The BCI has released the BCI Extreme Weather & Climate Change Report 2023. The report explores how organisations have been affected by climate-related events and how they plan to mitigate their impact in current and future processes. It reveals that climate-related events have affected 44.5% of organisations in the past five years. However, many still view them as one-off incidents and only 48.9% of organisations have a dedicated budget for climate risks, which is half the number that reported doing so in 2022. This indicates a need for more preparation and investment in climate resilience.
The top three threats concerning organisations are extreme weather events such as flooding, extreme heat, and hurricanes. Supply chain disruption is the most common impact of climate-related events, which can have cascading effects across multiple geographies. Social unrest is also a challenging consequence of climate change.
The report shows an increase in organisations with an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) proposition. However, only 43.7% of organisations have aligned it to their business continuity plans. The main barriers to implementing climate resilience measures are the high cost of solutions and the short-term focus of organisations.
The report suggests that organisations and society are transitioning in their approach to climate change. Instead of expecting governments to solve the problem, there’s a growing realisation that high-consequence climate-related events will likely have increasing impacts. Organisations are shifting from observing to assessing potential future impacts, often within the context of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) programs. However, only some have moved to the next stage of implementing practical climate resilience measures within their organisations and supply chains.
Click here to read and access the full report and press release from the BCI