Video - WEF Global Risks Report

The 2015 edition of the Global Risks report completes a decade of highlighting the most significant long-term risks worldwide, drawing on the perspectives of experts and global decision-makers.

The report is broken down into the following areas:

1. Global Risks Landscape 2015
2. Global Risks 2015 Interconnections Map
3. Risks-Trends 2015 Interconnections Map
4. Executive Opinion Survey 2014

Click here for more information on environmental issues in the Global Risks 2015 Report.

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Risks Associated with Environment, Climate, Water Crisis and Extreme Weather in the 2015 Global Risks Report
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Managing Materiality, Risk and Stakeholder Engagement in Sustainability Reporting
Infographic - Sustainable Business Risk Management
Rise Initiative: Helping Businesses and Investors Manage the Risks Associated with Climate Change
Factoring Climate Risks for Business
Sectors Most at Risk from Climate Change
World Economic Forum Risk Report Singles Out Climate Change
World Economic Forum Report: '"Global Risks 2014"
Guide - Physical Risks from Climate Change (Ceres)
Global Risks Report 2013: Interconnectedness of the Economy

Video - Climate Risks: Abrupt Unpredictable Irreversible Changes

People often think that global warming is a slow and gradual process that will take generations. However, this film from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (the world's largest scientific society), warns that we are at risk of pushing the earth’s climate system toward, "abrupt, unpredictable, and potentially irreversible changes."

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Risks Associated with Environment, Climate, Water Crisis and Extreme Weather in the 2015 Global Risks Report
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Video - 2015 Global Risks Report
Video - UN Report on the Business Risks from Climate Change
Managing Materiality, Risk and Stakeholder Engagement in Sustainability Reporting
Infographic - Sustainable Business Risk Management
Rise Initiative: Helping Businesses and Investors Manage the Risks Associated with Climate Change
Factoring Climate Risks for Business
Sectors Most at Risk from Climate Change
World Economic Forum Risk Report Singles Out Climate Change
World Economic Forum Report: '"Global Risks 2014"
Guide - Physical Risks from Climate Change (Ceres)
Global Risks Report 2013: Interconnectedness of the Economy

Infographic - Global Risks Report

Risks Associated with Environment, Climate, Water Crisis and Extreme Weather in the WEF Report

In the 2015 edition of the Global Risks report environmental risks are viewed as more prominent than economic risks. At the very top of the list are international conflicts although water crises rank highest in terms of impact. Overall, geopolitical and societal risks dominate as the biggest threat to global stability.

The 10th edition of the Global Risks report, was published on January 15, 2015 by the WEF. The annual report features an assessment by nearly 900 experts on the top 28 global risks in terms of likelihood and potential impact over the coming 10 years.

Course - Ecological Risk Assessment: Practice and Protocols

This course will take place on March 17-18, 2015 from 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. at Trayes Hall - Douglass Campus Center, 100 George St, New Brunswick, NJ. Help your client understand how the ecological risk assessment process aids in developing realistic approaches to remediating sites.

For LSRP's,understand the role that ecological risk assessment plays in developing clean-up goals for your site. This two-day program will provide you with a comprehensive overview of regulatory expectations of ecological risk assessments from both federal and state perspectives.

Event - Risk Assessment & Remediation Conference, plus Awards Ceremony

This conference and awards ceremony will take place on October 23-24, 2014 at the Grange Tower Bridge Hotel, 45 Prescot St., London, UK. Brownfield Briefing is the host for these two seminal events. The first of these, Risk Assessment and Remediation 2014, takes place in London on 23-24 October, with the first day focusing on remediation and the second on risk assessment (both days bookable separately).

Event - SEJ Conference: Risk and Resilience

SEJ's 24th annual environmental journalism conference is subtitled "Risk and Resilience." It will take place on September 3-7, 2014 in New Orleans.

South Louisiana is all about risk and resilience however, New Orleans is also a place where we can eat, drink, dance, listen to music and generally partake of the whole spectrum of humanity's offerings, and all this with the climate change monster right outside the door.

Risky Business: The Costs of Climate Change in the US

The Risky Business report makes it harder for people, businesses and investors to ignore the veracity of climate change. The report details the economic costs ranging from rising sea levels, storm surges, agricultural impacts, labor productivity and public health.

Rather than focus on the costs of action, the non-partisan Risky Business report addresses the costs of inaction. The report focuses on the US and it is a deliberate attempt to depoliticise the issue and lay out the case for urgent action. Rather than address the impact of climate change on the world's poor (who will suffer disproportionately) the report focuses on the costs of climate change to Americans. The inference here is that action is a matter of national and self-interest.

Paulson Calls for Climate Action including a Carbon Tax

Henry Paulson, is one of several prominent people behind the report, Risky Business: The Economic Risks of Climate Change in the United States.

Paulson is a Republican who was secretary of treasury under George Bush, he describes climate change as something that everybody must face regardless of their political allegiances. "[I]t’s going to be increasingly be difficult for anybody, regardless of party, to say there isn’t a problem," Paulson said. He goes on to say that we must act as we really have no choice, "the cost of inaction is quite high, because it's - it's actual radical risk taking."

