Green Bank staff propose resilience calculator to assess CPACE resilience lending

The board reviewed staff work to operationalize resilience lending under CPACE and a proposed standardized approach to quantifying resilience benefits. Mackie Dykes framed the history: resilience was added to CPACE in 2022 and staff has been developing a framework for lending and for a resilience study and cost‑savings assessment that the statute requires.

Elise summarized the proposed technical approach and deliverables: a resilience improvement calculator (white paper and later Excel tool) and a standardized 'resilience cost‑savings analysis' report template. She described the calculator steps: establish a baseline hazard cost or loss from historical records and models; calculate expected annual damage by weighting losses by event probabilities; calculate post‑project expected annual loss assuming proposed measures; compute annual risk reduction and avoided downtime days; compare avoided annual risk to financing costs; compute lifetime resilience value, then discount to net present resilience value and derive a benefit‑cost ratio. “The recommended approach was to use an annualized resilience value,” Elise said.

Staff referenced comparable standards (ASTM) and FEMA’s benefit‑cost analysis as analogues and noted they convened industry and insurance experts and held a technical listening session. Board members asked about non‑catastrophic benefits (insurance premium reductions, recurring flood mitigation) and whether the tool would run example scenarios; Elise said example calculations are included in the white paper and staff will refine the tool with industry feedback and the resilience working group.

Board direction: staff will continue to consult with subject matter experts and the resilience working group, refine the calculator and report templates, and return with materials for transaction‑level application and approvals.