The global urgency for organizations to become climate resilient

The climate is changing, and is changing far more rapidly than previously predicted. The changes we are experiencing already were not expected to be seen for decades. Despite global efforts to limit and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that are causing these changes in climate, we are set to see more and more changes in climate and experience more and more adverse impacts as a result.

Although the human race must continue every effort to reduce greenhouse gases, there remains a very real and urgent need for us to ensure that we are also as resilient as possible to the changing climate. Impact from climate change can be direct or indirect and can take various forms, such as physical, social, financial, political, regulatory or reputational. ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) has developed a standard to help organizations and/or their projects create and action an adaptation plan in order to improve resilience.

What is the standard?

BS EN ISO 14090:2019, Adaptation to climate change – Principles, requirements and guidelines, has been produced to help all types of organizations to structure resilient responses to the challenges of a changing climate. It provides a robust, tried-and-tested and replicable approach to ensuring that climate change resilience can be factored appropriately into an organization's decision-making processes and actions. It is the first ever international standard that addresses a global need to respond to a changing climate. Most organizations make decisions, deliver actions and provide advice that will be directly and indirectly impacted by climate change. No matter how well we manage to control our emissions, we are already seeing significant changes in climate, such as increased numbers of extreme weather events and their impacts, as well as sea level rise.

How has the standard been developed?

It has been developed by climate change adaptation practitioners and experts from all around the world. Developed through a process of consensus, it has been through numerous iterations over a 3-year period. This has enabled the views, experiences and expertise of dozens of leading local, national, international and global experts to be represented within a single document.

Why is it important now?

Although the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is widely recognized as one of the most important things that humans need to do, the need for adapting – and becoming resilient – to an inevitably changing climate has not always been given its proper recognition. If we are to survive and thrive into the future, we need to make sure that our actions and the decisions we make today are resilient to climatic changes now and throughout the full expected consequences of those actions and decisions.

However, there are many who, early on, recognised a need to adapt and who have been developing solutions to meet the challenges of climate change. This community of people now has sufficient experience, understanding and expertise to develop this standardized approach to help others adapt. But we cannot emphasize enough that there is a need to act now or it could be too late.

How can a changing climate affect business?

It will affect different businesses in different ways. All organizations are different. Those that own or design fixed assets like buildings, long-life infrastructure, machinery and so on will experience direct impacts from extreme weather events (e.g. floods, overheating, fire, water constraints). Those that rely on supply chains might see impacts causing disruptions to receiving essential goods and services from suppliers, as well as in getting goods and services out to their target customers and service users.

Likewise, those organizations that provide advice or guidance for third-party organizations (including government bodies and the private sector) need to ensure that they do not become liable for providing advice or creating an enabling environment that is not climate resilient. Financial drivers are also becoming increasingly relevant. For example, insurers and investors are becoming increasingly interested in the climate resilience of their existing and potential customers and their investments in them. If you rely on these finance mechanisms, it is going to be essential that you can show them that you know what you are doing.

There are many other stakeholders that different types of organizations will need to be able to demonstrate to that they are taking climate change resilience seriously – for example legal obligations to shareholders, reporting obligations to governments and industry bodies, contract requirements by customers, regulatory obligations, local community demands and obligations, etc.

Business continuity and reputation are key. The climate emergency is now widely recognized. Responding appropriately, and being seen to be doing so, is already essential to many organizations. It is no longer just the early adopters who are developing climate resilient plans and implementing them. Action is much more mainstream now. The number of organizations and projects recognizing the need to respond to the challenges that a changing climate brings is continually increasing. The business case is strong and clear.

What do organizations need to do?

They need to respond to the challenges posed by climate change in a structured and pragmatic way and in a way that is tailored to their specific organization and the things that it does. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. They first need to be able to recognize where and when they need to include climate change in their decisions and actions, and then, through appropriate analysis, work out the best way to respond. Of course, they then need to deliver those responses and make sure that they remain adaptive by continually learning from their delivery experience. It is unlikely that any organization will know exactly what to do indefinitely, so they also need to remain responsive as new information, technologies and understanding evolve.

How can this standard help organizations tackle climate change?

For those just starting out it provides a robust way of doing things. Developed from widely recognized approaches, the standard can help organizations understand where and when they are at risk – in their operations or projects – as well as how best to ensure that they can develop their ability to respond to that risk. Where possible, it will also help organizations identify opportunities. However, it is also aimed at organizations that have already begun work on climate resilience and that might even be world leaders.

The standard is not linear in its approach. It can also be used to review organizations' existing programmes of activity in order to identify any potential gaps in the programmes and build on strengths to address them. The standard is a 'systems standard' and can be used to tailor responses to organizational needs no matter how advanced in climate resilience they are. And the new standard can be used for any part of an organization, depending on the boundary and scope it chooses.

Passing on learning

Standards can be used to benchmark and improve the performance of your organization, and sub-units thereof, or its projects, or they can be used to take structured learning from one location to another or from one organization to another. This standard is structured in a way that allows direct comparisons to be made in a logical and pragmatic manner. The great thing about standards is that activities can be replicated across sites to provide consistent and comparable results, improving measurement and monitoring that support organizational decision making.

The need for accurate reporting

Although developing a plan of action is core to the standard, it also contains guidance on how to communicate and report to third parties. It does not make reporting a requirement, as not all organizations will have a need or a wish to report to others. However, the standard gives explicit guidance on how to report if reporting is indeed desirable. Basically, the standard aims to ensure that any communications that are produced are done so accurately, with no exaggeration or downplaying, and are tailored in an appropriate way for the given audience.

Find out more

You can buy the standard through the BSI shop.

This article was written by a guest industry author

Doogie Black, a Director of Climate Sense, has worked in sustainable development for 25 years, with the last 17 focusing specifically on adaptation to climate change (climate change resilience). He was the UK Principal Expert on BS EN ISO 4090:2019 – the first ever international standard on climate change adaptation (launched in June 2019) – and is an active member of BSI's Climate Change Strategy Committee. Doogie's consultancy work on adaptation focuses predominantly on developing and delivering standards for climate change resilience (with a personal focus on adaptive capacity). He has recently written guidance for CEN-CENELEC for Technical Committees to embed adaptation to climate change within priority EU infrastructure standards.

However, there are many who, early on, recognised a need to adapt and who have been developing solutions to meet the challenges of climate change.