CBA Australia climate change risk assessment has not accounted for urban heat island effects- home loan portfolio at risk likely to be well in excess of CBA's $31 Billion estimate

 by Ganesh Sahathevan

The SMH says: 

More than $31 billion of Commonwealth Bank home loans are in areas exposed to increasing extreme weather events and another $14 billion in mortgages are in communities economically reliant on demand for coal, climate analysis has found.

However, as previously reported by this writer, quoting well known remote sensing researcher Janet Nicol, anthropogenic heat includes man-made heat sourced from heat radiation from electricity input to buildings, and from vehicles and people.  These sources have been ignored, and are often found in urban areas, where they contribute to urban heat island (UHI) effects. 

UHI effects are immediate, and prevalent, and growing ,given urbanisation. Australian urban centres, where CBA's portfolio is concentrated , is not immune, even if Australian researchers have confused cause and effect.   Singapore researchers on the other hand have a clear understanding of the issue, and have begun to consider a UHI mitigation levy. 

The levy that Singapore is considering is just one cost arising from UHIs that can impact properties. As this writer has shown previously, Sydney waterfront UHIs can impact properties further inland. It does appear therefore that CBA has underestimated the impact of climate change on its mortgage portfolio. UHI  effects are a present and persistent issue with a direct and immediate impact on properties withib the portfolio. 

END 

SEE ALSO 

SEP

2

Who pays for the hotter neighbourhood caused by rooftop solar farms :The case of St Ignatius Riverview and its neighbours raises questions about who bears what costs when fighting global warming 

by Ganesh Sahathevan

UHI 2016 

                                                                         
                                                                             UHI  2011

Above are two images produced using software and Landsat data from the Google Earth engine suite. The colours presented  are based on the scale:

[blue','green','orange','red' = ,min:18C,max:25C]

Both can be magnified by clicking on the images.

The images capture Urban Heat Islands (UHIs) in Lane Cove and surrounding areas. UHIs are 

 an urban area or metropolitan area that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to human activities. The temperature difference is usually  larger at night than during the day, and is most apparent when winds are weak. UHI is most noticeable during the summer and winter.

Image UHI 2016 was computed using  Landsat 8 data collected over the year in 2016 while 

image UHI 2011 was computed with Landsat 5 data collected over the year in 2011.

The data points represent mean temperature over the two years.

While these  are simple and "dirty" images which can be further refined some "hot spots" are clearly evident.The most prominent has been tracked down to a solar farm located between two sports fields within the St Ignatius Riverview school compound.