Drawing on six case studies, this policy brief analyzes a variety of financing mechanisms that states are using to improve property-level resilience, with a focus on scaling IBHS FORTIFIED Roof™ adoption. The brief identifies common program design features and lessons for states seeking to reduce future hazard losses, strengthen insurance markets, and protect public finances.

Unlike some states, Alabama does not have a statewide building code. Instead, the coastal counties of Baldwin and Mobile have adopted a building code supplement that brings local construction requirements closer to Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety FORTIFIED Roof™ standards. This case study demonstrates that resilience financing does not always require creating an entirely new financial instrument.

Following the massive impact of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Florida established some of the nation’s strongest building codes for mitigating hurricane and wind damage. While most of these programs are not explicitly centered on Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety FORTIFIED Roof™ certification, they have created the underlying contractor networks, consumer awareness, inspection infrastructure, and insurance incentive systems that make more advanced resilience standards increasingly viable.

Louisiana faces some of the highest hurricane and wind-related property risks in the United States. It also has a substantial share of older housing—particularly in coastal areas—that predates modern, post–Hurricane Katrina wind-resistance standards. In response to repeated storm losses and growing insurance market stress, the state developed a set of resilience-oriented financing and policy tools designed to expand adoption of the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety FORTIFIED Roof™ standard and related mitigation measures.

North Carolina is among the most hurricane-exposed states in the United States, with extensive coastal development and a large stock of aging housing vulnerable to wind-driven rain and roof failure. This case study illustrates how North Carolina has funded property-level risk reduction without relying on homeowners to fully shoulder the increased costs.

Oklahoma’s Strengthen Oklahoma Homes (SOH) program, publicly called OKReady, is the state’s primary approach to financing property-level roof retrofits for wind and hail risk. Oklahoma’s model relies on regulator-controlled insurance sector fee revenue administered through the state insurance department. This creates a dedicated mitigation funding pathway tied to the state’s insurance regulatory system rather than to general appropriations or insurer-owned surplus.

This case study explores an emerging resilience finance concept in which future reductions in insurance claims are treated as a potential repayment stream for upfront investments in stronger roofs. While the pilot has not yet been fully implemented, the underlying structure is sufficiently novel to warrant examination as a potential new model for financing property-level risk reduction.

Many natural resource professionals are turning to finance, especially private sector finance, as a potential complement to traditional grant funding. This primer is an introductory overview for those interested in using finance to support conservation, restoration, and other nature-based solutions.

Ben Weintraut, a Duke University Ph.D. candidate and an affiliated researcher at the Nicholas Institute, testified before the Energy Commission of Virginia about the economics of electric utility mergers. The presentation offered the commission considerations for evaluating the short- and long-term benefits that NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy claim a merger of the two companies would offer.

Meeting climate targets requires an eightfold rise in lithium demand and a doubling of magnet rare earth demand by 2040, according to the International Energy Association. The primary constraint is the midstream processing stages, where China controls 60% to 70% of lithium conversion and more than 85% of rare earth separation.

Many Global South countries and companies within them are trying to expand their processing capability. Yet, many of these actors lack understanding of the latest research, development, and innovation in critical mineral processing.