What makes a climate resilience officer?
According to Kit Batten, climate resilience officer at the Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) company, she must assess the risks a company faces from climate impacts, as well as protect the communities the company serves.
PG&E covers roughly two-thirds of California, she said, and it must prepare for six climate change drivers throughout the state: Sea level rise; flooding from stronger storms; drought; decreasing ground elevation due to drought; increasing wildfires and heatwaves.
"We need to know where are the greatest risks we face so we continue to ensure the customers we serve get safe, reliable, affordable power," said Batten.
Here, she discusses the tools she uses to face "the new normal," protecting assets, infrastructure, operations, employee safety and community safety — as well as how distributed energy links with the existing power grid infrastructure to transition towards more renewable sources of power.
