Tomorrow's risks are happening today leaving us less time to prepare - adapt to thrive with new strategies for a water resilient future
In an era marked by unprecedented climate & water threats, building resilience has become an essential priority. Resilience is not just about surviving immediate shocks, but sustaining long-term operational stability and growth. We must face the reality that adaptation is not catching up with fast-moving climate risks – physical risks are now escalating at a rate that even science and risk assessment tools are playing catch up. With annual warming of 1.55°C for 2024, we are simply not ready – it’s time to wake up and adapt, adapt, adapt.
To build robust climate defence and avoid maladaptation, everyone in every sector needs to set new strategies for transformative resilience. There must also be realistic alignment between transition and adaptation – at least adapt for 2°C but as current climate policies & emissions point to a 3-4°C world, it’s prudent to plan resilience for this; at the same time strive for 1.5°C transition strategies to “slow down” fast rising climate & water risks. No sense climate strategies will just mean shooting ourselves in the foot.
Business & finance can play pivotal roles in driving systemic change towards a more resilient global economy but to do that, leaders must be on top of the fast-evolving climate risk landscape to implement flexible strategies to close risk gaps. No easy task but we can help with our training for the future. Finally, because adaptation is costly yet funding gaps are huge, join us to drive adaptation finance conversations. We are racing against time – don’t wait, start your resilience journey now…
Rising temperatures, unpredictable weather patterns, and increasing water & climate risks require innovative strategies by business – it’s sink or swim time, literally.
As a start, every business must understand and know their exposure to climate and water risks so they can mitigate risks and best prepare, which can be achieved with a holistic risk assessment. From there, business need to implement innovative adaptive strategies, especially as risks are accelerating. These adaptive strategies build resilience and long-term growth, which can include becoming water positive, and are about maximising opportunities in a changing climate. This is how we have helped Listco’s, FIs, MNCs and other companies on their climate & water journey. So whatever stage you are at, we can help – get in touch.
Listco’s, FI’s & MNCs have commissioned us to help them curate water risk mitigation and/or stewardship. We are not able to disclose all the companies we have advised but we can say they are leaders in the space.
Full spectrum of water risk advisory: from the initial but crucial risk assessment all the way to curating holistic water stewardship, water neutral or water positive strategies that mitigate risk & maximise opportunities in a changing risk landscape.
Extensive network: To ensure that we provide holistic & effective strategies for our clients, we tap our extensive network of water experts and on-ground consultants.
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With a rapidly evolving landscape, rising risks & cascading impacts now is the time to learn … if you don’t know the risks ahead, how can you figure out how to thrive & build transformative resilience?
It’s imperative for decision makers to be on top of the already sizable climate and water risks, which is easier said than done given they are complex, interlinked & accelerating. To do this, one needs to not only understand & identify the risks but stay up to date on the fast-moving science (IPCC & other reports), changing regulations, latest innovations & strategies and more. This is what we do so that we can identify & distil the relevant risks & action points for different sectors & stakeholders.
Let us help you, your teams & you Board get on top of the risks, evolving science & more with tailored briefings from 101s to topic specific deep dives and how about engaging idea labs & interactive off sites to really understand the challenges & inspire innovative solutions – get in touch!
C- Suite Briefings: We deliver tailored briefings to business leaders to get them on top of the risks as well as help to identify actionable insights. These can be threat/sector/topic specific like accelerating sea level rise, changes in disclosure, real estate, power and much more.
Board updates, offsites & idea labs: We equip board members and top management with the latest updates on climate and water risks, fostering innovative thinking through interactive offsites and idea labs.
Senior management/ staff programmes: From engaging seminars to creative events like ESG nights and pub quizzes, we help teams stay informed and inspired on critical sustainability topics.
For a better idea of how you can work with us on this front – see our Key Milestones.
Promising is not the same as delivering. While many governments and corporates have pledged to be carbon neutral/ net zero by 2050 or earlier, many are far from delivering on decarbonisation. As a result, emissions are still rising year on year which will bring about devastating physical impacts. At the same time even though adaptation actions can reduce risks and ensure long term resilience, they are falling short of identified risks – this is literally shooting ourselves in the foot. Make sure you are not adopting no-sense climate strategies nor maladapting by updating stress tests for real risks ahead; having real adaptation strategies in place; and improving carbon pledges to “slow down” physical risks. If you don’t know how, contact us.
Billions of dollars will have to be raised to adapt and futureproof our cities, yet most of climate financing is skewed towards decarbonisation not adaptation. But with rising physical risks, piecemeal & fragmented adaptation efforts will not protect against complex cascading risks ahead. We will need transformative holistic adaptation efforts with adaptation financing to match. The clock is ticking – the grand re-design of our economies, cities, energy & food systems as well as lifestyles must start now. It’s also time to finance such visionary & transformative climate resilient development – we’ve started the conversation, see below. Join us.
CWR curated this first-of-its kind seminar to discuss transformative adaptation & its financing at SIWW 2022. Speakers included the Director of Coastal Protection of Singapore, the Bank of International Settlements, Japan FSA, Citibank, Moody’s & Manulife Investment Management to New York City’s climate resilience head, the co-chair of IPCC AR6: Impacts, Adaptation & Vulnerability, Link REIT & Ramboll. Read takeaways or watch the seminar.
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