Cervest report: 83% believe climate volatility poses a 'medium to significant' risk to their business bottom line
- Lizzie Black
- January 19, 2022
How are corporate leaders shaping climate adaptation strategies today?
Cervest’s report reveals where budgets are being allocated by decision makers as focus moves towards climate risk.
Based on more than 800 US and UK decision makers, Cervest’s 2021 Climate Intelligence Outlook report looks at how their perspectives affect climate-related strategies in large organisations.
How are corporate leaders prioritising climate risk today?
88% of companies have already seen corporate physical assets such as offices and warehouses affected by extreme weather events.
Despite many months of disrupted supply chains, cyber security threats and corporate focus on digitalisation and talent, a majority of respondents rate mitigating/managing climate risk as “more important” or “equal to” every other corporate priority queried, including profitability.
What are investment levels like?
Interestingly, UK and US respondents say they have allocated budgets to tackle climate risk (figure.2). Whilst 55% of UK respondents admit they have allocated resources (budgets, people), 40% reveal they still believe they don’t have enough to be effective, indicating a need for priority investment.
It could be that those falling behind could invest in implementing appropriate software that leads to actionable insights.
How can companies change?
37% of respondents revealed their organisation plans to adapt to climate change, by modifying physical assets and processes for instance.
To do this, companies can use technology to pinpoint strategies to mitigate climate risk and accelerate adaptation pathways; they can also improve various functions too, including procurement by providing teams with the right tools and solutions (such as automation) they need to be more productive and focus on strategic decisions.
What next?
- Many companies have yet to invest in the tools and resources they need to keep pace with the effects of climate change on their assets.
- The pandemic saw spaces unused – perhaps this acts more as an incentive to adapt and work from home (WFH), or offer hybrid working options
- Risk can be reduced where WFH is introduced, as workers and assets are distributed
- ESG (environmental, social, governance) factors can be met as fewer workers are commuting to the shared space as part of their daily commute: WFH = reduced carbon footprint
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