"We’re staring down a climate bubble that poses enormous risks to both our environment and economy. The warning signs are clear and growing more urgent as the risks go unchecked,” Paulson wrote. “I feel as if I’m watching as we fly in slow motion on a collision course toward a giant mountain. We can see the crash coming, and yet we’re sitting on our hands rather than altering course."

Video - UN Report on the Business Risks from Climate Change

This video is derived from an UN report reviews the risks faced by businesses around the world from climate change.

Video - The Risky Business report (Michael Bloomberg)

The American economy could face significant and widespread disruptions from climate change unless U.S. businesses and policymakers take immediate action to reduce climate risk, according to a new report, "Risky Business: The Economic Risks of Climate Change in the United States."

Video - Overview of the Risky Business report

The US economy faces significant risks from unmitigated climate change. The Risky Business report presents a new approach to understanding these risks for key US business sectors, and provides business leaders with a framework for measuring and mitigating their own exposure to climate risk.

For more information click here.

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Video - The Risky Business report (Michael Bloomberg)

New Report on the Costs of Delaying Action on Climate Change

The cost of inaction on climate change is explored in a new report from Bloomberg titled "Risky Business: The Economic Risks of Climate Change in the United States." The report explains how a warmer world will lead to cataclysmic storms, floods, droughts and fires which will cost lives, destroy property and disrupt businesses. The report was prepared by a bipartisan group of three former Treasury Secretaries (Hank Paulson, Robert Rubin and George Schultz), the former mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg and the billionaire investor Thomas Steyer.

According to the report as much as $106 billion worth of existing coastal property in the US will fall below sea level by 2050. This oceans could engulf as much as $507 billion worth of property by 2100.

Managing Materiality, Risk and Stakeholder Engagement in Sustainability Reporting

For those engaged in sustainability reporting materiality is an impediment. This free eight page mini-report from the Ethical Corporation can help to manage materiality, risk and stakeholder engagement.

This report offers insights from pioneers in reporting and it specifically addresses how they developed a matrix that works for their business. This short read provides key insights from sustainability leaders on their approach to the materiality challenge and how you can translate it for use in your organization.  

Infographic - Sustainable Business Risk Management

Rise Initiative: Helping Businesses and Investors Manage the Risks Associated with Climate Change

On Monday May 19th, the United Nations (UN) launched an initiative that helps businesses to manage the risks associated with climate change. After a decade of record breaking economic losses and disruption due to climate change, risk management is an increasingly high priority issue for businesses all around the world. This UN initiative is called RISE and it shows the current and future effects of climate change. The idea is that by laying out current and future threats it can businesses to plan for disasters and invest wisely.

Those who are contributing to the RISE Project include the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the Economist Intelligence Unit, Florida International University, Principles for Responsible Investment, AECOM and global insurance broker Willis.

Factoring Climate Risks for Business

The business community must understand the benefits of engaging climate change and the costs of failing to act. The sooner we factor climate risks the lower the ultimate price tag.

Businesses that are reluctant to assume the costs of mitigation and adaptation need to appreciate the costs associated with delays. According to some estimates, in the last two years alone delays in engaging climate change have cost us $8 trillion. The longer we wait the higher the price tag. BSR says that climate change will cost us $4 trillion by 2030 while the IEA estimates that we can save $115 trillion in fuel costs by 2050.

Sectors Most at Risk from Climate Change

Whether we are talking about impacts on manufacturing facilities from extreme weather events or supply chain disruptions due to resource scarcity, climate change poses a risk to businesses all around the world. If we continue with business as usual it is safe to assume that operating costs will go up across the board as the world warms. While all sectors have some degree of exposure, certain sectors are more vulnerable than others. Here is a summary of some of the sectors with the greatest exposure derived from a report titled, Physical Risks from Climate Change.

Report - Sustainability and the Finance Sector's Views on Opportunities in Extractives

Ethical Corporation has recently published a complimentary analysis on ‘How sustainability affects the way the finance sector views opportunities in extractives’. This report analyzes the financial pressures that oil, gas and mining companies face from three key perspectives: the commercial and multilateral lenders, with J.P. Morgan and the IFC, and the investor perspective with asset manager F&C.

The report gives a great insight into the evolving expectations and priorities of different financial stakeholders to the extractive industry and how this will affect extractive companies’ social performance and communication practices.

Video - Unleashing Public & Private Financing for a Low-Carbon Economy: Legislative Hearing in Silicon Valley Provides Policy Direction

Focused on the question of how to best leverage limited public dollars and maximize reductions in energy consumption and reduce greenhouse gases (GHG), Senator Kevin de Leόn, Chair of the Select Committee on Energy Efficiency, convened a hearing in Silicon Valley with local Senator Jim Beall (D-San Jose). Experts from private capital and clean energy companies explored California's opportunities to more effectively attain our goals to reduce GHG emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. We will need several strategies toward a low-carbon economy with the demands for electricity and fuel increasing every year. California's growing population, now 38 million, is expected to top 50 million by 2050.