Australia’s recent history has been marred by a succession of natural disasters that have varied from tropical cyclones to wildfires. Climate change is expected to make such events more frequent in the region. Understanding how the climate will affect the world’s smallest continent is crucial for effective adaptation planning. Recognising this necessity, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) - Australia's national science agency - has produced the free e-book Climate Change: Science and Solutions for Australia. 

Read More

Acclimatise recently reported how Thai sugar giant Mitr Phol was undertaking a takeover of another major firm in order to manage the risks posed by climate change. Climate hazards are beginning to put the geography of business operations into sharp focus for company directors, who are realising that globalised supply-chains and business structures carries their own risks.

Read More

It seems only a moment ago when councils across the UK were bemoaning the amount of money that they would need to spend on repairing the seemingly endless number of potholes that formed in roads after the 2010/2011 winter’s freezing temperatures. The big freeze may not have happened last winter, but road users and councils, particularly those in the South East, did not escape unscathed. Many councils in the East of the country have had to lobby the government for extra funds for damage cause to roads by drought.

Read More

The agriculture industry faces some of the most considerable climate adaptation challenges over the coming decades. Global climate change will have major impacts on the sector; increasing the risks from natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes, and also affecting slow-change variables such as growing seasons and optimum crop types. Set in the context of an ever-increasing global population the challenge of feeding the world becomes all the more difficult. In light of such a challenge a new report, produced by the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change, has been released which provides a set of concrete policy actions that will help transform the food system.

Read More

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has released an interactive tool showing the heat demand for buildings across England. The tool has been designed to allow developers and planners to identify priority areas for low-carbon development and climate adaptation measures. It is hoped that the maps will be used by Local authorities to develop their adaptation strategies and energy policies.

Read More

The UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) helps organisations to adapt to inevitable climate change. While it's essential to reduce future greenhouse gas emissions, the effects of past emissions will continue to be felt for decades. In this presentation Kay Johnston explains why adaptation is important for UK businesses and outlines some strategies to help businesses begin to integrate adaptation into decision making processes.

Read More

The Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released a new report called ‘Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation’. The report comes as mounting evidence suggests that climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods and heatwaves.

Read More

A recent report by the United Nations Develpment Programme (UNDP), released at the end of last year, outlines the strategies for adapting public and private infrastructure to climate change. The study, which is based on the procedings of a climate and infrastructure conference held in El Salvador in 2010, places particular emphasis on the development benefits of making infrastructure climate-resilient. While the report takes many of its examples from El Salvador itself, many of its findings are widely applicable.

Read More

Total operational efficiency has long been a holy grail for business managers, keen to maximise profits and cut down on ‘waste’. Nowhere has this theory been more wholeheartedly applied than in Japan, where reducing ‘muda’ or inefficient activities has become a fundamental business strategy, imperative to remaining competative. However, over a year after the huge earthquake and resulting tsunami caused the country’s worst natural disaster, the aftershocks are still being felt in boadrooms in Japan and beyond. Supply chain complexities and business interdependencies meant that shortly after the disaster a wide array of companies, some thousands of miles from Japan, were badly affected.

Read More

The Canadian government’s National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) has released the first in a series of three reports that explore how businesses are adapting to climate impacts. The report, produced in collaboration with Acclimatise North America, compiles case studies from Canada and beyond showing best practice from 13 participating companies. 

Read More

UKTI recently commissioned a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit which examines how global businesses are adapting to the anticipated changes in the global climate and the potential business opportunities and risks this entails. Watch as Brian Smith, President Coca Cola Mexico, talks about the issues of adaptation for climate change and the efforts Coca Cola is making in this area including the goal of being water neutral by 2020. Raul Arguelles, Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Human Resources at Wal-Mart, talks about the issues of adaptation for climate change and the efforts of Walmart is making in this area. And James Watson from the Economist Intelligence Unit talks about the recently launched adaptation to climate change report which examines how global businesses are adapting to the anticipated changes in the global climate and the potential business opportunities and risks this entails. The report was launched in Mexico City, Los Angeles and Dubai.

A copy of the UKTI report "Adapting to an uncertain climate: A world of commercial opportunities" can be downloaded from our resources section, click here to login.

Read More

You have to feel for politiciancs who wake up every day and are forced to walk the political tightrope between their deepseated conviction that climate change is not happening and the aparantly contradictory reality that faces them. One such unfortunate sole is State Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal. While holding on to his belief that climate change is nothing but “zealous, left-wing environmental theory” he is finding it increasingly difficult to deny the impact that it is having on the Louisiana coastline.

