As Michael Berkowitz, executive director of the Climate Resilience Institute (CRI) at the University of Miami, addressed the opening session of the 2026 Resilience 365 Conference, he laid out a compelling case for why the world needs resilience more than ever.
In 2025, Berkowitz recounted, “we had $23 billion-plus disasters resulting in $100 billion worth of losses in the United States alone. We had the third-hottest year on record. And if I was a betting man, I would bet that 2026 is going to be the hottest year, given the emergence of El Niño. So, in many ways, the situation has been getting worse, not better.”
The CRI was established in 2022 through a $5 million commitment from Eric T. Levin, a former University trustee and former president of the University’s Citizens Board. A year later, Berkowitz—a global expert in risk and resilience—arrived and was appointed as the inaugural holder of the Eric T. Levin Endowed Chair in Climate Resilience.
Since then, the institute has rapidly emerged as a leading convener for resilience work in South Florida and beyond, operating at the intersection of interdisciplinary collaboration and external partnerships that propel its growing impact.
“The institute’s mission is threefold,” Berkowitz explained in his opening remarks at the conference, held in March at Lakeside Village on the Coral Gables Campus. "The first is better outcomes in communities. [Secondly], we think South Florida can be a global leader in climate resilience. Given our challenges, given the innovation, given the brainpower here, we should and could lead the world. And finally, because we are at a university, we're working with faculty and students to create the next generation of resilience leaders.”
Within that framework, the CRI’s current work focuses on the global built and natural environments, resilience finance, and the intersection of climate and health. Among its early projects to help communities build resilience has been the Caribbean Initiative, launched in response to two devastating hurricanes: Dorian in 2019, which was the most intense storm on record to hit the Bahamas, and Melissa, which destroyed large swaths of Jamaica six years later.
In partnership with the School of Architecture, the Miller School’s Global Institute, the nonprofit Resilient Cities Catalyst, among others, the CRI has helped the Bahamian government plan and design resilient low and middle-income housing that can withstand natural hazards.
The team is working toward establishing a flexible post-disaster planning program through which local authorities can quickly mobilize critical partners, agencies, and community leaders to expedite interventions and drive faster recovery. At the same time, according to Berkowitz, they have made progress in helping the Bahamians develop a local resilience hub that can meet emergency needs and serve as a “blue sky” community resource and health center.
Much of the work on the ground in the Bahamas is being led by the revitalized Center for Urban and Community Design (CUCD), now a joint initiative of the School of Architecture and the CRI. The vision is, as Berkowitz put it, “to have the CUCD doing work that’s not just related to the School of Architecture but also leveraging innovations happening at the College of Engineering, the Rosenstiel School, and other areas of the University to help communities on the front line of climate change.”
The challenge of funding infrastructure improvements in the Bahamas through the Caribbean Initiative is an early example of what Berkowitz aims to achieve through the CRI’s Resilience Finance Lab.
Designing and building communities that can stand up to natural hazards does, in the near term, cost more, Berkowitz noted. “We know that these things will save money in the long run,” he said. “So, as we help the Bahamian government think about funding, we see how improved climate-smart design translates into a more fundable development. That’s the kind of question that the Resilience Finance Lab is trying to answer.”
As Berkowitz explained, there is a growing body of evidence that interventions such as road raising, healthy hybrid coral reefs, breakwaters, and street trees in lower-income neighborhoods, as well as stronger building codes and code enforcement, pay back multiples of their initial cost in long-term property values and resilience to natural hazards.
“We say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” Berkowitz continued. “The problem is, even though we know all that, it’s very hard to monetize that benefit. Now there is a lot of innovative work being done to try to solve that puzzle. There’s insurance innovation, trying to make insurance more sensitive to risk mitigation. There’s public finance, structuring better general obligation bonds. There’s innovative finance, such as social impact bonds.
“What the Resilience Finance Lab is saying is ‘how can we tie that work together in ways that lead to better outcomes, and connect this community of disparate innovators here in South Florida and across the country?’”
At the Resilience 365 Conference, Berkowitz moderated a conversation with Judith Rodin, former president of the University of Pennsylvania and the Rockefeller Foundation, and co-chair of the CRI’s external advisory board, and economist and businessman Sadek Wahba, founder and managing partner of I Squared Capital. Their wide-ranging discussion gave a broad overview of the challenges facing resilience finance.
Wahba addressed public-private partnerships (PPP), collaborative structures wherein public entities and private operators share in the development, management, and/or ownership of infrastructure assets, while regulation remains with the government. He noted the reluctance of the U.S. to embrace PPPs fully, largely due to pricing concerns—many consumers resist higher payments despite the need for climate-resilient infrastructure upgrades.
Rodin highlighted her experience with 100 Resilient Cities, an initiative launched to foster urban resilience globally by creating the role of Chief Resilience Officer and integrating philanthropic capital as a "fourth P" alongside public and private sectors.
Rodin also chairs a National Academy of Sciences Global Grand Challenge on the impact of climate change on human health. “When we started talking about climate change all those years ago, the rallying cry was ‘do this for your children and grandchildren,’ she said. “But climate change is affecting our health right now all the time. Whether we’re talking about air quality, water quality, housing construction, there isn’t an infrastructure or a natural resource that isn’t being impacted by climate change and not affecting our health.”
The impact of chronic heat in South Florida on human health—as opposed to episodic heatwaves experienced by northern states—is a particular focus of Berkowitz, Rodin, and others working at the intersection of climate and health. “The impacts of chronic heat show up in many ways: high blood pressure, cardiovascular problems, mental health issues, children’s health, and so on,” Berkowitz noted. “And it’s intertwined with socioeconomic factors: everyone in South Florida has air-conditioning, but the highest temperatures are always in the poorest houses.”
As he wrapped up his opening remarks at Resilience 365, Berkowitz also sounded a note of hope: “The climate community has survived some significant headwinds. We are still standing—and there is a lot to be proud of.”
City of Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins hailed the CRI for convening the conference and for leading the charge toward a more resilient future. “Miami, as you all know, is already on the front lines: rising seas, stronger storms, extreme heat—it happens to us every day. The choices we make now will shape whether Miami stays safe, livable, and affordable for generations to come,” Higgins said.
“Miami's resilient future will be built through partnership across government, universities, investors, innovators, and community leaders. This conference and Miami Climate Week are about sparking action and growing the network of ideas that make resilience possible.”
