Superstorm Sandy and Climate Change and Business and You
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by Richard Maltzman,
Dave Shirley
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Dave Shirley
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Date
In our last post on EarthPM, we talk about the possible connection between "Superstorm Sandy" and climate change. And we of course make a connection to projects and project management. And you know, we did a pretty good job. But it's also good to know when someone else, someone with even more knowledge, expertise, and experience on the issue at hand, says it better than you.
And that's the case with Andrew Winston.
As you may know, Winston and Esty's book Green to Gold was the inspiration for our book, Green Project Management. Winston and Esty were so amazingly convincing in that book (and follow-up efforts since) that they have continued to inspire us.
With that, we'd like to encourage you to read Andrew Winston's full blog post on the topic, which follows along the lines of our posting but gives an even stronger business perspective.
Please read Winston's entire blog post, "Should Companies Care If Hurricane Sandy Was "Caused" By Climate Change?"
If you're impatient (and which project manager isn't?) here are a couple of key extracts:
It's about business continuity, stupid!
"Take the example of one of my clients, a Fortune 200 consumer products company. As the VP of global risk management told me, the most expensive events in company history in every weather category (flood, earthquake, hail, wind, etc.) occurred in the last few years. After making $50 million in insurance claims in 2011 alone, the company's insurance rates will certainly rise. But that's a side issue; the real problem is the constant threat to business continuity. At one of its large manufacturing plants in Asia, a drought stopped production for 3 weeks."
Risk Assessment will be sexier
" Smart companies will be examining supply chains and operations very closely for risks associated with water shortages, floods, storms, and resource constraints. Risk assessment is going to get much sexier and much more important to global organizations. Their leaders will also seize the opportunity to offer products and services that help other companies and society deal with a world of weird weather. Think drought-resistant crops, new insurance products, distributed energy systems (so homeowners won't care if the power goes out), and perhaps boats for getting around Wall Street."
Let's get real!
"..let's get real about business impacts. If you're going to really assess risk to your operations now and in the future, you have to understand how climate change will increase the likelihood of severe events and what it will mean for your value chain. Not doing so would be costly, stupid, and irresponsible to your shareholders.
Companies are waking up to the immediate impacts. The most recent report from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), compiled with the help of PwC (full disclosure: my consulting firm has a partnership with the U.S. arm of PwC), shows that most global companies acknolwedge climate-driven risks. Fully 37% of those reporting to the CDP — most of the world's largest companies — say that climate change is already creating business risk (up from 10% in just two years). Another 43% see risk to the business within the next 10 years."
So as we've always said - it doesn't matter where you are on the political spectrum, the climate science spectrum, or any spectrum for that matter. The bottom line is, well, the bottom line. And the organizations in which we work - or to whom we offer project management services of any kind, are taking note of these observations - and you would serve yourself - and your organizations (and perhaps the planet, but that's just our opinion) better by paying attention and acting on the basis of solid information, which means getting smart about this topic. We intend to help - just stay tuned to this blog and EarthPM and we will do our best to provide you the latest from industry thought leaders. Stay smart - and stay safe!
Posted
by
Richard Maltzman
on: November 07, 2012 09:15 AM |
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Comments (2)
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 | Anonymous |
"As the VP of global risk management told me, the most expensive events in company history in every weather category (flood, earthquake, hail, wind, etc.) occurred in the last few years."
First all, earthquakes are not weather. Second, the obvious reason why this statement is true has nothing to do with climate change. Recall the terrible floods that occurred in Bangkok a few years ago. Bangkok is full of sophisticated, expensive factories for autos and electronics, and fancy office buildings. OF COURSE a flood in Bangkok today is going to cause more costly damage then when Bangkok was the capital of a small, sleepy, rural country.
Superstorm Sandy was not an exceptional storm. The greater New York area has been hit by similar storms every few generations. But obviously there are more people and more expensive things to be affected than there were in the past.
| Anonymous |
Thanks for your comments, Kenneth. I agree, and it's unfortunate that the VP in the quote used earthquakes in his response. We also agree that the impact of the extreme weather is higher due to the population shifts and the amount of infrastructure in a place like Bangkok now compared to Bangkok in 1850.
But have a look at our latest post - A New Baseline. You'll see that this is about weather. You'll see that the data is real, consistent, scientific, free of emotion or bias. I also suggest you read the referenced article because it does talk about increased number and intensity of storms (but not earthquakes!). This, coupled with your valid point about the increased exposure, continues to make our point that project managers, whatever they believe about climate change, are best prepared to be working on projects which are linked in some way to the *reaction* to climate change.
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