazard Area – areas that have a 1% annual chance of coastal or riverine flooding based on the 100-year flood zone – as of 2020. 

In Louisiana, where nearly 42% of the state is designated as at risk of flood, the EPA warns that in the coming decades, rising sea level is likely to accelerate coastal erosion caused today by sinking land and human activities. In fact, Louisiana has been losing about 25 square miles of land per year in recent decades. Much of New Orleans and other populated areas in the state are already below sea level and are protected by levees and pumping systems. With a higher sea level, these may be overtopped more often during storms. (See where New Orleans ranks on the worst cities to live as climate change gets worse.)

While in Florida, which is mostly susceptible to coastal flooding due to tropical storms, 32% of the state is designated special flood hazard area, millions of people live in areas at risk of flood. Miami-Dade County, in particular, has a high risk coastal flooding, but areas inland as well. Yet despite the risk of flood, development has been rapid and often sits on top of previous fields and marshes, an NPR analysis reveals.

Click here to see the 20 states with the highest risk of flooding.

Click here to read our detailed methodology.

U.S.-China climate relations restart with green shipping deal; plus, net-zero lawsuits begin

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Source: Art Wager / Getty Images

(A native of England, veteran journalist Matthew Diebel has worked at NBC News, Time, USA Today and News Corp., among other organizations.)

A childhood memory, a current-day dream

When I was a boy, my father and I used to enjoy going up onto a fortress-topped hill near our vacation house on the Channel Island of Alderney and watching the ships go by. And there were many, because we were overlooking the southern shipping lane of the English Channel, the waters between France and England that form the busiest waterway in the world.

There were a few ocean liners, such as the Queen Mary, the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Elizabeth 2, which sailed by on their way to and from the U.S. But mostly it was large cargo boats and oil tankers making their way to ports such as London and Rotterdam.

And, boy, did they belch smoke. In fact, when the wind was headed our way, we could smell the acrid fumes from the heavy oil used to power their engines, emissions that make up about 3% of the world’s total.

Long an ignored and/or overlooked contributor to carbon pollution, the shipping sector is now getting more focus, though the efforts are still somewhat hampered by complex multi-national maritime laws that must go through many hurdles to be changed. However, one initiative has emerged which shows promise in making changes…

Subscribe to Callaway Climate Insights to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

By David Callaway

US Cities Where Hurricanes Would Cause the Most Damage

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Source: GCShutter / E+ via Getty Images

The Atlantic hurricane season begins on June 1, with the U.S. National Oceanic and Administration projecting an “near-normal” one. But even an average hurricane season can be highly destructive and catastrophic. 

Hurricanes that threaten the United States form in the North Atlantic Basin and pose a perennial risk to communities along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. According to a recent report from CoreLogic — a property information, analytics, and data provider — nearly 8 million single-family homes are at risk of storm surge damage from hurricanes, and over 31 million homes are at risk of damage from hurricane winds nationwide. These risks are disproportionately shouldered by metropolitan areas along the Eastern Seaboard and along the Gulf of Mexico.

Using data from CoreLogic’s 2021 Hurricane Report, 24/7 Wall St. identified the 15 cities where hurricanes would cause the most damage. Metro areas are ranked by the number of single-family homes at risk of storm surge damage. 

Over one third of the metro areas on this list are located in Florida. Another three are in Louisiana, and two are located in the Northeastern United States. Each of these places has faced the threat of major hurricane damage in recent decades — some have narrowly dodged the worst devastation, while others, like New Orleans in 2005, have not been so lucky. Here is a look at the before and after pictures of the worst hurricanes in American history. 

Click here to see the US cities where hurricanes would cause the most damage

To determine the cities where hurricanes could cause the most damage, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data on hurricane risk in metropolitan areas along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts from CoreLogic’s 2021 Hurricane Report. CoreLogic is a property information, analytics, and data provider. Metropolitan areas were ranked based on the number of single-family residential structures less than four stories at moderate or greater risk of damage from storm surge flooding in the 2021 hurricane season. Supplemental data on the estimated reconstruction cost value of the at-risk homes also came from CoreLogic and includes the cost of materials, equipment, and labor that would result from reconstruction of these homes after 100% destruction. Data on population for each metro area came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey and are one-year estimates.

