Climate-KIC innovators: time to seize business opportunities
Although we should keep doing all we can to stop further climate change, now is the time to also prepare our homes, businesses and cities for the impact of irreversible change and reap the economic benefits in the process, according to a group of experts working for the EU’s main climate innovation initiative.
Responding to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) summary report on the impact of climate change, experts working for Climate-KIC have stressed the need for adaptation to what the IPCC report calls irreversible changes to our climate.
Companies can no longer continue to ignore the need to adapt to climate change. Jürgen Kropp, who heads Climate Change & Development at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, said that the IPCC report shows climate change will affect every dimension of daily life. He added: “Consequently, companies, individuals, nations have to change attitudes and management styles in the sense that we can move forward a real sustainability transition.”
“It is now time for CEOs to act,” said French entrepreneur Harilaos Loukos, who works on a Climate-KIC project to help supply businesses with more accurate information. “They can no longer wait to climate-proof their company and should start appointing chief adaptation officers as soon as possible.”
Loukos said businesses should consider the changing climate in strategic planning and decision making and he called for chef executives to “implement action, allowing for regular reviews and amendments as trends and projections are updated”.
