Florida is suing a company that issues climate-related risk scores for homes, alleging that its assessments exaggerate threats such as flooding and depress home sales.
The lawsuit, filed on Oct. 23 in Polk County state court, accuses First Street Technology Inc. of publishing “alarmist” risk assessments based on flawed models and of “marketing fear to advance a climate activism agenda.”
First Street provides property-level risk scores for flooding, wildfire, wind, extreme heat, and poor air quality.
Its ratings have appeared on major home-listing platforms and are also used by banks, investors, and insurers.
First Street says it relies on “validated and proven methodologies” to estimate how hazards could affect individual properties in the future under “new, unobserved climate scenarios.”…