Bank of England property expert Jackie Bennett has joined climate risk analytics platform Climate X.
The chair of the Bank’s Residential Property Forum and former UK finance director of mortgages has been brought in for her extensive experience across the regulatory mortgage landscape as Climate X scales its technology for financial institutions and real estate worldwide.
Climate X has created a digital “twin” of the Earth called Spectra, which projects how extreme weather events – such as heatwaves, storms, or flooding – can impact properties or assets decades before they happen.
This will help lenders and real estate firms prepare for climate events and pivot their long-term strategy.
Bennett said she first witnessed the impact of extreme weather over 20 years ago while working with the Association of British Insurers during the floods of 2000-2001.
The flood damaged more than 10,000 properties damaged at an estimated cost of £1bn.
She said: “Foreseeable harm from climate change will have a fundamental impact on mortgages and housing over the coming years and robust climate risk data and modelling will become vital to these industries’ resilience.”
Bennett was awarded an OBE for her contribution to the financial services industry during the global financial crisis in the late 2000s, working with the government to help keep people in their homes.
Climate X chief executive and co-founder Lukky Ahmed said: “The impacts of climate change across the world are now impossible to ignore and the risks to global real estate and infrastructure will continue to increase exponentially.
“Jackie is an impressive leader with an extensive background in the UK’s mortgage and housing market. Her expertise will be invaluable as we scale our product for the real estate sector.”
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