Reeling the Burns of Climate Change – Its High Time for Icing
From the extensive wildfires in the United States to the extreme floods in China and the
earth’s highest ever recorded temperature and heatwaves in Death Valley, we have become
the generation who is witnessing the major climatic events of the era. This also includes the
harsh climatic realities of India where 40% of the population live within 100 km of the coast
and face adversities from the oceans such as tsunami, cyclones, and rise in water levels due to
the melting of ice. The other part of the population living inland faces scorching heat and
cold.
The major cause for such climatic events somewhere lies in the unchecked industrialization
and growth in global businesses. Now the world is at the tipping point where tables have
turned and the global organizations are already feeling the pain of climate change. It is
becoming very hard to ignore the catastrophic climatic events affecting the business and
population across the globe. It has become an immediate threat to the very existence of
mankind. A climatically unstable planet brings a wide range of risks to businesses, directly
affecting 70% of all economic sectors worldwide. According to a Deloitte survey, 1 out of
every 4 organizations is affected by climate-related events.
Here we discussed the top four ways through which the climate is already impacting the
firms. The first one is operational impact, which is encountered by 3 out of every 10
organizations. The operational impact of climate-related disasters includes but is not limited
to facilities damage, workforce disruption, and supply chain breakage. The second concern is
the increasing cost of resources such as food, water, and energy due to environmental causes
impacting energy and consumer industries. Third, on the list is the increasing cost of
insurance availability due to the dramatic increase in climate-related events. Last but not
least, noncompliance to ethical climatic norms can cause reputational damage to companies.
Environmental sustainability and pro-climatic actions have become core tenets of the
organizational culture and brand identity.
Despite these threats, organizations are still hesitant to ponder over the climate mitigations
activities. According to a study, 80% of business executives agree that companies should start
taking the issues at hand seriously. The climate-related actions are generally a long-term
perspective, which makes organizations with short-term thinking and goals hesitant to invest
in it. The other few blame the pandemic for turning away their attention from environmental
initiatives. But it’s high time and companies can’t afford to keep a closed eye anymore.
Prioritizing long-term climatic actions should be an immediate and continuous effort. If we
don’t act accordingly, we should be ready to face the innumerable upcoming natural
disasters, going to cause losses to lives, property, and ultimately the global economy.
Fortunately, we are not so late to implement the pro-environmental policies, as a large mass
of business executives feel the need to accelerate the actions. Some of the climate mitigation
actions which can be followed by the organizations are discussed here. Promotion and
execution of climate-related research and development. Educating and spreading awareness
among the external and internal stakeholders to make them aware of the criticality of the
situation. Working forward to collaborate with the government to develop public policies
through advocacy and communications. Businesses are well established to promote and
invest in climate-related innovations to mitigate the risk and create a sustainable environment
for the economy to thrive. They have worked closely with the government to develop policies
and plans to combat climate change. It is high time we think long-term and sustainability.
