Q&A with Garth Marshall, Head of Climate Resilience and Sustainability
05/17/2023
What are the biggest challenges you are seeing that organisations face in dealing with climate change?
Climate change is already affecting every region on earth in many ways and the changes we experience will increase with further warming. From shifting weather patterns and climate extremes that threaten food production and livelihoods, to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the impacts of climate change are global and unprecedented in scale.
To adapt and become more resilient, organisations need to be able to identify and understand climate risk trends, the impact on them and how they change over time. A holistic approach is needed to address climate change, to ensure that organisations can adapt and put in place the right mitigation measures for future climate risk scenarios. Organisations will need to invest in improving adaptive capacity and look for adaptation options. Being proactive, securing resources to take action, while building collaborative relationships along the way are essential for climate resilient organisations.
Risks are dynamic and climate change is constantly changing the number and levels of risks customers are facing. The Physical and Transitional risks associated with climate change present an opportunity to support customers and put in place measures to reduce the impact of climate change on business, but also the impact of business on climate change. There is a lot of climate change data available and different models showing the potential impact of this globally. However, when it comes to quantifying this risk and identifying what can be done to mitigate it, there are few services capable of supporting this.
This is what makes Zurich Resilience Solutions Climate Resilience unique. Climate change is real, and it poses a significant challenge for the future. I believe that if organisations identify and understand climate risk trends and the impact on their operations, assets, supply chains and communities, then they will be able to adapt and become more resilient.
How do we help support organisations with their challenges around climate change?
Our aim is to enable businesses to become climate-resilient by providing customers with the insights into their situation today and looking ahead to potential future risks. Our offer is unique as we support businesses on their climate change journey, from developing possible scenarios of how climate change will impact their operations, assets, supply chains and communities, through to developing strategies and solutions specifically tailored for them. We are also in a unique position as we assist businesses with their climate related disclosures and reporting for the various frameworks, including TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures).
We help customers build resilience through a climate risk management strategy. We have the expertise and experience to recommend the correct physical and organisational resilience measures to reduce vulnerabilities. For example, engineered protection measures as well as improved emergency response planning. We can also provide updated risk transfer solutions that complement the resilience measures.
Finally, we are combining forward thinking systems, such as Zurich insite with our technical expertise to simplify how businesses monitor building performance in key areas of sustainability, risk and operations. Zurich insite collects the data flowing through buildings and generates insights which enable businesses to unlock a wealth of data to improve and monitor the sustainable performance of buildings.
Over the next couple of years, what are the key influences you think will play a role in how organisations respond to climate change?
Climate change is a global phenomenon and the risks associated with it are complex and often interconnected. In recent years, the rapidly evolving landscape on climate change risks, legislation, regulation and the modelling and adaption solutions, show us just how dynamic the climate change landscape is.
In my point of view one of the largest influences on organisations and how they respond to climate change, will be driven by local and international legislation and regulation. This increased scrutiny and requirements for organisations to report on the impact of climate change on its operations, as well as how its operations are impacting the climate will become more important.
What is also interesting is with the increase in extreme and severe weather events, climate change related risks to organisations and communities along with the associated economic and human consequences, has heightened the profile of climate change in the public domain. External market and industry forces, with changing consumer preferences will mean that organisations need to adapt to remain competitive.
Increased pressure from investors and stakeholders will also influence how organisations respond to climate change, either through investment choices or the transition to a lower carbon future. Advancements in technology in the renewable energy sector as well as carbon capture techniques will have some influence too. These advancements will allow organisations to transition to a lower carbon future and will likely influence how they adapt their infrastructure and manufacturing process to become more sustainable, while reducing their impact on climate change.
If organisations are to become more climate resilient, physical resilience measures need to be implemented. The technology and costs of the physical resilience measures should improve, and the design and implementation costs should reduce as they become more common place.
Climate resilience goes beyond physical assets. We'll start to see organisations developing more robust and sustainable supply chains, while also considering the importance and resilience of customers, suppliers, infrastructure and utilities critical to its operations.
Lastly, I think with the heightened importance of climate change, organisations will need to assess their resilience and ability to respond to natural catastrophe events, not only from an organisational level but also for the communities they operate in.
You can find out more here about our climate change risk services and how we can help your organisation build resilience, or contact us today on zrs.enquiries@uk.zurich.com.