Muni-Bond Market Taps Satellite Data to Assess Climate Risk

The $3.8 trillion municipal-bond market has found a new tool in its effort to understand the impact of climate change: the array of satellites orbiting high above Earth.

Assessing climate risks is a particularly vexing problem given that U.S. state and local governments tend to give investors information that’s often too little or just too late. But the use of geospatial data and information from sources like Google Earth could help municipal-bond investors evaluate and price the risks posed from a warming climate, rising sea levels and natural disasters.

The deployment of spatial technology in the municipal market advanced in ...