To stay competitive, businesses urged to make climate resilience a priority

Maria Galluci in SolveClimate News: ... Global financial and environmental institutes are urging all businesses to take [vigorous adaptation steps] in safeguarding customers, workforce and supply chains against the increasing impacts of man-made climate change — particularly in developing countries with limited means to recover from disasters. "Community risks are business risks," Heather Grady, vice president of foundation initiatives at the Rockefeller Foundation, said at [a June 27 conference on adaptation at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York City].

She noted that the foundation is spending $70 million over a period of several years to spur initiatives on global warming resilience in poor and vulnerable areas worldwide. "The 'community' is not an abstract stakeholder concept. This group constitutes business's customers, consumers, suppliers and employees," she said. "Businesses that make these connections and adapt to climate change with community needs in mind will gain a competitive edge."

In a white paper published on June 28, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change indicated that extreme weather events — such as recent flooding in Tennessee and droughts in the U.S. Southwest — are on the rise as atmospheric greenhouse gases increase. "It is impossible to predict where or when extreme events will occur, but a large body of scientific evidence makes it clear that the risk of such events has increased and should be expected to continue to increase as the climate warms," the paper cautioned.

"These events provide important clues to ... actions we can take today to make us more resilient to the growing risks of more frequent extreme weather events." Yet Heather Coleman, a senior policy adviser with Oxfam America in Boston, said at the conference that "few companies are developing strategic responses to climate change."...

August 11, 2010 -- Fast moving water from the nearby Squaw Creek rushes past rental equipment and into the Walmart parking lot during recent flooding. Three days of rains has caused the worst flooding in Ames, Iowa history. Jace Anderson/FEMA