A silver lining in the failure of climate resolutions at the oil giants

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Source: zodebala / iStock Unreleased via Getty Images

The failure of shareholder climate resolutions designed to reduce pollution from the oil giants in the U.S. and Europe in the past two weeks has left climate activists depressed and slowed any momentum on Wall Street — if there really ever was any — to push for a faster energy transition away from fossil fuels.

But behind the headlines of weak climate votes at Exxon $XOM , Chevron $CVX , Shell $SHEL and BP $BP , the transition is quietly picking up speed. Exxon announced a deal with steel company Nucor $NUE this week to capture up to 800,000 tons of carbon from one of its steel plants — the third big carbon capture deal for Exxon since October and the fourth big deal in the industry in the past few weeks.

The oil giants are also increasingly adding renewable power to their arsenals, even as they continue producing oil at a reckless pace. Shell announced plans this week to buy 12 solar projects in Spain to boost its solar power business.

These may be small deals now, but they will pile up and grow larger over time. At some point, an oil giant will buy a major wind company or solar company, and these small deals will start to make sense. At the same time, the nascent carbon capture industry will shift to the oil companies, just as the electric vehicle business is beginning to shift to the major automakers.

Shareholders of these oil companies have clearly voted in favor of profit and more drilling — even as oil prices fall this year. But just like the tech companies, the search is always on for the next major revenue stream. And it’s not going to be oil much longer.

Why Latin America is unlikely to form an OPEC-like cartel for lithium

. . . . Hoping to ride the wave of its massive lithium deposits as the mineral is sought after for use in electric vehicle batteries, Chile announced plans last month to nationalize its lithium mines, and even floated the idea of a lithium cartel with neighboring Bolivia and Argentina. But our Latin America correspondent Mike Molinski doubts that lithium can become the successful product that drove oil producers to create OPEC, or that the three countries have stable political economies enough to compete with other big lithium producers such as China and Australia. . . .

Read the full column

Thursday’s subscriber insights

Climate change causing more deaths on Mount Everest

. . . . . As many as 17 people have died this year attempting to climb Mount Everest, and Nepal’s head of tourism says variable weather and climate change are part of the reason this will be one of the deadliest years on record. Read more. . . .

Lucid shares fall 15% as Saudi rescue seen on hold

. . . . Shares of Lucid Motors, which have been in a freefall since February, plunged another 15% on Thursday after the electric vehicle maker raised $3 billion in a stock offering, which included a private placement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The $1.8 billion placement kept the Saudi fund’s holdings in Lucid $LCID at just over 60%, disappointing investors who had hoped earlier this year that the fund would simply take over the struggling company.

Lucid has plenty of runway left, more than $3 billion in cash and credit lines. It has said production of its sleek new EVs is increasing, so this will be a pivotal year. EV demand is growing, but the smaller EV makers such as Lucid face enormous production obstacles in competing with the likes of Ford Motor $F and Tesla $TSLA .

An eventual Saudi takeover of the company, or brokering of a deal to a larger automaker, looks likely. But investors brave enough to hold on will have to wait a little bit longer. . . .

Making energy from the Earth’s humidity, like lightning, under study

. . . . An exciting new possibility for the generation of green power is the possibility of harvesting electricity from the Earth’s humidity. It is already proven to a certain extent in lightning strikes; now scientists are trying to figure out how to plug into what could be a vast natural resource that is constant (unlike wind and sunlight). Read more here. . . .

EU votes to require climate reporting, transition plans from large companies

. . . . The European Parliament formally voted Thursday on a law to require climate disclosure reporting from the largest companies, including so-called Scope 3 reporting of their emissions of their supply chains. The law, a long time in coming, also will require companies to detail their transition plans to renewable energy.

The vote, which was expected to pass by a large margin, puts Europe firmly ahead of a divided U.S. on climate reporting and transition. Because so many large U.S. companies already compile and report similar information to comply with European regulations, the move to this type of reporting will inevitably come to the U.S. as well, though not without a messy political circus about climate change beforehand. . . .