Read More

Prudent business managers are already taking action to adapt to climate risks. Such risks range from direct damage to property from hazards such as floods, to more subtle impacts such as increased numbers of sick days for staff. Adapting to direct impacts is undoubtedly important but, as recent extreme weather events have shown, climate impacts do not always affect parts of business operations that are under a company’s direct control. Many businesses rely on complex supply chains in order to deliver their products or servics to their customers. So what happens when, despite taking all reasonable steps to adapt to climate impacts, a business is affected by problems further down the supply chain?

Read More

A new study comissioned by the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has analysed how climate change might impact the energy bills of UK businesses. The report’s findings show a mixed picture for UK commercial building owners with bills increasing more for some sectors than others. 

Read More

Leonardo Di Vinci called it ‘the driving force of all nature’ and the renowned American author Dave Barry hailed it as ‘a vital ingredient in beer’. The importance of water to sustain life on earth is accepted at such a fundamental level that it is frequently taken for granted that there will always be enough to meet our needs. However climate change, the rising global population and ever increasing demand is putting increasing pressure on global freshwater resources. Even in areas where one might expect precipitation levels to be reasonably high, demand on water can be intense leading to water scarcity. As much of England prepares for drought this summer officials, business leaders and other experts have been discussing how to avert future water crises in Marseille at the 6th annual World Water Forum, that took place last week.

Read More

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) heads of government have been working towards a climate-resilient development plan for the region. The Regional Framework for Achieving Development Resilient to Climate Change is designed to ensure that the CARICOM member states are prepared for the challenges that climate change will bring. Last week the heads of government approved the Implementation Plan for the delivery of the Regional Framework; a major step forward in releasing funds for adaptation actions in the region.

Read More

This interesting Google Earth presentation called "Wrong Climate for Damming Rivers," explores the impacts of climate change, hydropower and dams on some of the world's most important rivers. Right Livelihood Award Winner, Nnimmo Bassey, talks the viewer through the major issues governing rivers and those who rely on them.

Read More

In a little over three months time the Rio Earth Summit – the talks that brought ‘sustainable development’ into the global policy mainstream – will celebrate its 20th anniversary. The date will be marked by another conference; the imaginatively named Rio+20. The conference will be an opportunity for business to take the lead in driving the climate change agenda for both mitigation and adaptation for the coming decades.

Read More

Describing it as a good start but a good start only, the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario’s (ECO) Gord Miller gave his agency’s qualified endorsement to the provincial government’s climate adaptation strategy in a new report published last week. ECO, the Canadian province’s environmental watchdog, laid out their praise and criticism in Ready for Change? An assessment of Ontario’s climate change adaptation strategy. This report shows that though the government is picking up critical momentum in its efforts to prepare for the impacts of climate change, serious gaps remain particularly in terms of addressing the risks extreme weather pose to energy infrastructure.

Read More

The Environment Agency is set to launch a new, online scheme that aims to help businesses adapt to the impacts of climate change. The move follows the recent release of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra) climate change risk assessment for the UK (CCRA). The CCRA, for which Acclimatise was sector lead for the ‘Business, Industry and Services’ section, highlighted the most important climate risks that the UK business sector can expect to face in the coming decades.

Read More

Read More

Earth's landmasses were not always what they are today. Continents formed as Earth's crustal plates shifted and collided over long periods of time. This video shows how today's continents are thought to have evolved over the last 600 million years, and where they may end up in the next 100 million years. It's a great reminder that of the Earth's propensity for change.

Paleogeographic Views of Earth's History provided by Ron Blakey, Professor of Geology, Northern Arizona University.

Read More

Land ice is melting and sea levels are rising. This video from NASA explains the link between the two and why rising sea levels is one of the biggest signs that human activities are affecting the Earth's climate.

Read More

Researchers from Princeton University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found that the worst floods from hurricanes and tropical storms could become more common in low lying coastal areas as a result of climate change.

Read More

Freshwater infrastructure in the United States is aged and in many places crumbling, but now adding to the pressures of population and insufficient investment is an array of new threats associated with climate change. The latest in a series of papers from the Charting New Waters initiative, aimed at improving water management in the US, demonstrates these risks while offering innovative policy and financing solutions that promise to instil resilience and foster a positive transformation of the crumbling system.

Read More