Hi Everyone … thanks to SO MANY of you that responded to the 2021-2022 planning survey. I think we’ve gotten a good sample across the FinWx community - certainly enough to catalyze the conversation at our next monthly meeting in a few days. Please let me know if you do not have our next meeting on your calendar. This post sets the stage for Wednesday’s discussion. It’s a doozy!! A very long but hopefully packed with helpful information.
First the meeting info:
AMS FinWxComm Monthly Meeting
Wednesday, April 21 · 3:00 – 4:00pm ET
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/ydm-rrya-wru
Or dial: (US) +1 570-818-2260 PIN: 192 033 288#
Short Read (tldr version)
2021-2022 Priorities:
Here are the initiatives that appear to have “critical mass” for our focus in the year ahead. These each have at least one person who volunteered to lead the effort and a few folks who eagerly volunteered their time.
Podcast for Climate Linked Economics
FinWxRisk Subteam for Mind-the-Gap
Guest Speakers
Case Studies on Climate Linked Economics
Engage Student Forecast Competitions with Financial Use Cases
This agenda will keep us very busy!! I will reach out to folks who indicated high interest in one or more of these initiatives to form subteams.
Side-projects could be:
Some other initiatives received significant interest but didn’t quite reach “critical mass.”
FinWxRisk Subteam for Climate Linked Economics: A campaign for the AMS Annual Meeting, AMS Washington Forum, AMS Summer Community Meeting and Others
Climate Economics and Social Justice
Short videos for FinWx Social Media
Content for Social Media Feeds
Educational Outreach
I suggest we discuss ideas to advance these without formalizing subteams and making them explicit goals for 2021-2022. I would expect some of these ideas may rise again in our 2022 planning sessions and may get more commitment then.
One more thing:
Our committee was asked to submit a “call to action” for the organizers of the 2022 AMS Annual Meeting. I will share a lot more on this in a separate thread but the TLDR is:
Our ideas are being considered for multiple sessions at the 2022 AMS Annual Meeting.
Long Read
Methodology and Results
17 participants responded to the survey … which is great considering that we only have about 20 formal members of the FinWx Committee.
I developed a scoring process whereby “critical mass” required at least one volunteer to lead the initiative (10-points scored for each volunteer to lead) and several folks who indicated they are “very interested and would absolutely volunteer time” (3-points for each) plus those who said they are “interested and will probably volunteer time” (1-point for each).
Here’s the breakdown of the initiatives with critical mass:
Score of 45 for FinWxRisk Subteam for Mind-the-Gap: Collaborate with the AMS Mind the Gap Committee that was formed early this year. This subteam is already co-led by JP and Max (two volunteers to lead).
Score of 25 for Case Studies on Climate Linked Economics: Author a series of case studies. It can be grouped by the industry, by the type of weather risk, by the risk transfer instruments... The point - we need to give people an opportunity to see what has been done already and how.
Score of 20 for Guest Speakers: Invite guests from the financial community (non-meteorologists) to be “guest speakers” at our committee meetings in 2021.
Score of 20 for Podcast for Climate Linked Economics: Each episode would include (1) a professional podcasting host (i.e. a media professional who runs the conversation); (2) someone from the AMS community who is an expert linking weather to some element of financial risk; and (3) someone from outside the AMS community who implements risk management practices based on weather impacts.
Score of 17 for Engaging Student Forecast Competitions with Financial Use Cases: Form a coalition with the "Forecasting Contest" at Rutgers University, University at Albany, Stony Brook University and University of Missouri. The idea would be to engage these contests with a lens on financial risk.
