The most effective cooling infrastructure on the planet doesn't require electricity, maintenance contracts, or replacement parts. It's been running continuously for 100 million years. And we're systematically dismantling it while scrambling to build alternatives.
Heat is now the deadliest weather phenomenon on Earth. The 2025 Lancet Countdown reports heat-related deaths have risen 63% since the 1990s, averaging 546,000 deaths annually. Climate change added 84% of the heatwave days people experienced in recent years. The economic toll: $1.09 trillion in lost labor productivity in 2024 alone.
The standard response is more air conditioning, more cooling centers, more emergency protocols. These are necessary. But they're also reactive, expensive, and energy-intensive—fighting heat with more heat.
There's a better approach. One that prevents dangerous heat rather than responding to it. One that generates returns rather than consuming budgets. One that's been proven across 71% of peer-reviewed studies to be more cost-effective than engineered alternatives.
trees are cooling infrastructure
Research published in Nature shows that a 30% increase in urban tree canopy reduces air temperatures by up to 1.5°C in heat-prone areas. Trees mitigate 48.6% of the urban heat island effect—that's the temperature difference between cities and surrounding areas that makes urban heat lethal.
The mechanism is simple physics. Trees provide shade (blocking radiation) and transpire water (releasing moisture that cools the air). A single large tree can produce the cooling equivalent of ten room-sized air conditioners running for 20 hours.
Unlike mechanical cooling, trees also:
- Clean the air while cooling it
- Sequester carbon while providing shade
- Reduce stormwater runoff while lowering temperatures
- Increase property values while cutting energy costs
This is what economists call stacking—multiple value streams from a single investment.
the funding gap killing people
If tree canopy is such effective infrastructure, why don't we have more of it?
Because nature doesn't have a balance sheet. Trees provide services worth trillions, but there's no invoice, no contract, no payment mechanism. Cities budget for HVAC systems but not for the forests that would reduce HVAC demand. Insurance covers heat-related claims but doesn't invest in the shade that prevents them.
The World Health Organization estimates climate change will cause 250,000 additional deaths per year between 2030 and 2050—from heat, malnutrition, malaria, and diarrhea. Most of these deaths are preventable with adequate adaptation infrastructure.
We have a $1 trillion annual biodiversity funding gap. Meanwhile, natural infrastructure that could save hundreds of thousands of lives sits unfunded because we haven't figured out how to price it.
ensurance: investing in prevention
This is what ensurance solves.
Insurance pays after damage—compensating for heat stroke victims, covering damaged crops, settling claims from buckled infrastructure. It's necessary but reactive.
Ensurance funds prevention—investing in the cooling infrastructure (forests, wetlands, urban canopy, green corridors) that reduces dangerous heat before it kills.
| Approach | When it acts | What it funds | Economic model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insurance | After damage | Compensation | Cost center |
| Ensurance | Before damage | Prevention | Investment |
The difference matters because prevention is dramatically cheaper than response. Nature-based solutions are cost-effective in 71% of studies, and more effective than engineered alternatives in 65% of direct comparisons. Every dollar spent on ecosystem-based cooling infrastructure prevents multiple dollars in health costs, lost productivity, and emergency response.
how ensurance creates perpetual cooling funding
Ensurance uses two instruments to fund natural infrastructure:
Ensurance coins (ERC-20) are tradeable currencies where trading activity generates proceeds that flow to designated beneficiaries—conservation organizations, land trusts, indigenous communities managing traditional territories. The more people trade, the more funding flows to cooling infrastructure.
Ensurance certificates (ERC-1155) are tied to specific natural assets—a particular forest, watershed, or urban green corridor. Purchasing certificates directly funds protection of that asset.
Both instruments share a key feature: perpetual funding. Unlike one-time grants or donations, ensurance creates ongoing revenue streams from market activity. A forest protected today generates proceeds indefinitely, funding not just initial protection but long-term stewardship.
the natural cap rate
How do you value cooling infrastructure that doesn't have a market price?
Ensurance uses the natural cap rate—ecosystem service flows divided by acquisition cost. It's the same methodology real estate investors use, applied to natural assets.
A forest that provides $766 worth of cooling, carbon sequestration, water filtration, and flood protection per dollar of land cost has a 766% natural cap rate. That's not a theoretical number—it's based on BASIN RealValue assessments of actual natural assets.
| Asset type | Typical financial cap rate | Natural cap rate range |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial real estate | 5-10% | — |
| Natural assets | — | 131-766% |
The catch: natural cap rates are only realized when ecosystem services are funded. An unprotected forest provides the services but generates no financial return. Ensurance is the mechanism that converts ecosystem service value into investable returns.
what this means for different stakeholders
for corporations
Heat exposure is an operational risk. Workers can't function in dangerous heat—outdoor labor becomes impossible, indoor facilities strain cooling systems, supply chains buckle when transportation infrastructure fails.
Corporations already manage supplier risk. Nature is the largest unpaid supplier on every balance sheet. Trees cooling your facilities, watersheds providing your water, ecosystems stabilizing the climate your operations depend on—these are supply chain dependencies.
Ensurance lets corporations invest in the natural infrastructure their operations depend on, converting supplier risk into supplier resilience.
for insurers
Heat-related claims are rising. The 63% increase in heat deaths maps directly to increased mortality claims. Property damage from heat (buckled roads, failed infrastructure, crop losses) shows up across policy types.
Insurers already understand that prevention reduces claims. Ensurance provides a mechanism to invest in the cooling infrastructure that reduces portfolio-wide heat exposure. Funding urban tree canopy isn't charity—it's underwriting.
for governments
Public health departments respond to heat emergencies. Urban planners design cooling centers. Emergency services deploy during heat waves. All reactive. All expensive.
Ensurance allows governments to fund proactive cooling infrastructure through market mechanisms rather than tax appropriations. It creates public goods through private capital while maintaining public benefit.
for infrastructure investors
Traditional infrastructure—roads, bridges, utilities—faces increasing climate risk. Heat buckles pavement, strains electrical grids, stresses water systems.
Natural infrastructure provides the cooling that protects built infrastructure. Forest canopy reduces temperatures that damage roads. Wetlands provide backup cooling during grid failures. Green corridors maintain functionality when mechanical systems fail.
Investing in natural infrastructure isn't competing with traditional infrastructure investment—it's protecting it.
the bottom line
Heat is killing people. The death toll is rising 63% and accelerating. The economic losses exceed $1 trillion annually.
We have the technology to prevent much of this—forests, wetlands, urban canopy, green infrastructure. It's been working for 100 million years. It's more cost-effective than engineered alternatives. It generates multiple value streams simultaneously.
What we've lacked is a funding mechanism that prices prevention, not just compensation.
That's what ensurance provides: market infrastructure for investing in the cooling infrastructure that keeps people alive.
Ready to explore natural cooling infrastructure?
→ see ensurance instruments in action