Top Resources to Support Climate Adaptation

To date, efforts to address the climate crisis and manage climate-related risks have focused primarily on mitigation. While it is crucial that organisations develop 1.5^o C aligned strategies to rapidly reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in their operations and value chains, this is only part of the solution. A crucial part of credible climate transition plans is climate adaptation.

Climate adaptation is the process of adjusting to actual or expected changes in climate and its effects, and it is a growing strategic imperative for organisations of all sizes and from all sectors. Yet, despite the growing need to build current and future climate threats into business continuity plans, climate adaptation efforts and investments are seriously lagging.

The climate crisis has arrived, and is earlier and more disruptive than expected

The world’s leading climate experts have raised concerns that recent heating indicates we are likely to pass the 1.5^o C Paris Agreement limit far sooner than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) previously estimated. We are now more likely to reach 1.5^o C by the late 2020s. At this rate, global temperature rise is headed for a staggering 2.5 ^o C (at minimum) by the end of the century, with dire consequences for humanity and the planet.

Their concerns seem well warranted.

Global temperatures in 2023 were the warmest on record, and after thirteen consecutive months of record-breaking temperatures, 2024 is on track to be the hottest year in recorded history. Sea surface temperature records have been shattered over the past year, with new all-time highs for greenhouse gas levels, sea level rise, and Antarctic sea ice cover and glacier retreat.

Image by the Copernicus Climate Change Service

Scientists have long warned that the resilience of key environmental systems may be irreversibly compromised as we breach key thresholds, and there is growing evidence to suggest we are approaching, if not already crossing, key tipping points. The devastating effects of human-caused global heating are increasingly apparent, frequent, and severe, such as record-breaking wildfire seasons, storm seasons, droughts, and flooding.

Why does your company need to engage in climate adaptation?

Urgent and significant action and investments are needed to protect communities, nature, and your business from the worst of the coming climate disasters. Proactive climate adaptation will help mitigate risks to your operations, reduce risks in your value chain, and protect your long-term investments. It will also help businesses to meet their responsibility in driving forward a just transition that includes workers, suppliers, and communities into climate risk management and adaptation plans and advances equity for all. That’s why all companies have a responsibility to take credible and timely action on climate adaptation.

Climate adaptation is also an imperative for resilient and thriving economies. New research indicates that a 1^o C increase in global temperature leads to a 12% decline in world GDP (six times worse than suggested by previous analyses), and a 3^o C temperature increase threatens economic losses so severe that they would be “comparable to the economic damage caused by fighting a war domestically and permanently.”

Key Resources

All organisations need to be engaging in proactive climate adaptation in partnership with the communities where they operate. Here are some key resources to help you build a deeper understanding of climate risk and need for climate adaptation and key actions and opportunities, including opportunities to create value while supporting climate justice.

1. Understanding physical climate risks and opportunities

This guide from the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) collates good practice for step-by-step physical risk assessment that can help you to better understand physical climate risks and opportunities and integrate this knowledge into your investment processes. This guidance provides practical advice on how you can begin to assess, analyse, measure, and manage the risks and opportunities presented by physical climate hazards.

Although written specifically with investors in mind, the guidance is comprehensive and will benefit business leaders regardless of industry, geography, or prior climate expertise.

2. Adaptation Gap Report 2023

This report from the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) explains how progress on climate adaptation is slowing when it should be accelerating to catch up with escalating climate change-related impacts. The report explores progress – and gaps - in planning, financing, and implementing adaptation actions, and can help you to better understand the kinds of efforts that your company can be supporting for broader systems change.

3. Climate Adaptation Competency Framework

This guide from the Adaptation Learning Network illustrates the depth and breadth of competencies required to manage and prepare for the impacts of climate change. It details the core competencies and behaviours that are most valuable for individuals, managers, and teams to possess and refine for leading, supporting, delivering, and implementing climate adaptation plans, strategies, policies, programs, and projects.

4. Business Leaders Guide to Climate Adaptation and Resilience

This guide from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and others can help you to improve the resilience of your business against climate impacts. It explains the importance of climate adaptation; summarises the different roles business leaders have in implementing it; and outlines nine strategies for integrating climate adaptation and resilience into organisational strategy, governance, and operations. For each strategy, the guide provides relevant tools, frameworks, and case studies. The guide also features a series of maturity assessments tailored to business leaders that are designed to help identify next steps.

5. Just Transition for Climate Adaptation: A Business Brief

This brief from the UN Global Compact (UNGC) can help you to understand the importance of a just transition to climate adaptation. It outlines the role that businesses play in supporting a just transition by including workers, suppliers, and communities in their climate risk management and adaptation approach. It also explains how adapting to climate risk in a just and equitable manner can mitigate systemic risks and avoid adverse political, economic, and social restructuring, and it features a range of recommendations for businesses seeking to advance a just transition through climate adaptation.

6. Getting Locally Led Adaptation Right: Examples from Around the World

This article from the World Resources Institute (WRI) highlights examples of local adaptation done well and can help you to better understand the range of opportunities and challenges related to local adaptation efforts. WRI has also produced eight principles for locally led adaptation to help guide the adaptation community, and a working paper that highlights 21 case studies of collaborative, locally-led adaptation projects to inspire and inform both sustainability change agents and leaders.

Further Resources

To learn more about the causes and impacts of climate change, why it matters to business, and the actions required to halt and reverse the climate crisis, check out our Issue Snapshots.