Editor’s picks: PG&E fire settlement; EU’s ‘hydrogen bank’ to spur development

PG&E settles in fatal fire lawsuit

During a windstorm in late September of 2020, a gray pine fell on a power line in Northern California’s Shasta County. The resulting fire killed four people, destroyed more than 200 buildings and blazed through 56,000 acres. Blame for the Zogg fire, as it was called, was placed at the feet of the state’s beleaguered utility, Pacific Gas & Electric $PCG — which has faced numerous other civil and criminal complaints in recent years, most alleging the company didn’t properly maintain equipment and vegetation. This week, a Shasta County judge dismissed criminal charges against PG&E for its role in the Zogg fire. The tentative court order found no evidence the company’s inspections fell below industry standards. However, PG&E will pay $50 million in a related civil settlement; $45 million will go to nonprofits and other local support organizations. Another $5 million will go to Shasta County. This deal follows a settlement PG&E made with California’s Public Utilities Commission two weeks ago related to the Zogg fire. The utility agreed to pay a total of $150 million in that case — $10 million will be paid as a penalty to California’s General Fund, and $140 million in shareholder funds will be invested for new wildfire mitigation initiatives designed to cut fire risk. PG&E will also implement several new vegetation management systems in high fire risk areas, according to the CPUC.

EU plans ‘market maker’ hydrogen funding auctions

The European Commission and the region’s hydrogen developers are getting ready for the first funding auction later this year, in a move to help achieve production targets by the end of the decade. According to a post for S&P Global Market Intelligence, the EC has created the European Hydrogen Bank, “designed to bridge and lower the cost gap between renewable hydrogen and fossil fuels for early projects, with producers competing for a fixed price per kilogram of hydrogen for a maximum of 10 years.” The goal is to reach 10 million metric tons of domestic green hydrogen per year by 2030, as well as another 10 MMt/y of imports. According to the S&P report, the first auction, backed by €800 million from the EU and its member states, is scheduled for later this year but will need to be followed by larger auctions if the EU’s hydrogen targets are to be met.

Explain that: Seeing REDD

. . . . Avoiding deforestation is one way to mitigate emissions and encourage sustainable development. REDD+ stands for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and it’s part of an “effort to create financial value for the carbon stored in forests, offering incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development,” according to the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change. “REDD+ goes beyond deforestation and forest degradation, and includes the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. The concept was first introduced in 2005 in the 11th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) in Montreal and later given greater recognition in the 13th Session of the COP in 2007 at Bali and inclusion in the Bali Action Plan, which called for ‘policy approaches and positive incentives on issues relating to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD) and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stock in developing countries.’” Since then, support for REDD has increased and has slowly become a framework for action. Read more in the IPCC glossary. . . .

Words to live by . . . .

We can produce imagery to share the beauty of the oceans and what is there to protect. We can also expose the truths about overharvest, climate change, and habitat loss to give oceans a voice. — Photographer David Doubilet.

By David Callaway

Companies With the Worst Reputations

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Source: Graeme Robertson / Getty Images News via Getty Images

It can take years for a company to build a good reputation, and just one misstep to ruin it. Businesses lose a positive image for a variety of reasons: bad customer service, shoddy merchandise, mistreatment of employees, or company scandals. Once a company is saddled with a bad reputation, it can be difficult to return to the public’s good graces.

To identify the  20 companies with the worst reputations, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 2023 Axios Harris Poll. Axios and Harris Poll produce the survey to gauge the reputation of the most visible brands in America. This year’s rankings are based on a survey of 16,310 Americans from a nationally representative sample conducted March 13-28, 2023. Companies’ scores were aggregated from totals in nine categories: Character, trajectory, trust, culture, ethics, citizenship, vision, growth, and products and service.

Seven industry sectors are represented by more than one company on our list. Two groups have three businesses cited: dollar stores and social media companies.

Dollar General, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree are billion-dollar brands dominating the discount/value retail space, often in low-income neighborhoods. They have also been accused of exploiting low-paid labor. (On the other hand, these 19 executives pay themselves more than $150 million a year.)

