Satellite-Based Census of Residential Buildings: Application for Climate Risk Assessment
IMF Working Papers, September 20, 2024
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- Satellite-Based Census of Residential Buildings: Application for Climate Risk Assessment
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: Andinet Woldemichael, Iyke Maduako
- Published: September 20, 2024
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400289828.001
Summary
- Housing represents the largest asset and liability, in the form of mortgages, on most national balance sheet.
- For most households it is their largest investment, and when mortgages are required also represents the largest component of household debt.
- Housing is directly tied to financial markets, both the mortgage market and insurance sector.
- Many countries have rich housing censuses and statistics, while others have large data gaps and therefore struggle to formulate effective policies.
- This paper proposes an approach to construct a global census of residential buildings using open-source satellite data.
- The proposed layer can be used to:
- assess the extent these buildings are exposed to climate hazards, and
- assess how their production and consumption affect the climate.
- The approach could be scaled globally by combining existing layers of building footprints, climate and socioeconomic data.
- The work adds to ongoing efforts to compile spatially explicit and granular climate indicators to better inform policies.
- As a case study, the paper computes selected indicators and estimates the extent of residential properties exposure to riverine flood risk for Kenya.
Methodology and Data Approach
- Core proposal: construct a global census of residential buildings using open-source satellite data.
- Integration strategy: combine existing layers of building footprints, climate data, and socioeconomic data.
- Intended outputs: spatially explicit and granular climate indicators relevant for policy and risk assessment.
- Application domains noted: climate exposure assessment, national balance sheet analysis, mortgage and insurance market linkages.
Case Study: Kenya (Riverine Flood Risk)
- The paper computes selected indicators and estimates the extent of residential properties exposure to riverine flood risk for Kenya.
- Purpose of the case study: demonstrate application of the satellite-based residential building census to quantify climate hazard exposure at the property level.
Findings and Policy-Relevant Points
- A satellite-based global census of residential buildings can fill data gaps where traditional housing censuses and statistics are limited.
- Spatially explicit building-level data enable assessment of:
- exposure of residential properties to climate hazards (for example, riverine floods), and
- interactions between housing stock and climate through production and consumption.
- Potential benefits for policymakers:
- better-informed housing, financial sector, and climate adaptation policies,
- improved integration of housing-related assets and liabilities into national balance sheets,
- enhanced targeting of insurance and disaster risk reduction interventions.
Publication and Metadata
- Authors: Andinet Woldemichael, Iyke Maduako
- Date: September 20, 2024
- Series: Working Paper No. 2024/204
- Issue: 204
- Volume: 2024
- Pages: 32
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400289828.001
- Stock No: WPIEA2024204
- ISBN: 9798400289828
- ISSN: 1018-5941
- Subject tags: Climate change, Environment, Financial institutions, Housing, National accounts, Population and demographics, Stocks
- Keywords: aggregate dwellings Capital Stock value, Building Footprint, Census of buildings, Climate change, Climate Exposure, descriptive statistics of the data, flood hazard map, flood risk, Global, Housing, property indicator, return period, Stocks
IMF Working Papers: "Satellite-Based Census of Residential Buildings: Application for Climate Risk Assessment" by Andinet Woldemichael and Iyke Maduako, September 20, 2024.
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