Building Climate Resilience Fosters Reliability and Business Continuity

As the impacts and costs of climate change grow around the world—from wildfires in Australia and floods in Bangladesh to hurricanes in the U.S.—the urgency to accelerate decarbonization, prepare for extreme weather and build climate resilience is increasing.

Climate resilience is now a top priority for leaders, but they have been slow to account for climate change in their risk management and investment strategies. The unpredictability of climate risks makes it challenging to invest now rather than later. Climate resilience consulting delivers strategic insights to safeguard against the shocks, stresses and costs of climate change. Those that build resilience now will be better prepared to manage the unexpected in the future. The cost of doing nothing is formidable.

What Key Barriers Hinder Climate Resilience Planning?

The maximum-efficiency model of modern production methods and supply chains raises an apparent tension with the need to implement climate resilience measures. It leaves decision-makers facing a key question: given the unpredictability of extreme events, is there a clear business case for investing in climate resilience planning right now?

While we believe the answer is clear, uncertainty regarding the severity and timing of climate events creates the following barriers to resilience planning:

• The risks are challenging to understand. Climate risks are complex, with multiple, highly interconnected factors making them hard to translate into direct and indirect impacts. As a result, the climate resilience solutions required fall outside of typical investment criteria, making them hard to justify to some shareholders and stakeholders.
• Mitigative measures are difficult to execute, precisely because they are difficult to quantify and predict. Further, the mitigative solutions required defy the lean operating models of today’s organizations.
• The scale of climate-change risks poses challenges exceeding what can be tackled by a single organization, thereby necessitating collective action and coalitions of diverse stakeholders – which can be difficult to align at the planning stage.
• As electrification increases (i.e., electric vehicles) and more renewables are integrated into the grid. Organizations will need to navigate the implications of the cost, operation, and reliability of energy systems and the policies that govern them.