Social media companies TikTok, Meta, and Twitter have been embroiled in controversies involving how they use personal user data and misinformation. 

Several oil and gas exploration companies with oil spills and misleading claims about climate change are featured on the list as well, as are several fast-food establishments cited for food quality issues. Also, financial institutions such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo continue to live down scandals from their recent past. (Also see, 20 banks still pouring billions into the fossil fuel industry.)

Fashion businesses Shein and Balenciaga have been in hot water for abusing their workers and running controversial campaigns that exploited children. Meanwhile, instability and corruption in the cryptocurrency sector landed Bitcoin and FTX on the Axios Harris Poll list as well.

Click here to see the companies with the worst reputations.

Why Latin America is unlikely to form an OPEC-like cartel for lithium

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Source: simonkr / E+ via Getty Images

(Michael Molinski is a senior economist at Trendline Economics. He’s worked for Fidelity, Charles Schwab and Wells Fargo, and previously as a foreign correspondent and editor for Bloomberg News and MarketWatch.)

SANTIAGO, Chile (Callaway Climate Insights) — Chile, the world’s second-largest producer of lithium, announced plans last month to bring the industry under state control. Bolivia, Argentina and Chile have already hinted at creating a cartel that would oversee the production and prices of lithium, much like the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Brazil, Peru and Mexico may join, too.

But there’s one thing holding back from making those dreams a reality — demand.

Unlike oil, lithium is not a transactional commodity. You can’t pump your gas tank full of lithium…

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By David Callaway

Manhattan is sinking; plus, the hidden flood dangers of plastic bags

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Source: GCShutter / E+ via Getty Images

(A native of England, veteran journalist Matthew Diebel has worked at NBC News, Time, USA Today and News Corp., among other organizations.)

In 2019, I was fortunate to have time off to take a 10-week trip to Southeast Asia. One of the places I visited was Cambodia, in particular the mind-altering group of temples called Angkor Wat.

Having bonded with several fellow backpackers, we decided to take a boat ride on Tonlé Sap, a large lake south of the complex. It is very picturesque and known for its floating villages and houses on stilts. “What a marvelous place,” I thought as we navigated the patch of water, which flows into the giant Mekong River.

That was until we got close to the edge, where we saw thousands of plastic bags and other detritus hanging on the vegetation. It was astounding. Pink bags. Brown ones. Red. Green. Blue. White. Clear. Such a sad sight in such a beautiful place.

The origins were obvious: In nearby Siem Reap we saw shoppers at markets filling the flimsy sacks with local fruits and vegetables. Then, either because of carelessness or lack of organized trash collection — or both — the bags ended up in Tonlé Sap.

A pity, you might say, but, apart from its unsightliness, what’s the harm? That is until you read a report from Resource Futures, an environmental consultancy, and Tearfund, an international Christian charity, which details how plastic waste causes and exacerbates flooding…

Subscribe to Callaway Climate Insights to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

By David Callaway

Companies With the Best Reputations

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Source: Scott Olson / Getty Images

Some of the most favored companies offer high-quality and innovative products, prioritize customer service, operate ethically, and in some cases speak up on some political or social issues.

To identify the 20 companies with the best reputations, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 2023 Axios Harris Poll. Axios and Harris Poll produce the survey to gauge the reputation of the most visible brands in America. This year’s rankings are based on a survey of 16,310 Americans from a nationally representative sample conducted March 13-28, 2023. Companies’ scores were aggregated from totals in nine categories: Character, trajectory, trust, culture, ethics, citizenship, vision, growth, and products and service.

The technology sector accounts for a large portion of the U.S. economy, and tech companies are among the businesses with the best reputations. HP, Microsoft, and Apple all rank in the top 20 companies for overall reputation and have scores at 80 or above in the Axios Harris Poll products and services category. Still, even at the best company not all products are a smashing success. Here are the 25 biggest product flops of the last 10 years.

Three other technology companies rank in the top 20 but are not American based, with Samsung, which ranks seventh overall and the highest among tech companies, topping 80 in seven categories. Similarly, the three automobile companies among the 20 with the best overall reputation are businesses headquartered in Asian nations. All three score higher than 80 in products and services.

