Snapshots of Climate Watson in ActionThe Ultimate Knowledge Management System for Climate Risk

© 2014 The Climatographers

Why Climate Watson?

Even though there is an infiniteamount of information on climatechange and climate risk available

today, actionable risk managementinformation for individual

companies is still scarce. Ifknowledge management tools can

help us get past Carla Odell’s “ifonly we knew what we know”

admonition, and generateactionable information in the

process, would more companiesengage in substantive risk and

opportunity management aroundclimate change? Our hypothesis is

that they would, and that’s why weare using TheBrain™ software to

build Climate Watson.

- The Climatographers

© 2014 The Climatographers

Adapted from story courtesy of Patrick McKercher.

Climate Watson uses cutting-edgeTheBrain™ software to make

information actionable by effectivelylinking it. Such linking can create

business value as shown here.

© 2014 The Climatographers

Climate Watson™ as a Decision-Support ToolThe scientific community has long warned that climate change jeopardizes critical ecological and societal systems, but the gapbetween science-based risk assessments and public policy continues to grow. One reason is that while decision-makers have analmost unfathomable amount of risk-relevant information available to them, relatively little finds its way into public or corporatedecision-making. Most decision-makers don’t see the “big climate picture,” and may radically under-estimate the relevance ofclimate change to their future risks, opportunities, and goals. Climate Watson™ can help because it’s a knowledge deliverysystem that addresses the following four key characteristics of climate-risk.

#1. Increasingly Dire Risk Assessments. Many scientists characterize 350 ppm CO2 in the atmosphere as a climate risk threshold,including ocean acidification. We’re already above 400 ppm, however, and 650 ppm is on the horizon of people alive today.

#2. Numerous Barriers to Action. Economic, political, and psychological barriers to acting on climate change include:

• “It’s a far-off problem, and costs too much.”

• “Acting today won’t prevent climate change – focus instead on adapting.”

• “We can’t succeed - our risk management brains are still focused on looking for lions in the Serengeti.”

• “Too many uncertainties remain – let’s wait and see.”

#3. The Growing “Climate Action Gap.” Too few decision-makers are able to answer “yes” to two critical action questions:

• Is addressing climate change “worth it” to me, given my self-interests and decision-making environment?

• Is there something I can do that reflects my perceived interests and decision-making environment?

#4. Different Decision-Making Needs. Climate risk decision-makers fall into three very different categories:

• Decision-makers answering “yes” to one or both questions listed above, who now need risk management strategies.

• Decision-makers who haven’t arrived at answers, and who need help assessing risks and understanding their options.

• Decision-makers answering “no” to one or both questions, but who may not understand how quickly their risk profiles can change.

Climate Watson™ overcomes these challenges by generating “actionable knowledge” from the infinity of climate change information.

Climate Risk Has ManyAngles. Climate Watson

Helps You See Them All.

All images © Thinkstockphotos.com

One of the key challenges in climate risk (or opportunity) communication is the number of differentaudiences. Each audience needs different information to answer the critical “is it worth it, can I do it”questions that underlie all decision-making. Climate Watson™ organizes climate risk information forspecific audiences. © 2014 The Climatographers

TheBrain™ software allows an infinite amount of information to be organized to generateactionable insights, and get “the right information to the right person at the right time.” Withalmost 50,000 thoughts it may look like chaos – but it’s anything but.

© 2014 The Climatographers

Climate Watson™ links tens of thousands of ideas, graphics, tables and other materials drawnfrom thousands of published reports, news stories, blogs, and other sources. Each source,however, is also individually identifiable, as in the case of the NRC’s 2013 report on AbruptClimate Change shown above. As an example, you can access a public mini-Brain exploringthe Abrupt Climate Change report here.

© 2014 The Climatographers

Most people are interested in a particular slice of climate risk, e.g. how it’s relevant to theirindustry and to them. This screenshot illustrates how hundreds of publications, news stories,and other materials are organized into a topical snapshot of the electric utility sector (one ofmany profiled sectors) through a climate risk lens.

© 2014 The Climatographers

Other people are looking to understand a particular climate topic (whether mitigation oradaptation focused). This screenshot shows how information on geoengineering (one ofmany profiled topics) is organized, making it easy to quickly gain the insights of numeroussources. But if desired you can also access the individual sources.

© 2014 The Climatographers

Climate Watson™ includes extensive information not only on climate risks themselves, but onthe psychology and communication of climate risk. This screenshot illustrates a small slice ofPeter Sandman’s excellent work on risk communication, and how it relates to climate change.

© 2014 The Climatographers

One of the most intriguing aspects of TheBrain™ software is the ability to link ideas in waysyou might not have thought of before, but which are instructive. This screenshot illustrateshow a story-based exploration of the governance challenges of genetic engineering (TheWindup Girl) can help explore governance challenges around geoengineering.

© 2014 The Climatographers

No individual can attend more than a small fraction of relevant conferences, or retain morethan a small fraction of what they hear at a conference. But with Climate Watson™ the bestideas from hundreds of conference presentations are pulled together and cross-referenced tomake it possible to learn from the accumulated knowledge. © 2014 The Climatographers

© 2014 The Climatographers

Climate Watson’s™ “Topical Networks” section links thousands of organizational websites,topical experts, and other web-based topical resources into dozens of topical networks. A feware shown here, with a focus on climate adaptation. With these networks you can quickly findout who is active in what area. In a similar way Climate Watson™ organizes hundreds ofcartoons, YouTube videos, infographics, and other sources.

“Having Climate Watson available is like having 100 leading experts inclimate science, climate risk, risk management, and corporate strategy

collaborating with you at the decision-making table.”- Fortune 100 Climatographers client

How Can Climate WatsonHelp You?

Access to one-off questions and answers?Topical presentations and seminars?Risk and risk management workshops?Executive briefings and updates?Climate risk scenario development?Mitigation and adaptation strategy development?Understanding who’s doing what around climate change?Building custom Brains for corporate knowledge management?

Please call us for more information and to explore these and other ways that ClimateWatson can support your decision-making needs and other objectives.

© 2014 The Climatographers

• Relevant Links

– TheBrain software

– Videos Explaining Climate Watson

• What Is Climate Watson?

• How Is Climate Watson Built?

• Why Climate Watson?

– Topical Videos Using Climate Watson• Brainstorming CliFi (Climate Fiction)

• Brainstorming Heffernan’s 2011 Willful Blindness

– Our Abrupt Climate Change Brain

– Our Social Cost of Carbon Brain

– Our Website

Please contact us:

info@climatographer.com

503-913-0025

© 2014 The Climatographers