GLOBAL MINING CARBON DISCLOSURE PROJECT REPORT: Building business resilience to inevitable climate change.

Acclimatise has just published the Global Mining Carbon Disclosure Project Report on climate change adaptation. The report was sponsored by IBM and it is the fourth in our CDP adaptation series. The first three reports of the series focused on companies within the FTSE350, Global Electric Utilities and Global Oil & Gas sectors (available for download below).

This report explores the actions being taken by Mining companies to assess and manage the risks and opportunities that a changing climate will have on their business models. The report highlights that over 80% of global mining companies surveyed claim their physical assets would be affected by extreme weather events, yet only 13% report taking action to protect their assets that are critical to business success, attracting financial investment and the safety of employees. The report also recognises that adaptation is an increasingly critical issue for investors and the financial markets.

To help the sector adapt to these challenges Acclimatise and IBM have jointly prepared a set of 10 Prepare-Adapt questions to help executives take informed steps towards building corporate resilience. This section can be found towards the back of the report.

Learn more about IBM and the Carbon Disclosure Project here.

GLOBAL OIL & GAS CARBON DISCLOSURE PROJECT REPORT: Building business resilience to inevitable climate change.

Acclimatise has just published the Global Oil & Gas Carbon Disclosure Project Report on climate change adaptation. The report was sponsored by IBM and it is the third in our CDP adaptation series. The first two reports of the series focused on companies within the FTSE350 & the Global Electric Utilities sector (both available for download further below.)

This report explores the actions being taken by Oil & Gas companies to assess and manage the risks and opportunities that a changing climate will have on their business models. It analyses the current Oil & Gas challenges, specific drivers for adaptation and provides senior executive level guidance on the actions needed to adapt and build business resilience to the impacts of climate change. The report also recognises that adaptation is an increasingly critical issue for investors and the financial markets.

To help the sector adapt to these challenges Acclimatise and IBM have jointly prepared a set of 10 Prepare-Adapt questions to help executives take informed steps towards building corporate resilience. This section can be found toward the back of the report.

The final report examines the adaptation issues and best practices for the Global Mining sector and the report will be launched during January 2010.

Learn more about IBM and the Carbon Disclosure Project here.

Adaptation to a changing climate: Today’s investments in tomorrow’s climate

Acclimatise has contributed to the publication of a new report for the consumer champion, ‘Consumer Focus’. The report looked at how the impacts of climate change will affect the British consumer using the latest UK Climate Projections 2009 (UKCP09).

These projections are used to explore how the chronic and acute impacts of climate change will impact consumers’ acquisitions such as property. The report also recognises that customers will increasingly need products and services which will help them to adapt.

GLOBAL ELECTRIC UTILITIES CARBON DISCLOSURE PROJECT REPORT: Building business resilience to inevitable climate change.

Acclimatise has just published the Global Electric Utilities Carbon Disclosure Project Report on climate change adaptation. The report was sponsored by IBM and it is the second in our CDP adaptation series. The first report, FTSE 350: Building Business Resilience to Inevitable Climate Change, was launched on 21st April 2009 (available for download further below).

This report explores the actions being taken by electricity utilities to assess and manage the risks and opportunities that a changing climate will have on their business models. It analyses the current energy challenges, specific drivers for adaptation and provides senior executive level guidance on the actions needed to adapt and build business resilience to the impacts of climate change. The report also recognises that adaptation is an increasingly critical issue for investors and the financial markets.

To help the sector adapt to these challenges Acclimatise and IBM have jointly prepared a set of 10 Prepare-Adapt questions to help executives take informed steps towards building corporate resilience. This section can be found toward the back of the report.

The final two reports examine the adaptation issues and best practices for the Global Oil & Gas and Global Mining sectors will be launched during October 2009. The report can be downloaded from the link further below.

Click on the video to see Rich Lechner, Vice President Energy & Environment, IBM, discussing the report.

Learn more about IBM and the Carbon Disclosure Project here.

CARBON DISCLOSURE PROJECT REPORT 2008: FTSE 350, Building Business Resilience to Inevitable Climate Change.

Acclimatise has just published the FTSE 350 Carbon Disclosure Project Report for 2008 on climate change adaptation. The report was sponsored by IBM and follows our Carbon Disclosure Project Report 2006 on the FTSE 350: ‘The adaptation tipping point: are UK businesses climate-proof?’ (available for download further below on this web page).

Has the situation changed since our last 2006 CDP adaptation report? What is the current level of adaptation and business resilience to a changing climate achieved by FTSE 350 companies? These are the questions this report aims to answer by reference to the FTSE 350 responses to the CDP 2008 investor request for information.

