Climate risks are now recognised as some of the most critical threats to the global economy, with long-term implications for communities, businesses, and overall stability. Even with significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the consequences of a warming planet will continue to compound, leading to an even more uncertain and fragile future.
- Climate-related risks now rank among the top two most critical risks for the global economy (Global Risk Report 2023, The World Economic Forum)
- Shocks and stressors from climate change will result in losses equating to 10% of total global economic value by 2050, according to Swiss Re.
- The S&P 500 index companies alone could face $40-50 billion in impacts from physical climate risks, as estimated by CDP (TCFD Insights Series S&P 500 September, Carbon Disclosure Project, 2022)
- Only 1 in 5 companies had a physical risk adaptation plan in place in 2022 (Adaptation planning is the next step for companies to prepare for climate risk)
Building on two decades of industry experience in measuring greenhouse gas emissions and setting climate targets, the private sector has been able to compete, attract investment, and engage in policy discussions to drive decarbonisation. Similar dynamics are required to elevate business action on climate resilience, ensuring a thriving society in an uncertain future. Currently, diverse approaches to measuring the physical risks of climate change and to building resilience result in measurement and reporting inconsistencies, a lack of transparency, and missed opportunities for collaboration and collective impact across sectors.
The business community requires a new way of responding to climate shocks in order to cement its role as a driver of enhanced resilience and global stability – one that is comprehensive, inclusive, aligned, and sustainable over time.
Catalysing Climate Resilience with Private Sector Action:
Climate change will impact the lives of many people, especially the most vulnerable. Therefore we must act on climate adaptation next to our continued effort on mitigation. Via climate adaptation actions we can make our food and water provision more resilient, as well as protect our cities and infrastructure. The private sector needs to step up, in order to make their own supply chains and operations more resilient, and using their innovative solutions to help countries.
To address this gap, Resilience First, together with its partners are embarking on a pioneering multi-year initiative to establish a robust business framework that enables companies to build climate resilience, disclose corporate actions, and track leadership and impact.
By enabling transformations that substantially scale-up investment in climate resilience, our initiatives will lead to more resilient businesses, improve the adaptive capacity of the communities where businesses operate, and position businesses as advocates for policies that simultaneously strengthen private sector resilience while accelerating deep decarbonisation efforts.
If you are interested in contributing or sponsoring our climate resilience programme, please contact Beena Chester at contact@resiliencefirst.co.uk
