Gallagher, an insurance broker and risk management company, has released their findings from their recent survey regarding climate change and its effects on businesses.
The published study shows the results taken from 1,500 UK businesses, with almost 75% of businesses having concerns about how climate change will affect their business. Around 66% have claimed that a rise in temperature, will cause a significant impact to how their businesses are run.
48% of the businesses surveyed, have claimed that they are already feeling the physical effects. With 52% of the 1,500 businesses stating that they have already been affected by natural disasters, such as floods, heatwaves and storms, that have all been linked to climate change. 15% have also had to physically move premises due to these impacts.
The businesses surveyed also identified other issues facing businesses due to the impacts of climate change, as 39% have reported issues with their supply chains, 47% have seen a rise in operating costs, 35% have claimed that they have had the physical damage of their assets occur, and 16% of the businesses surveyed have admitted to changing their business model.
The survey has shown that different sectors are being affected by climate change, and some sectors are being impacted more than others. Hospitality and tourism appear to be affected the most as 57% of those surveyed in this sector claimed that there is a significant threat of impact from climate change. 50% within retail and 53% in banking and finance claimed they were at significant risk too.
Although these figures show that there is a concern within business regarding the impacts of climate change, the survey also showed that 53% had not put plans in place to mitigate against the risks. Of those that have, 30% have invested between £100,000 and £500,000 in mitigation efforts.
Neil Hodgson, Gallaghers’ Managing Director has stated that:
