IPCC: Business needs to start climate adaptation now

The window to mitigate the worst effects of climate change is getting smaller, and the need to adapt is growing – an effective response will accelerate mitigation while preparing for adaptation.

What to do

Businesses, including brands and agencies, need to think about adapting processes and systems for the impact of climate change because it’s deeply unlikely that the world will be able to mitigate many of the worst effects. It’s time to plan now.  

The new report: start preparing for the worst

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) most recent report, released this week, shifts its tone from warning about what will happen if we don’t attempt to slow climate change and instead talks about the need to start adapting our infrastructure, cities, and natural environments to what are by now very likely destruction events.

“Our assessment clearly shows that tackling all these different challenges involves everyone – governments, the private sector, civil society – working together to prioritize risk reduction, as well as equity and justice, in decision-making and investment,” said IPCC Working Group II co-chair Debra Roberts in a statement.

What to do about it

The report emphasises the heavy toll that climate change will have on around 40% of the world’s “highly vulnerable” population, given that current emissions trends will lead to some irreversible impacts and will likely accelerate once we hit 1.5C of warming (we’re currently at 1.09C, in case you were wondering).

As the FT notes, climate thinking needs to change from mitigation to adaptation.

“What are your climate risks?”, asks Deborah Brosnan, president and founder of Deborah Brosnan & Associates, a climate consultancy speaking to Adweek.

“And by that I mean, everything from the security of your agricultural crops, being able to transport those crops, and also the potential of actually having employees,” Brosnan said. “What is going to happen to your workforce?”

Adaptation measures will touch everything: using crops and raw materials that grow in higher temperatures, building coastal defences, housing, and other buildings that can withstand more extreme weather.

Making the business case

The trouble is that poorer parts of the world will be hit before most of the richer parts, but adaptation of the whole of global society must be the burden of the rich – and the companies that make them rich.

 Key quote

“The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and the health of the planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future” – Hans-Otto Pörtner, co-chair of the IPCC’s working group II, which authored the report.

Sourced from the IPCC, FT, Adweek, Reuters.