Climate Change and Business

The risks associated with climate change will have to be assessed by businesses during the planning stage for major infrastructural projects and during the formulation of strategic business decisions. This is because climate change will attract regulatory costs which need to be factored in during profit and loss accounting; increase operating costs; potentially disrupt commercial activity; reduce the economic life of structures; affect the political, social and economic context within which commercial decisions are made; and introduce competitive risks. It is clear that an understanding of climate change risk will play an important part in business planning. As a result, a process of due diligence will appraise and assess climate change risk for four reasons:

to protect professional indemnity
to counteract charges of negligence from shareholders
to show best practice
to attract the ethical investor market.

Climate change scientists will play an important role in assessing climate risks over different timescales and using different scenarios (scenario planning); quantifying risk using the latest General Circulation Model runs for selected regions; and outlining the likely success of business strategies in the light of this information.

CCRM can help your business. We employ a tiered approach to decision making and risk assessment by offering the following services:

scoping studies
in-depth assessments
due diligence analysis for third parties
technical support for writing company reports
a climate change advisory committee which would be seconded to major companies.

For more information on CCRM, or to make a enquiry about consultation, please contact us .