business as usual? - adapting to the impacts of climate
change
Current models of climate change are predicting that the UK will
be subject to more extreme weather patterns in the future with
warmer, drier summers and much wetter winters. The UK Climate
Impacts Programme has published research regarding the impacts of
climate change which includes increased risks of flooding, erosion
and subsidence, greater pressure on drainage systems, water
shortages in summer, increased demand for summer cooling and
possible health issues in the workplace. Businesses therefore need
to consider:
- what steps they can take to reduce or offset their carbon
footprint
- how climate change will affect their businesses, and
- what can be done to minimise or avoid the effects of climate
change.
Incidents of flooding or freak weather have significant impacts
on business continuity. Employees will find it difficult to travel
to work, offices may be damaged and deliveries to customers may be
disrupted. Consideration needs to be given to overcoming these
problems before they happen by putting contingency plans in place
and training employees to deal with these scenarios.
Productivity of employees may be affected during hotter, drier
summer months if temperatures in the workplace become uncomfortable
and extreme changes in temperature are also linked with diseases
which will have an impact on an employee's ability to attend work.
Consideration should, therefore, be given to allowing employees to
work from home. This will reduce transport emissions and also
minimise business disruption due to employee absences.
A plan to green your business should reap rewards in monetary
savings by implementing programmes to reduce waste and energy
usage. With ambitious targets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions
set by government (80% reduction on 1990 levels of carbon dioxide
emissions by 2050), the regulatory burden on businesses is likely
to increase in terms of time and cost. Advice needs to be sought on
reducing emissions and limiting the impact of legislation on
businesses.
The above may seem like negative (and costly) impacts of climate
change; however there are positive impacts in terms of creating new
opportunities. Greening your business is now regarded as an
excellent way to boost a company’s reputation and green credentials
are regarded as a positive marketing tool. This may assist in
boosting sales and also attracting the brightest and most talented
employees.
There are many steps a business can be taking now to adapt to
climate change, such as:
- calculating and monitoring your carbon footprint; if you do not
understand your own impacts as a business then you will not be able
to reduce it.
- reviewing your business continuity plan and testing it to make
sure it will work
- reviewing your infrastructure; a well-maintained building costs
less to run
- making efforts to green your business and obtaining green
credentials such as the ISO 14001 environmental management
standard
- getting employees involved in efforts to reduce the
environmental impacts of your business
- providing training to your employees not only to help with
green programmes but also to develop new skills and to help them
recognise new business opportunities
- adapting your business and keeping an eye on what your
competitors are doing
- ultimately longer term planning and investment will be needed
to address a company's carbon footprint such as installing
renewable energy technology.
This list is by no means exhaustive and there are many different
approaches a business can take to developing sustainability and
green practices. The important point to remember is that planning
for and adapting to climate change is an investment in the future
of your business.
