As the impacts of the climate crisis strengthen worldwide, understanding and preparing for the climate risks that face organizations, regardless their activity, size or location, is more important than ever before. And with business strategies, actions and initiatives increasingly scrutinised through an ESG lens, organizations need to demonstrate their sustainability stewardship within their geographic, business and social environments.
Of the countless impacts that climate change is wreaking, disruption to the water around us, whether too much, too little, or in its quality, can have the biggest ramifications/far-reaching consequences. We help clients to put Water Stewardship at the heart of their climate strategies.
Managing risks by planning with resilience in mind
All organizations, public or private, need to assess, quantify and adapt to climate risks, while simultaneously analyzing the impacts of their own environmental footprints. This is particularly so as the range of entities that are mandated to expand reporting beyond non-financial factors, e.g., implementation of Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework.
By benchmarking GHGs, undertaking climate risks assessments and setting science-based targets, they will be able to respond appropriately and authoritatively in their disclosures to regulators and/or applications to funding agencies with clear, comparable and consistent information. It will also demonstrate the strength of their sustainability ambitions and climate risk preparedness to investors, shareholders and other stakeholders, as globally we accelerate our efforts to secure a greener, cleaner and more resilient future.
Of all the indicators of climate change, water - our reliance on, exposure to, and use of - is perhaps the most palpable. Every establishment is fundamentally dependent to varying degrees on water, of the right quality, across their assets, networks and systems. Having in the past taken its availability for granted, growing water scarcity and disruption to supplies can have major repercussions on operations on multiple levels. In addition, the risks from extreme water-related weather events, e.g., drought, flooding, storms, sea level rise, are also rising. In short, water supply and management is becoming increasingly precariously balanced in a majority of regions, with implications not just for our clients but also the communities in which they operate.
UNLOCKING THE OPPORTUNITIES
None of these challenges can be addressed in isolation. WSP is uniquely positioned to help our clients to face multiple, converging business threats and pressures in a fast-changing environment. We can help from assessment to implementation of resilient solutions.
As a multidisciplinary engineering firm, we draw upon the full range of disciplines across our global multi-sector teams to plan and develop climate risk adaptation measures that are embedded within broader strategies. Additionally, by incorporating the expertise of our sustainability specialists and advisory teams, we can provide solutions that maximize the ESG values and opportunities of climate action, to the benefit not just of our clients but also their stakeholders and the communities in which they operate.