Here are the results for those that didn’t meet the requirement of at least one volunteer to lead along with several other volunteers:
Score of 20 for FinWxRisk Subteam for Climate Linked Economics. This one got a lot of volunteers to contribute time but no one volunteered to lead a subteam. There is a growing weather and climate awareness in the financial services industry. In 2020, we published a call to action and developed a three-part multi-year strategy.1) "Forum (or Summit) on Climate Linked Economics" as part of the 102nd annual AMS Annual Meeting in Houston in January 2022. This is spearheaded by the FinWxRiskComm and will involve submitted papers, invited panels, and an executive "leadership meeting." The conference content is likely to be 1-2 days in length and the "executive leadership" will meet separately (probably a dinner or something) to discuss the market needs and best ways to address these needs by linking the AMS to other professional societies and by linking market participants in non-transactional venues such as conferences, professional education, and thought-leadership opportunities. We envision the attendees for this panning well beyond the AMS community. 2) A followup executive session that is ancillary to the 2022 AMS Washington Forum in April of 2022. Present a session at the AMS Washington Forum to summarize the outcomes and next-steps that stemmed from the Annual meeting. Also, gather a leadership group to discuss strategy for the remainder of 2022 and 2023. How do we attract more market participants to this campaign and what's the best organizational structure to support this community?3) Another followup executive session that is ancillary to the 2022 AMS Summer Community Meeting in July 2022. Present a session at the meeting to summarize momentum from the previous two meetings and discuss next steps. Gather another leadership group (hopefully by this point we're starting to catalyze a lot of the "right" people) to discuss strategy for the remainder of 2022 and 2023.
Score of 18 for Content for Social Media Feeds: This one got a lot of volunteers to contribute time but no one volunteered to lead a subteam. Provide content for our social media feeds. Source or author thought leadership pieces about weather/climate financial risk that can be shared across our social media network and help to build engagement and our FinWx communityWhat do you think of this goal?
Score of 17 for Educational Outreach: This one got a lot of volunteers to contribute time but no one volunteered to lead a subteam. Reach out to the various AMS branches at universities across the country and make sure they are aware of the content we've produced. Even if it's something they include on one slide at their initial meeting and then send out in the meeting minutes. The education outreach sub committee could provide themselves as a point of contact for future communicationWhat do you think of this goal?
Score of 13 for Short videos for FinWx Social Media: Record short interviews with people on the committee to post to social media in an effort to assist our student outreach, Mind the Gap, and AMS Career Initiatives.What do you think of this goal?
Score of 9 for Climate Economics and Social Justice: Focus on where weather and climate intersects economics on the justice side. It has been becoming increasingly clear that working towards climate solutions is really a moral / justice issue as we know that poorest nations, and even poorest people in wealthy nations, will be affected disproportionally more than those with ample means to adapt. Economic issues work in many of the same ways. There is a clear path from the history of slavery, to red lining, to areas without tree cover and park space, to certain neighborhoods warming more than others. Economic issues follow this same path after red lining to the lack of mortgages / lending, lack of access to fresh food, lack of good healthcare, etc and that brings us back to the consequences of a warming world.
In my experience as committee chair across various volunteer organizations, I find that initiatives and priorities are best served when there is one (or a couple of) member(s) who lead/coordinate a broader group toward a defined goal. Without a leader, I think initiatives tend to consume volunteer time but without measurable results. I’ve seen members become frustrated and lose motivation when this happens.
My Conclusion
First … this is an AMAZINGLY motivated group of people!! I applaud you all … your engagement with committee activities is inspiring. You motivate me!! As you know, my motivation as committee chair is empowering each of you to make an impact on the Committee and on the Society.
I’m enthusiastic with the number of folks who volunteered to lead initiatives including Max and JP who are already leading our connections with the new Mind the Gap Committee. There are five initiatives with critical mass and I think we will be happily challenged to deliver measurable results across all five of these over the next year. That said, with five subteams running in parallel we will certainly get measurable results in the aggregate! I think we can get running on these immediately by asking the subteam leads to organize those that volunteered and begin planning. We’ll focus our monthly committee meetings on subteam updates or specific subteam discussions.
For those initiatives that didn’t get critical mass, that doesn’t mean we won’t spend time on them. It simply means they won’t get as much focus from the committee as a whole. Each of these ideas was suggested by one of you and each of you have my support to pursue! I will work with you one-on-one to discuss the best way forward with your ideas. I suspect we can combine some tracks together where you pursue your idea as part of a broader initiative. I think other ideas need some time to germinate and will sprout into initiatives in the 2022-2023 cycle. Other ideas may give way and allow focus elsewhere. I believe in an organic process whereby the volunteers (that’s you) drive the agenda.
Finally, AMS deadlines are always on my mind. The AMS annual planning cycle culminates with the Annual Meeting in January but the cycle for the next meeting begins that very same January. Planning for 2022’s Annual Meeting in Houston is already well underway and deadlines to suggest content and participation came due in March in April. Keeping these deadlines in mind, I worked with folks on the Annual Meeting Planning Committee and submitted a “call to action” from FinWx (linked here) to make sure we can contribute content if we choose to.
Under Bob’s leadership in 2019, FinWx contributed to the 100th Annual Meeting and the 2020 AMS Washington Forum. The 2022 Annual Meeting Planning Committee will meet next month and we should get more information following that meeting.
The 2021 AMS Washington Forum is coming up soon and FinWx did not contribute a session this year. Planning for 2022 will kick off soon and we are welcome to engage if you would like to volunteer to lead the effort.
Responses
FinWxRisk Subteam for Climate Linked Economics: A campaign for the AMS Annual Meeting, AMS Washington Forum, AMS Summer Community Meeting and Others
Podcast for Climate Linked Economics
Climate Economics and Social Justice
FinWxRisk Subteam for Mind-the-Gap*
*This initiative already has leads so that option was omitted for this question.
Short videos for FinWx Social Media
Guest Speakers
Content for Social Media Feeds
Case Studies on Climate Linked Economics
Engage Student Forecast Competitions with Financial Use Cases
Educational Outreach
What goals are we missing? What would you like to see us working toward? What efforts would you like to lead?
It might be useful to research and connect with other organizations / committees outside of AMS - that lead Risk Management / Supply Chain / Technologies / Education discussions, etc... and assess interdisciplinary collaboration opportunities.
I am impressed with how many different topics/goals have evolved from this committee in the last year. I am very interested in the social justice initiative and would like to see our committee move forward with that campaign.
I really like the Forecasting Contest idea.
What are your individual motivations as related to the Committee? What excites you? Why are you a member of this committee?
I'm motivated by the intersection between economics and climate change. Most people understand to a degree that the climate is changing but in my experience, most don't really care until they understand how it will affect their wallet. Providing the insight on how it affects these wallets is where I'm interested.
Long interest in weather, climate, and financial services.
Being an Observer on FinWxRiskComm is a highly valued opportunity to follow and engage with industry leaders in the exciting fields of weather risk management and climate finance.
As someone who is relatively new to this field, I'm excited about the opportunity to learn from others on the committee and through the committee's various activities
I think our committee can be a beacon for the rest of AMS, demonstrating how many different ways weather/climate is linked to the global economy. The average meteorologist is not aware of these various intersections. Accordingly, I think there are endless educational opportunities that can stem from our content/initiatives.
I am excited to be a volunteer for this committee as I am someone just starting out in weather risk. I felt like there are not many resources available at this time for students interested in the career path even though it is an emerging field. I hope to not only spread the importance of the links between weather and business and finance to not only help those aspiring to be in the field, but also raising awareness to other fields. I would also like to be seen as a mentor and an emerging leader in the field, so I would be happy to assist others wherever possible.
I owe this committee a ton for helping me grow into an early career professional over the past few years. I enjoy hearing from our unique and well-experienced members every month. Moving forward, I want to continue assisting the committee in small ways where I can to help advance our long-term goals.
Interesting to hear how different industries use weather data, what are the current or future weather and climate data needs and how decision-making is connected to data over different timelines and spatial scales. Interdisciplinary thinking is the forum of the future.
It's always been to try and make a positive impact for our students in meteorology programs across the country to give them more exposure to industry jobs and the right skills prior to graduation.
Love the practical applications to real world economics and improving people’s lives
Did you make it to the end of this novella?! If so, and if you’d like to add some comments for the group … please use the button below!