The Municipal Bond Market and Climate Adaptation

• In Event: The Politics of Adaptation Governance: Emerging Sub-National Challenges

Abstract

Adaptation plans enhance the economic resilience of cities in the face of extreme weather events. Do municipal bond rating agencies reward cities with membership in voluntary programs focused on adaptation? We examine a panel of 80 US cities for the period 1995-2018, focusing on three city-level programs: ICLEI, C40, and RC100. We find that only RC100 members, the program with the most explicit adaptation focus, have superior bond ratings in relation to non-members.

Authors

• Aseem Prakash, University of Washington

• Inhwan Ko, University of Washington