How do companies build business resilience to inevitable climate change? In this report we have identified some of the key challenges for directors and examples of good practice are provided to illustrate the actions corporate leaders are taking.

To help the sector adapt to the challenges Acclimatise and IBM have jointly prepared a set of 10 Prepare-Adapt questions to help executives take informed steps towards building corporate resilience. This section can be found toward the back of the report.

The supporting techical appendix that accompanies this report can be downloaded from the article below.

Learn more about IBM and the Carbon Disclosure Project here.

APPENDIX TO THE CARBON DISCLOSURE PROJECT REPORT 2008: FTSE 350, Building Business Resilience to Inevitable Climate Change.

The technical appendix to the CDP Report 2008 FTSE 350 on adaptation presents the detailed analysis undertaken on the FTSE 350 responses using the Acclimatisation Index methodology.

Climate Finance, Business and Community: The Benefits of Co-operation.

Acclimatise has been working with the UK Department for International Development (DFID), Barclays, HSBC, Forum for the Future and Synergy on a discussion paper to be released at the UNFCCC COP14 in Poznan: ‘Climate Finance, Business and Community: The Benefits of Co-operation’.

It is the first piece of work exploring the business case for climate change adaptation in co-operation with surrounding communities and other stakeholders.

Its aims are to stimulate discussion on why it is so critical for businesses to take climate change seriously, to identify key actions that can be taken, and to highlight how these actions can be designed in collaboration with local communities and stakeholders to improve their adaptive capacity.

City of London’s Adaptation Strategy (Rising to the Challenge)

Acclimatise was commissioned by the City of London Corporation to develop its Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, ‘Rising to the Challenge’, in consultation with stakeholders. The City of London Corporation is the first local authority in the UK to commission a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, which aims to help prepare the Square Mile for the likely effects of climate change, including risks relating to flooding, water resources, heat, air pollution and ground conditions. In recognition of this and its other pioneering work on climate change, the City of London Corporation has been awarded Beacon Status by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA).

Managing the Unavoidable: Understanding the investment implications of adapting to climate change

Acclimatise has assisted with the publication of this report exploring the investment consequences of unavoidable climate by a group of major UK investors. In launching the new initiative, Insight Investment, Henderson Global Investors, RAILPEN Investments, and the Universities Superannuation Scheme, urge investors and companies to address those impacts of physical climate change which are now unavoidable.

This report is the first document to be issued by the group’s collaborative research project, which aims to address the ways in which companies and their investors are likely to be affected.

The report’s key points include:

• Whilst there has rightly been considerable emphasis on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the lack of attention on the consequences of the now unavoidable impact of physical climate change may have significant long-term implications for companies and their investors.

• Tools need to be developed to aid companies and investors in understanding the risks and opportunities associated with climate change.

• Climate change risks need to be incorporated into investment analysis and decision-making as they may affect the timeframes over which investment decisions are made, and the criteria against which performance is measured.

• Investors need to engage with companies to ensure they have appropriate climate change adaptation systems in place.

• Investors also need to engage with policy makers to ensure the views of long-term investors are taken into account in policy formation in this area.

This report will be followed by four further studies to be produced by Acclimatise highlighting the risks and opportunities faced within specific sectors (electric utilities, oil and gas, real estate and water utilities).

Credit risks impacts of a changing climate

Acclimatise has just published a new report as part of the London Accord project, which explores the credit risk implications of a changing climate across a diverse range of industry sectors:

• Those with long-lived, fixed assets in all sectors,


• Chemicals and pharmaceuticals,


• Fossil fuel and nuclear power generation, supply and distribution,


• Renewable power generation, supply and distribution, and


• Tourism.

Much of the debate around climate change focuses on greenhouse gas emissions and the business impacts of a carbon constrained economic arena. The potential consequences to businesses of a changing climate have, to date, not attracted the same level of attention. This imbalance needs to be redressed. Regardless of the success and rate at which greenhouse gas emissions are controlled, some climate change is locked into the world’s weather system over coming decades and these changes may represent material risks (or opportunities) to business. By implication these impacts may be valid considerations in credit risk analysis.

The London Accord (www.london-accord.co.uk) project is a co-operative research initiative supported by leading investment banks and research houses, major institutional investors and key NGOs and academics. The London Accord project covers 25 papers by more than 40 contributors exceeding 600 pages of comprehensive analyses. Some of the other contributors include Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and ABN AMRO.

The recent Barclays sustainability review highlights its pioneering research with the London Accord – click here to view the case study.

For a very low resolution (1.5MB) version of this document please contact m.colley@acclimatise.uk.com.