Price club Costco is one of three retailers on the list, and ranks first among all companies in the trust, culture, and growth categories. Overall, it ranks second. Costco and heavy equipment manufacturer John Deere, which overall ranks third, exceeds 80 in eight of nine categories. It appears that no young company has yet to manage to build enough of a reputation to rank among the companies on this list. Here are the youngest companies in the Fortune 500.

Two companies have scores of 80 or better in all nine categories: USAA, a finance firm serving military members and their families, and Patagonia, an outdoor clothing retailer. While USAA ranks ninth overall despite its high scores in each category, Patagonia ranks first. 

Patagonia, which ranked third last year, tops all others in the products and services, trajectory, citizenship, and ethics categories. The Ventura, California-based business has been an outspoken supporter of environmental causes, condemned hate speech on social media, and has donated to voting rights groups.

Click here to see companies with the best reputations.

California’s fossil fuel investment ban as reckless as Florida, Texas laws

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Source: ronniechua / iStock via Getty Images

In today’s edition:

— A proposed ban on oil investments in California flips anti-ESG backlash on its head
— Insurance companies are reacting to global warming with their feet; we’ll all feel the cost
— Norway’s top fund may be the last to challenge oil giant climate strategies
— United Nation bringing its 2025 climate conference to Brazil, Lula says
— Why wildfires aren’t just for the U.S. West anymore

Forget the anti-ESG backlash in Florida and Texas.

A proposed new law to ban California’s massive pension funds from new investments in fossil fuel companies and require eventual divestment of oil and gas holdings is simply the same intolerance at the opposite extreme of the climate battle.

Requiring large investment funds to reduce the tools they use to get the best investment returns for their clients and retirees — either by not using environmental, social, or governance strategies or by not investing in a specific sector, such as oil — is just partisan politics working against the interests of investors.

Both of California’s largest pensions, CalPERS and CalSTRS, are against the proposal, which passed the state senate last week and is expected to be signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. They argue that the law will cut their ability to fund their obligations to state workers and that divestment takes away their ability to influence the oil companies as they transition to renewable energy.

As we can see from the reaction in climate camps to President Joe Biden’s debt-ceiling deal over the weekend, there are lots of opposing forces in the climate fight. But whatever your agenda, restricting the ability of fund managers to get the best returns for their customers is a losing bet every time. . . .

Subscribe to Callaway Climate Insights to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

By David Callaway

American Cities With the Most Contaminated Water

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Source: Kat72 / Getty Images

Access to clean water is limited in many nations around the world, but even in the United States, water quality is an issue. Contamination from chemical toxins, heavy metals, and microbial pathogens has affected water supplies from coast to coast. (These are the companies polluting our water the most.)

Most recently, Flint, Michigan, and Jackson, Mississippi, have been in the news for this problem. From April 2014 to June 2016, Flint’s water was deemed extremely dangerous to drink. Last summer, flooding in Jackson triggered a warning that drinking water there was risky, and residents were told to boil water before they use it.

In March 2022 when the EPA made an unprecedented move: It put forth a groundbreaking proposal for the establishment of the inaugural national drinking water standard. This standard aims to address the perilous presence of six synthetic chemicals that pose a significant threat to human health.

To compile a list of the 30 American cities with the most contaminated water, 24/7 Tempo reviewed data collected by WaterFilterGuru, a site that tests and reports on water filtration products. Using data from the Environmental Working Group, an activist NGO, analyzing water quality in 70 cities across the U.S., the site created an index giving a weight of 20 to the number of contaminants that exceed EWG health guidelines, total contaminants, and violations issued in each quarter from April 2019 to March 2021. Other factors, such as the levels of specific contaminants in the water, drawn from the environmental testing and data site SimpleLab, were given a weight of 8.

Click here to see the American cities with the most contaminated water

The specific hazardous contaminants vary among cities. Among the notable chemicals found to be concerning are bromodichloromethane, total haloacetic acids, total THMs (trihalomethanes), and chloroform. These substances have been associated with an increased risk of developing cancer in various organs. (These are the most common cancers in America, and their survival rates.)

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