GIST Impact and Benchmark Gensuite recently brought together corporate leaders, investors, and sustainability professionals in London for a candid discussion on climate risk management. Under Chatham House Rules, participants shared their real-world challenges, successes, and concerns about navigating an increasingly volatile climate landscape.
The session revealed a stark truth: whilst many organisations recognise climate risk as critical, translating this awareness into systematic action remains profoundly challenging.
In a nutshell, here’s what we learned:
- Focus on decision-useful information, not perfect data
Waiting for complete certainty is not an option. Focus on information that genuinely improves decisions. Ask: does this data change what we would do?
- Incentives matter more than information
Successful climate risk management requires senior leadership accountability, compensation linked to outcomes, and long-term performance metrics beyond quarterly results.
- Adaptation and mitigation demand different approaches
Adaptation has clearer ROI, is site-specific, and fits normal capital expenditure processes. Mitigation is country/industry-level, requires collective action, and may need policy-level incentives. Don’t expect the same business case logic for both.
- Real change happens at the site-level
Engage directly with site managers who control budgets and understand local conditions. Frame climate actions in terms of resilience, efficiency, and cost management rather than abstract sustainability goals.
- Context matters as much as hazard
Understanding risk requires knowing local adaptive capacity, government plans, insurance market conditions, and regional sophistication – not just the hazard itself.
- Supply chains are your Achilles’ Heel
Uninsurable suppliers create vulnerabilities that direct operational resilience cannot address. This requires industry-level approaches and building flexibility into sourcing strategies.
- Present climate actions as normal business
Integrate climate considerations into standard capital expenditure, risk management, and operational efficiency processes. If renewable energy has better IRR, present it as smart business that happens to have climate benefits.
- Historical data is becoming less reliable
Supplement historical analysis with forward-looking projections, be cautious about extrapolating past trends, and build flexibility into plans to adapt as conditions change.
Curious about the discussions and analysis that shaped these findings? Download our whitepaper from the day. https://info.benchmarkgensuite.com
About Benchmark Gensuite
Benchmark Gensuite® is a leading provider of cloud-based Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Operational Risk Management software. Our unified platform helps companies manage sustainability, safety, and risk performance through digital innovation, analytics, and automation. With over 25 years of continuous development, Benchmark Gensuite supports more than 400 global subscribers across 35 industries in achieving operational excellence and measurable ESG outcomes.
About GIST Impact
GIST Impact is a market-leading data and analytics firm. We help companies and investors measure, value and manage their environmental and social impacts, risks and opportunities. Powered by a global team of experts, GIST Impact delivers precise, location-specific data covering over 18,500 companies, and is the chosen data partner for some of the world’s largest financial institutions.
